A statement that was issued by Prime Minister’s office on behalf of President Paul Kagame Saturday reads
“In solidarity with the Government and people of our neighboring sister Republic of Burundi during this time of grief due to the demise of His Excellency President Pierre Nkurunziza; the President of the Republic of Rwanda His Excellency Paul Kagame has ordered that the national flag and the flag of East African community on Rwandan territory will fly at half-mast from Saturday the 13th June, 2020 until the burial.”
“We continue to grieve with the People of Burundi and the family of His Excellency Pierre Nkurunziza during this difficult time.”
President Nkurunziza, 55, died on June 8th due to a cardiac arrest according to a statement that was released by the government of Burundi.
The graduation of the eighth intake was presided over by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Johnston Busingye. The event was also graced by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dan Munyuza, UR Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Philip Cotton and the Deputy IGP in charge of Administration and Personnel, Juvenal Marizamunda, among other officials.
The course attracted participants Botswana, Central African Republic, Kenya, Ethiopia, Namibia, Somalia, South Sudan, Zimbabwe and Rwanda, the host.
It was held in line with the national guidelines on fighting the spread of novel Coronavirus.
The one-year PSCSC combines both academic and professional aspects; a Master’s degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Transformation, and a level 7 certificate in Strategic Leadership and Management. It is conducted in partnership with the University of Rwanda through its Center for Conflict Management and the UK Bramshill College of Policing.
Minister Busingye said that the Police Senior Command is an important milestone in their career path, and hailed their remarkable efforts and positive attitude demonstrated during the course period, despite the challenges posed the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The history of Rwanda and the journey that the people of Rwanda traveled before, during and after the tragic genocide committed against the Tutsi in 1994 taught us more than any other country that peace, security, justice, good governance and development are indissolubly interlinked,” Minister Busingye said.
“It, therefore, flows from this undeniable reality that only trained, professional, human rights abiding and disciplined law enforcement agencies, with strategic command dimension, and a full understanding of national, regional and global peace and security dynamic are inevitable to the sustainability of this nexus,” he added.
He noted that threats come from unexpected sources and directions, which requires effective response to the challenges of the contemporary policing environment associated with globalization, use of sophisticated technology in the commission of crime, transnational organized crime and others.
Effective response to these security challenges, Minister Busingye said, requires regional, international and judicial cooperation, experience sharing as well as the harmonization of training and other programmes tailored to identified law enforcement challenges.
He emphasized that cooperation is key in addressing transnational and globalized crimes most of which are technology-based, which the PSCSC reflects.
While pledging the Government’s continued support to your work of policing and training in particular, the Minister urged the graduands to use the acquired knowledge and skills to make a difference in their respective countries as their respond to security challenges of today and tomorrow.
“The endorsements and symbols for Senior Commanders you have received should not be mere accolades to wear but rather a fresh rejuvenated start to big tasks ahead.”
The UR Vice-Chancellor Prof. Philip Cotton urged the graduands to prepare for new challenges ahead and be open to learning every day as key to success in their career.
“Hard work, humility and passion for the people you serve will carry you through the next phases in your life,” Prof. Cotton said.
The Commandant of NPC, Commissioner of Police (CP) Christophe Bizimungu said that the course is designed to equip participants with quality skills in strategic leadership, professional policing as well as a critical understanding of peace and conflict.
“It enables participants to perform command and staff functions at strategic level and enhances their ability to manage wider aspects of security,” said CP Bizimungu.
He said that the College delivered to the core of the course despite the challenges caused by COVID-19, and thanked the exemplary discipline of the participants, who were compelled to adopt to the new safety restrictions including staying within the boundaries of the College throughout the rest of the course.
This is part of the earlier pledged test kits and personal protective equipment to the mission to increase its capacity to test and treatment to staff as the world continues to battle the Coronavirus disease.
The donation comes particularly in support of international peacekeeping efforts to contain the spread of the virus and in light of the lack of enough testing kits in some countries.
Brig. Gen. Eugene Nkubito, UNMISS Sector Commander in Juba, handed over the kits on behalf of Rwanda.
Brig. Gen. Nkubito explained that the remaining lot of the equipment will be availed soon to UNMISS during force rotation exercises slated for next month.
Brig. Gen. Nkubito said that the Coronavirus is a “common enemy to mankind’, and cooperation is the way to defeat the pandemic.
Joan Segui Barber, UNMISS head of the Laboratory section thanked Rwanda for the support adding that it will significantly boost the mission capacity against Covid-19.
“We have always sought for testing kits from the World Health Organization office in South Sudan whenever we want to make tests, these kits are definitely augmented to our speed in testing staff,” Barber said.
The South Sudan government has taken several measures such as imposing a partial curfew, suspending schools and universities, and shuttering non-essential businesses, to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus.
Early this week, Rwanda also started testing and sampling for novel Coronavirus targeting its Police, military and prison warden peacekeepers deployed in South Sudan.
The genocidal government, intensified its extermination policy by setting up “crisis committees”, that is to say extermination committees which started to wipe away genocide evidences especially destruction of houses and traces of Tutsi who had just been massacred.
