Rwanda, 1994

Like those who have preceded us in addressing the

Assembly, we wish first of all to offer you, Mr. President,

our warmest congratulations on your election to preside at

this session, which attests to the trust and esteem your

eminent qualities and competence inspire in the

international community. Your election also constitutes a

solemn tribute to your fraternal, friendly country,

Côte d’Ivoire, for its important role in the concert of

nations and its firm determination to contribute to the

steady strengthening of cooperation. We wish to assure

you that the Rwandese delegation will spare no effort to

make its modest contribution to the success of your task.

We also wish to avail ourselves of this opportunity

to pay a heartfelt tribute to your predecessor, His

Excellency Mr. Samuel Insanally of Guyana, for his

competence, wisdom and diligence in guiding the work of

the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session.

In addition, we would like to thank the Secretary-

General, His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for

his tireless efforts to strengthen the role of the United

Nations as an instrument for the promotion of peace and

solidarity among peoples.

Finally, we warmly welcome the Republic of South

Africa as a new Member of the vast family of the United

Nations. That country has honoured democratic ideals by

abolishing the odious system of apartheid. To be sure,

the arrival of a united, democratic and non-racial South

Africa by means of free and democratic elections deserves

to be hailed from the rostrum of this Assembly.

This forum of nations gives us a timely opportunity

to expound on the problem of Rwanda, which has been in

the news day in and day out.

One cannot talk about the Rwanda problem without

mentioning the role the United Nations has played and

continues to play in the history of our country. The

history of our links is well known. It will be recalled that

just after the beginning of this century Rwanda was

placed under the mandate system and, later, under the

trusteeship system, which then led to its independence.

This history, as has been witnessed by the

international community, is riddled with unfortunate

events, the most recent of which is the genocide Rwanda

has just experienced. This genocide, which rivals the

Nazi holocaust of the 1940s, is somewhat paradoxical

because since the end of the Second World War the

international community has tried to build a civilization

on the foundations of respect for the fundamental rights

of human beings.

While the international community was pooling its

efforts to put an end to racism and racial discrimination,

particularly apartheid in South Africa - whose

participation in the forty-ninth session is a felicitous turn

of events - at the same time an ideology akin to apartheid

was evolving in our country. That ideology, which was

publicly professed by the public authorities - more

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precisely, by the National Revolutionary Movement for

Development (MRND) and the Coalition for the Defence of

the Republic (CDR) parties of the late President

Habyarimana - cleared the way for genocide. Plans for

extermination were being openly prepared for a long time,

with no trepidation whatsoever, since the power structure

had long before institutionalized the violation of

fundamental human rights. This is why armed opposition,

in the form of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF),

confronted the regime beginning in 1990. Some opposition

parties also emerged in 1991, thanks to the pressure exerted

by the RPF.

Under the aegis of the Organization of African Unity,

the countries of the subregion initiated a peace process,

which the United Nations, together with a number of

Western countries, later joined. We take this opportunity

to thank all for their tireless efforts to ensure that the

Arusha negotiations would succeed.

For more than a year the Rwandese negotiated the

Arusha Peace Agreement, the principal conclusions of

which addressed the establishment of a State of law in

Rwanda, respect for human rights, power-sharing, the

establishment without discrimination of a national army, the

construction of a society based on respect for democratic

principles and on national reconciliation, and the return of

refugees banished from their country for more than 35

years.

The international community witnessed the

intransigence of the MRND-CDR regime, which, describing

the Agreement as a mere scrap of paper, hatched a plan for

extermination, now recognized by the whole world as

genocide. The international cameras trained on this

barbaric crime revealed moments of rare cruelty. The

militia, trained by the MRND and the CDR and supported

by the presidential guard and by other sectors of the army,

slit the throats of women, elderly people, men and children.

The Rwandese countryside was strewn with corpses. Our

rivers swept thousands of dead bodies downstream.

Churches and schools became veritable slaughterhouses,

and even now they smell of human flesh, the flesh of

thousands of innocent people who had hoped to find refuge

there. Piled into common graves, the victims of April’s

madness number thousands upon thousands.

The killing in our country was intended to disintegrate

the Rwandese people, and it succeeded. Now we must

make a fresh start in rebuilding the Rwandese nation. We

must ensure that the various sectors of the population can

coexist. We must give them a common hope and a

common destiny, which, after all that has happened, has

become a difficult yet indispensable task.

We have already requested the Office of the United

Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help our

Government in the effort to teach the Rwandese new

values based on respect for fundamental human rights.

