If it was not for Kabuga, the genocide would not have happened; CNLG

The national commission for the fight against genocide (CNLG) affirms that the genocide against Tutsis of Rwanda in 1994 would not have happened if it was not for Kabuga. It comes after the arrest of this most wanted genocide fugitive in the history of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on May 16, 2020 in Asnières-sur-Seine near Paris the capital of France.

According to Dr. Diogène Bideri, the main legal advisor of CNLG, Kabuga was the one who made the genocide possible by funding its whole process from the preparation to the implementation in April 1994.

“Kabuga was among main founders of interahamwe (young people affiliated with the ruling party MRND) who later became militia to massacre the Tutsi population. He even provided funding for gun training, and distributed machetes that have been scatted in the community and used to exterminate Tutsis.” said Dr. Bideri.

Kabuga was in the heart of inner circle affiliated to his family and Habyarimana’s, and other well-known organizers of the Genocide against the Tutsi; he was at the forefront of the founding of the hate media that encouraged Hutus to hate Tutsis and exterminate them.  RTLM(Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines commonly described as  “radio genocide”, “death by radio” and “the soundtrack to genocide”) was on behalf of Kabuga, who sponsored the purchase of equipment, and recruited experienced journalists in the profession, who used it to motivate the public to commit Genocide; added Dr. Bideri.

Dr. Bideri says that Kabuga established a permanent grant in support of the Genocide, as a fund called the National Defense Fund which was established on April 24-25, 1994; this is where the murderous’ government said that guns were available, that every citizen must learn to shoot. Even after genocide, Kabuga continued to support the enemies of Rwanda FDLR (The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda; an armed rebel group active in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo).

Rwandans need to know what Kabuga did

The main legal advisor of CNLG mentioned that Rwandans need to be aware of what Kabuga did especially of his wrongdoing; the way in which his chances of being rich have been used to shed the blood of Rwandans; for which he must then be hold accountable.

“Kabuga is a businessman who invested his money in plotting to exterminate the Tutsi, without which the Genocide would not have been possible, because he was the founder of the killers, who supplied them with equipment and made them extraordinary in the massacre.” Said Dr. Bideri.

The arrest of Kabuga means a lot to Rwanda

The main legal advisor of CNLG talked about what it means for a man like Félicien Kabuga to be arrested; he said “it means that a lot is going to be known; the whereabouts of the Genocide machine, unknown information on the role of Habyarimana and his family in genocide against Tutsis, where Kabuga took the effort to hide all these years, and all those involved.

“It shows that together, forces joined, all the genocide fugitives will be arrested wherever they are, even after 26 years. Kabuga is one of the most influential people who have planned, encouraged, and supported the Genocide.” Said Faustin Nkusi, the spokesperson of The National Public Prosecution Authority.

Naphtal Ahishakiye is the secretary general of ‘Ibuka (“remember” in Kinyarwanda), the main genocide survivors’ organization in Rwanda, talking with Justice Info, he said “The fact that he was arrested and that he is going to be brought to justice is a good thing, but for us, it would be doing us justice twice if Kabuga was extradited and judged here in the country. It would be a good lesson for the other genocide perpetrators, especially those who killed with the weapons he had made available to them, those who he personally incited to commit this crime.”

Félicien Kabuga, 84 years old now, is waited to be handed by the French judiciary to the International residual mechanism for Criminal Tribunals so that he might respond to his seven counts: genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempted genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity for persecution and extermination.