Nyiramasuhuko Pauline played a leading role in putting genocidal policy into practice in the Butare prefecture. She was born in April 1946 in Rugara cell, Ndora sector, Ndora commune, Butare prefecture. During the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi, she was the Minister of Family and Women Advancement in the Genocidal Government led by Jean Kambanda.
{{1. The Policy of Tutsi extermination called “pacification” by the genocidal government}}
The genocidal government implemented pacification as the policy of exterminating the Tutsi. For the Kambanda government, Pacification meant the elimination of Tutsi. The criminal government sought at all costs to better control the massacres and to ensure that they were perpetrated according to the extermination plan put in place by the same government.
A minister responsible for extermination had been appointed for each prefecture to ensure that the directives and instructions of the genocidal government were implemented. For Butare it was Nyiramasuhuko who had been assigned the task.
Each minister had to make the population understand the measures adopted by the government aimed at the extermination of Tutsi.
The speeches made during the “pacification campaign” in Butare were extermination speeches which were the same across the country.
{{2. The extermination of Tutsi in the Butare prefecture was assigned to Nyaramasuhuko Pauline}}
Nyiramasuhuko participated in all meetings of the genocidal government led by Kambanda Jean, between April 9 and July 14, 1994. On May 7, 1994, in Murambi, Nyiramasuhuko participated in the meeting of ministers dedicated to civil defense. The genocidal government’s “civil defense” program was a component of the genocidal strategy.
Numerous meetings of this government were held in Kigali, Gitarama and Gisenyi and during this period the ministers, including Nyiramasuhuko, were regularly informed of the massacres which were perpetrated against the Tutsi. During these meetings, the ministers demanded that weapons be supplied to them for distribution in their respective prefectures, in order to speed up the massacres against the Tutsi.
During these meetings, the genocidal government adopted directives and gave instructions to the prefects and bourgmestres, which were transmitted to the population and which aimed to continue the genocide throughout the country.
A minister had been appointed for each prefecture, with the mission of overseeing what was then called “pacification”, that is, the extermination of Tutsi. Nyiramasuhuko was one of the most assiduous members of these meetings where extermination decisions were made.
{{3. The extermination agenda in the hands of Nyiramasuhuko Pauline
}}
Nyiramasuhuko had a Tutsi extermination agenda in her bag, which showed the planning of the Tutsi massacres in general and the personal role to play during the implementation. Nyiramasuhuko wrote personal notes at meetings of the genocidal government which she put into practice in Butare prefecture.
The diary presented the scene of the massacres and the central role of the genocidal government. That agenda constitutes a written proof of the planning of the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi by the MRND, the CDR and the other parties grouped within the Hutu Power.
This diary shows that during the period from April to July 1994, the Kambanda genocidal government had an essential function and was indeed a place where the Tutsi extermination decisions were discussed and where they were taken.
{{Nyiramasuhuko Pauline perpetrated several massacres in the prefecture of Butare}}
{{- Nyiramasuhuko caused death of Tutsi on April 21, 1994 at the IRST}}
Nyiramasuhuko participated in the installation of roadblocks in the city of Butare used to identify the Tutsi, in order to eliminate them. Her son Arsène Shalom Ntahobali toured the Butare prefecture in search of Tutsi. After locating the victims, Nyiramasuhuko and her son captured them and took them to different places to be executed. Nyiramasuhuko ordered the Interahamwe, who controlled the roadblocks to take them to the place where the other Tutsi had been taken to be killed.
{{- Nyiramasuhuko called Tutsi « dirt ».}}
One day, in front of the Butare prefecture headquarters with the prefect Sylvain Nsabimana, she scratched her head and said angrily and aloud: “This place is dirty, this place stinks. There is dirt here. This dirt must be removed; I must not find this dirt again here.” Nyiramasuhuko pointed to the Tutsi refugees who were in the courtyard when she spoke of “dirt”. Nsabimana then asked the Interahamwe and the soldiers to evacuate the refugees and force them to stay in the back of the prefecture office during that day. The refugees who were at the prefecture office were beaten and killed.
{{- Nyiramasuhuko ordered to evacuate and massacre Tutsi refugees}}
Nyiramasuhuko returned to the prefecture office another time. She asked Nsabimana to convene a meeting of the mayors of the prefecture, to ask them to evacuate the refugees to the communes where they belonged to. This order had been carried out, and after the evacuation the Tutsi were killed.
{{-The massacre of Tutsi at the roadblock established by Nyiramasuhuko at the Ihuliro hotel}}
Since April 1994, a roadblock had been established near the Nyiramasuhuko and Ntahobali residence, “the Ihuliro Hotel”. The Ihuliro Hotel also served as a gathering place for planning the genocide. Nyiramasuhuko and the Interahamwe held regular meetings at the Ihuliro hotel during which they discussed the implementation of the genocide in Butare prefecture. Interahamwe and soldiers used this roadblock to identify, kidnap and kill Tutsi. For example, on April 21, 1994, a Tutsi called Léopold Ruvurajabo was killed near the Ihuliro hotel on the instructions of Nyiramasuhuko and Ntahobali.