There would have been no genocide if the MRND-

CDR system had abided by the spirit of Arusha. But they

could not embrace the spirit of Arusha because those

Rwandese Nazis were proponents of the final solution:

extermination. They flouted morality, common sense, the

values everyone in this Assembly believes in and, above

all, the prescriptions of Arusha. Yet some who are

insensitive to our suffering have asked that those Nazi

parties still be allowed to hold power.

Never in history has such a scandalous privilege

been sought for the organized perpetrators of similar cases

of genocide. Such requests make light of our dignity as

human beings. We cannot agree to these requests, which

fly in the face of the spirit and the letter of the principles

underlying this institution - that is, fundamental human

rights.

By discouraging impulses towards revenge and in

anticipation of justice that will be clear to everyone and

that is supported by the international community, our

Government has been able to contain a situation marked -

understandably after such tragedy - by tensions and

rancour. Contrary to disparaging allegations that are

completely unfounded, our Government is not showing

weakness; it is not just sitting on its hands whenever there

is an infraction of the law.

Our Government continues to cooperate closely with

the United Nations Force, and to facilitate its work. With

scanty means, our Government has undertaken to rebuild

a country that has been socially splintered and morally

and physically ravaged. The humanitarian task of the

United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda

(UNAMIR) continues to be an indispensable asset in our

efforts at rehabilitation.

This unspeakable barbarism, this genocide was

carried out before the very eyes of the international

community. We are grateful to those countries that

generously put their troops at the disposal of UNAMIR,

as well as to the African contingents of the Group of

neutral military observers. We would express our sincere

thanks to them for the spirit in which they made their

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contribution. Rather than presiding over peace and

harmony among the Rwandese, the troops, misled by the

authors of the apocalypse - the Rwandese authorities at the

time - were, alas, forced to serve as witnesses to the

carnage. We regret that their mandate prevented them from

acting effectively at the moment of the tragedy. Based on

this experience, we encourage the United Nations to furnish

the international tribunal to be created in Rwanda with the

means to function as it should, in order to spare us further

disappointments and tragedies.

In accordance with Rwanda’s request, and following

Mr. Degnisegui’s report, as well as that of the Commission

of Experts established by Security Council resolution 935

(1994), of 1 July 1994, it is absolutely urgent that this

international tribunal be established. It will enable us to

prosecute in a completely open setting those responsible for

the genocide. Since most of the criminals have found

refuge in various corners of the world, what we seek is a

tool of justice that knows no borders. Moreover, the very

nature of the events - considered to be crimes against

humanity - warrants the international community’s joining

forces to prevent their reoccurrence.

That is why we continue to urge the adoption of a

Security Council resolution that would facilitate the arrest

and trial of those responsible for the genocide who are now

in refugee camps outside our borders. We would remind

the Assembly that most of these camps are primarily

military camps where troops and militia, still in possession

of heavy and light weapons, hold hundreds of thousands of

persons hostage. This resolution should be based on

Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and should

include a request to, an authorization for, States Members

of the United Nations to detain individuals on their territory

who are suspected, on solid grounds, of having participated

in acts of genocide, and authorization for them to do so.

The construction of a new society based on social

justice and respect for fundamental human rights will be

possible only if those responsible for the Rwandese tragedy

are prosecuted. It is now six months since the first crimes

were committed, and action must be initiated. The delay in

starting trials causes understandable frustration on the part

of victims who are already losing hope that there can be a

just society and who tend to view the relative impunity of

the criminals as indicating approval of their crimes.

Another thorny problem which faces our country and

upon which we would like to shed some light is that of

refugees.

The Rwandese refugees can be classified into two

categories: the former refugees to whom the dictatorial

power had refused to grant the right to return to their

homeland, and the more recent ones who fled Rwanda

following the events to which I have already referred. It

is our Government’s policy to encourage all refugees,

without distinction, to return to their country.

In this respect, we are addressing countless appeals

to our citizens outside our borders to rejoin us and help

us build a new Rwanda. Thousands of them have already

returned to their homeland, but many others remain

abroad. We are also calling upon the soldiers to come

back and, if they still desire to do so - to continue their

careers in the Rwandese army. For Rwanda is their

country; it belongs equally, and unquestionably, to all of

its daughters and all its sons, with its limitations and its

history, including this most recent tragedy which we must

all bear.

Our Government has made the choice to act with

transparency. The unrestricted deployment of UNAMIR

as well as other human rights observers should reassure

the world, and especially the refugees, of our

Government’s determination to respect the state of law.

