Rwanda, 1999

I

wish first of all, on behalf of my delegation, to join other

speakers in congratulating you, Sir, on your unanimous

election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its

fifty-fourth session. The tact and insight you have displayed

from the outset bode well for the success of our work.

I also pay tribute to His Excellency Mr. Didier Opertti,

who guided the work of the Assembly at its fifty-third

session, and to His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan for his

timely report on the work of the Organization and for the

important statement he delivered to the General Assembly.

On behalf of my country, I welcome the new

Members of the United Nations: the Republic of Kiribati,

the Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga. We

congratulate them warmly on joining the great United

Nations family.

During the twentieth century, which is now drawing to

a close, the world has been profoundly affected by many

striking events. In the sphere of technology, for example,

we have seen great progress leading to the expansion of

communication to the point where the world has become a

global village. The world rejoices at its liberation from

apartheid and from colonialism in nearly all countries.

Here, my delegation welcomes the endeavours of the

United Nations, including its focus on the solidarity that is

the foundation of our Organization, which led to that

success.

But those positive achievements do not mean that all

has been perfect in the twentieth century. In fact, a variety

of disasters and tragedies inflicted on humans by humans

continue to ravage mankind. Despite scientific progress,

epidemics continue to take human lives by the thousand.

Two particularly dreadful world wars devastated the world.

Hateful acts of genocide have been committed.

In that connection, my country, Rwanda, had the

misfortune in 1994 to be the victim of a genocide that took

more than a million lives. Planned and organized by the

government machinery of the day, that genocide was

carried out in full view of the international community,

which was unable to stop it. The people of Rwanda appeals

to the conscience of the international community never

again to permit such a tragedy anywhere in the world. We

have every right to expect this.

As we express that wish, investigations have been

carried out by countries such as Belgium and France, and

others, by the Organization of African Unity and the United

Nations, are under way to identify those responsible for the

genocide in Rwanda. We want those responsible to be

subject to punishment throughout the world.

Further, we welcome the General Assembly address

by President Clinton of the United States, in which he

referred to the creation of an international coalition

against genocide, an idea that had been put forward at the

fiftieth session by His Excellency Mr. Pasteur Bizimungu,

President of the Rwandese Republic.

In the wake of the genocide, nearly the entire

population of Rwanda was displaced. Most Rwandese

were widows, of whom 34 per cent had become heads of

household. There were thousands of orphans, most of

whom had also become heads of their households. Many

children were involved in these acts of genocide; they

deserve to be reeducated in an appropriate setting. My

Government has an ambitious programme to take up the

challenge of helping survivors of the genocide coexist

with the perpetrators.

We are fortunate today that thanks to the vigorous

measures which have been taken and to the support of the

international community, my Government has been able

to ensure security throughout its territory, bring the

refugees home and house them, get the economy back on

track and ensure food security.

After the genocide of 1994, Rwanda found itself

with its judicial system completely destroyed and its

prisons crammed with suspects. The Government

therefore began rebuilding the national judicial system

and collaborated in establishing international judicial

machinery to deal with that heinous crime against

humanity, genocide.

I must pay a tribute here to the international

community, which came to my country’s assistance by

establishing the United Nations International Criminal

Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). But we must highlight that

although we welcome the establishment of the Tribunal,

we regret the slowness of its trial procedures and its

sometimes secretive way of choosing suspects to try. The

Government of Rwanda states that it is nevertheless

willing to collaborate with the Tribunal and to do

everything possible to speed up its proceedings.

One of the difficulties involved in arresting the

criminals who committed genocide in Rwanda is that

when the Government that organized the genocide fell, all

its various acolytes scattered throughout the world.

Fortunately, some of them have been arrested with the

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assistance of the countries that took them in. We wish to

pay a ringing tribute to the fraternal countries that have

arrested and extradited criminals sought by the Tribunal for

Rwanda. We urge them to continue their cooperation and

call on those that have not yet been able to do so to fulfil

this obligation to humankind.

We note with satisfaction also that in his report

(S/1999/957) on the protection of civilians in armed

conflict, the Secretary-General recommends to the Security

Council that it should make full cooperation obligatory

between Member States with the International Criminal

Tribunals for Rwanda and for Yugoslavia. We note also

that this recommendation by the Secretary-General is in line

with the wishes of the several speakers who have spoken

up either in the Security Council or here in the Assembly,

against the culture impunity. In this we find hope that there

will never again, anywhere in the world, be a genocide.