{{- Nyiramasuhuko ordered the Interahamwe to kidnap Tutsi women, to rape them before killing them.}}
It was at the Ihuliro hotel roadblock that Tutsi girls and women were kidnapped and raped under Nyiramasuhuko’s instructions before killing them. This rape policy had been widely used by Nyiramasuhuko throughout the city of Butare. The rape of Tutsi women was used as a weapon of genocide, which formed part of the general extermination plan. Nyiramasuhuko encouraged the Interahamwe, including her son, to rape Tutsi women.
{{-Nyiramasuhuko ordered the massacre of Tutsi who had taken refuge at the EER}}
After Nyiramasuhuko and Ntahobali attacked the refugees at the Butare prefecture office between April 19 and the end of June 1994, those who survived were taken to various parts of the prefecture to be executed, including in the forest adjoining the EER. There, Tutsi were ill-treated before being exterminated.
Nyiramasuhuko was found guilty of genocide crime and sentenced to life imprisonment at first instance, but the sentence was reduced to 47 years on appeal. Her son Shalom Ntahobali was sentenced to the same 47-year prison term as his mother.
{{CONCLUSION}}
Tutsi massacre continued in the area controlled by the genocidal government, which intensified its extermination policy by setting up “crisis committees”, that is to say extermination committees, and the policy of the civil defense which aimed to leave no Tutsi living in Rwanda. It was that time that the criminal government started to get rid of evidence of the genocide, comprising the destruction of houses and traces of massacred Tutsi.
{{Done at Kigali on June 12, 2020
Dr. BIZIMANA Jean Damascène
Executive Secretary
National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG)}}
Kenya is persuaded that global challenges are only surmountable if the world’s rules based multilateral system is deployed in a manner that attracts consensus not only in the appreciation of the challenges, but also in the evolution of practical response strategies.
The 10-point Agenda that Kenya promises to champion in the Security Council is largely premised on the SDGs. The process leading to the adoption of the SDG’s was multilateral diplomacy at its best demonstrated by building of bridges between diametrically opposing opinions resulting in some of the most profound commitments ever by Member States in the history of the United Nations. Kenya was at the very centre of this process.
In 2013-2014, the world entrusted Kenya and Hungary with co-facilitation of the international negotiation process that created the global sustainable development goals (SDGs).
The mandate was clear but the task was not easy. Collecting and collating ideas from all stakeholders and refining them into simple consumable thoughts was just one part. Moderating the concepts and diverse schools of thought and building consensus around them was another critical part.
Most importantly was to provide sound leadership to guide the parties navigate the complex terrain of positions held by different countries and groupings.
The end of the SDGs formation ushered in deliberations on the Post 2015 development Agenda in September, 2014. Because of its impressive leadership in the SDGs process, Kenya was again appointed by the President of the 71st session of UN General Assembly to co- facilitate the 2030 UN Agenda design process together with Ireland. The process successfully culminated in the adoption of the 2030 UN Agenda for sustainable development at a summit in New York in September, 2015.
Subsequently, and as a follow up, Kenya has, and continues to work on global multilateral projects, such as the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference with Japan and Canada, and many others on various issues of interest and concern, ranging from climate change, among others, to the International Conference on Population 2 Development (ICPD), co-hosted in November 2019 with UNFPA and Denmark. These milestones are a seminal legacy of Kenya’s great multilateralism spirit.
Kenya’s skills in multilateral diplomacy, as demonstrated in the SDG process, SBEC and others, will be exemplified in the Security Council in at least three ways:
First, Kenya will bring on board consensus building capabilities, more so within the context of unprecedented challenges occasioned by the global COVID-19 pandemic and other existential threats.
Second, the Council will benefit from Kenya’s objectivity and trustworthiness which is necessary particularly in helping countries in conflict to arrive at common understanding of various issues.
Third, Kenya’s consistency will bring in an element of certainty particularly on any Kenya-led agenda. These three qualities are crucial for building peace and security in our world. Kenya’s leadership in multilateral diplomacy has stood out even during these extraordinary times of global COVID-19 pandemic.
For instance, President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is the current chair of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States and a member of the Bureau of African Union Heads of State and Government, has been engaging world leaders and institutions in proffering solutions for concerted response measures to the COVID-19 pandemic. He hosted the First Extra Ordinary Summit of the OACPS on 3rd June 2020 under the theme “Transcending the COVID-19 Pandemic:
Building Resilience through Global Solidarity” whose focus was addressing current and post COVID-19 challenges. Additionally, Kenya has initiated many webinars and virtual meetings at technical and ministerial levels. The SDGs/2030 Agenda process is only one of many instances that show cases Kenya’s leadership in multilateral diplomacy.
The country has demonstrated thought and practical leadership in many other areas which will be useful in the pursuit of the 10 point agenda once in the Council. As a proven team player and stickler of a rules based multilateralism as well as its rich experience, Kenya is a safe pair of hands and stands ready to deliver on its promise as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Kenya is ready to serve.
{{Amb. Macharia Kamau
CBS Principal Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}