We urge the United Nations to contribute to

eliminating all the obstacles to the return of refugees, and

especially to stop the violence in the camps against, in

particular, those who wish to return home, and to break

the stranglehold exercised by the former army’s militia

and other perpetrators of genocide on the rest of the

people. This is why we beseech the international

community to assist us in surmounting all the challenges

entailed by the return of the refugees.

Concrete steps have been taken, but much remains

to be done if the world is to be completely rid of these

weapons which in the past caused serious tensions in

various parts of the world that degenerated into armed

conflicts.

Even though the relaxation of East-West tensions has

contributed greatly to the resolution of certain conflicts,

particularly in Indo-China, Latin America and the Middle

East, elsewhere - in the former Yugoslavia and some

African countries - the fires regrettably continue to burn.

Rwanda fully supports the international community’s

efforts to ensure compliance with commitments related to

the peaceful settlement of disputes and the non-

proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of

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mass destruction. Our country is a party to the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and we reiterate

our full dedication to the international community’s goals

with regard to disarmament and arms control.

The attainment of these goals - eliminating the risk of

war, limiting destruction in case of war, stopping war at an

early stage, strengthening international security in order to

ensure economic prosperity, channelling the funds freed as

a result of disarmament towards the developing countries -

will allow all nations to thrive.

Although genuine progress has been made in the area

of disarmament, the new world order remains compromised

by the constantly growing gap between the poorer and

richer countries.

In the light of the two United Nations publications on

the world economic and social situation for the years 1993

and 1994, current economic trends in the world point to

gloomy forecasts in the short and medium term, particularly

for many third-world countries.

The Rwandese delegation hopes that this forty-ninth

session will reaffirm the importance and the still current

validity of the Declaration on International Economic

Cooperation, in particular the Revitalization of Economic

Growth and of Development of the Developing Countries.

We solemnly invite the forty-ninth session of the

United Nations General Assembly to address the

fundamental right to development, as stated in the Vienna

Declaration and adopted by the World Conference on

Human Rights, as well as the link between peace and

development. Respect for human rights and fundamental

freedoms and development are interdependent and mutually

reinforcing. Rwanda and Africa as a whole look to the

promise of the establishment of the United Nations agenda

for development and of the speedy implementation of the

amendments proposed to the plan of action - amendments

which will undoubtedly enable us to restore the economies

of our countries.

It is imperative for the United Nations - whose main

objective remains the promotion of peace, security and

development - to devote itself to activities in keeping with

the attainment of peace, security and development.

In the fifty years since the signing of the San

Francisco Charter, the world has undergone many changes.

New Powers have arisen, the geopolitical map has shifted,

Africa and other third-world countries have emancipated

themselves, the cold war has ended - hence we must

reassess our Organization to ensure that it can meet the

new challenges.

It is in this context that Rwanda is concerned with

the demands of the new world geopolitical situation, as

well as with the new role assigned to the United Nations

to contribute to the advent of the new world order.

In this connection, particular attention must be paid

to the current restructuring of the United Nations system,

particularly of the Security Council.

With regard to this very important organ of the

United Nations system, the Rwandese delegation

considers that membership, both permanent and non-

permanent, should be expanded, with scrupulous attention

to equitable geographic representation and bearing in

mind the desire to maintain efficiency.

Similarly, the current restructuring of the United

Nations system should allow small States to enjoy greater

security and to be able to occupy a seat on the Security

Council without difficulty.

One hopes that the new configuration of the Security

Council will reflect the principle of equality among all

Member States, and that this reform will respect the rules

of democracy and transparency.

(spoke in English)

May I conclude by stating before the community of

nations that members represent that the task we have set

ourselves is enormous, but the will and determination of

the Rwandese people to build a new society is

unflinching.

To all those Rwandese who became victims of the

machine of genocide and recent massacres, we share your

deep wounds and reiterate our determination to bring the

culprits to justice. To those Rwandese who were blindly

manipulated to join the bankrupt politics of division and

suppression, we call upon you to come back to your

senses and join us in building a new society based on

tolerance and reconciliation.

To the international community, I pledge our resolve

to ensure that never again shall Rwanda be a terrain on

which is sown politics of denial of basic human rights to

any of its citizens. Its role in helping us to pick up the

pieces of the completely shattered fabric of our society

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need not be emphasized. We share this moral duty, it

being understood that the major part of the burden by far

rests on the Rwandese people themselves.