I would mention another very important programme by

my Government: for national reconciliation and to establish

the constitutional rule of law. As part of the programme,

my Government has established two commissions: the

National Commission for Human Rights and the

Commission for National Unity and Reconciliation. The

mission of these two commissions is to promote the

positive values of mutual respect and national reconciliation

which, along with education in participatory democracy, are

the top priorities for the people of Rwanda.

Concerning the democratization of our institutions, it

is a pleasure for me to announce from this rostrum that the

democratization process has started, with local elections,

which should ensure, more than before, participation by the

population in managing the business of the State. This

process also has on its agenda the purpose of giving young

people and women a greater role in that management.

The United Nations has a Charter whose principles

and purposes serve to guide us towards a world of

solidarity, of harmony and security. But there have been

many failures despite our common aspirations to peace.

This is sufficient proof that the way in which our

Organization is functioning betrays its very reason for

existence. That is why, during this session, many

delegations — and particularly the current President of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU), Mr. Abdelaziz

Bouteflika — have shown that reform of the United

Nations and, more particularly, of the Security Council is

both necessary and urgent. We join those delegations that

have already spoken in favour of this long-awaited reform.

A few moments ago I referred to the great

achievements of science. Here, I could not fail to mention

the concept of globalization. Convinced of the benefits of

trade and between peoples, we in Rwanda believe that

this new system brings with it new hopes. Nevertheless,

we fear that the structural differences between our various

economies will require altering the expectations of our

peoples, whom globalization is supposed to serve. We

therefore believe that the effectiveness of globalization

will be measured in terms of how it contributes to

resolving such sensitive questions as the poverty

eradication, the debt burden, and peace and security.

Another factor for the success of globalization is the

establishment of viable regional economic arrangements

through integration based on cooperation between

developing countries. We are happy that Africa has

already started to move in this direction, whether within

OAU or the African Economic Community or in

subregional organizations. We are very pleased also to

note the contribution of the economic organizations in

Africa, not only to the development effort but also to

conflict prevention and resolution.

In this connection we applaud the role the Southern

African Development Community (SADC) countries have

played in preventing and resolving conflicts in the

subregion. We likewise applaud the regional and bilateral

initiatives that have given rise to such great hopes for

peace, particularly in West Africa, in the Horn of Africa,

in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine, in East

Timor and in the Balkan region. We do earnestly request

the international community to support these efforts.

I particularly applaud the efforts of the Secretary-

General and the resolve he has shown in increasing the

efficiency of the United Nations in the area of peace and

international security. The delegation of Rwanda, for its

part, contributed to the discussions of the Security

Council on 17 and 30 September this year (S/PV.4046

(Resumption 1) and S/PV.4049 (Resumption 2)), on

conflict in Africa. In this respect, my delegation truly

appreciates the very important contribution of the

President of Zambia, Frederick Chiluba, in Security

Council discussions (S/PV.4047).

The Agreement on a ceasefire in the Democratic

Republic of Congo signed in Lusaka on 10 July 1999

(S/1999/815) is a commitment by the signatories to

respect and participate fully in the peace process. Two

important clauses support this agreement: first, the clause

on inter-Congolese political negotiations towards a new

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political order in the Democratic Republic of the Congo;

and secondly, the clause on pursuing and disarming the

armed groups, including former Rwandan soldiers and the

Interahamwe militias who perpetrated the genocide of 1994

and later became integrated into the army of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Agreement also

provides for various methods by which it is to be put into

effect, and also contains clauses that will help preserve it in

both spirit and letter.

In this respect, I recall that subparagraph b of

paragraph 2 of article 1 of the Agreement requires the

signatories parties to cease hostile propaganda; the goal is

to ensure that the Ceasefire Agreement is respected.

Nevertheless, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Ndombasi, from

this rostrum, violently attacked my country, Rwanda. There

is no need for me to revisit those outrageous accusations,

because our representative has had the occasion to explain

our intervention in the crisis in the Democratic Republic of

the Congo. I simply wish to respond to one of his concerns,

many times repeated in his statement.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic

Republic of the Congo several times over asked this

Assembly to intercede with Rwanda so that Rwanda

withdraws from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

By way of response, I declare before this Assembly

that Rwanda welcomes and supports the outcome of the

African initiative and urges the international community to

give its unconditional support to the implementation of the

terms of this Agreement by all the parties, which must

refrain from any violation of the ceasefire. Unfortunately,

we are receiving news that the contrary is happening, for

those who call for implementation of the ceasefire are the

first to violate it.

Nr. Jusys (Lithuania), Vice-President, took the Chair.

For two years already, the Kinshasa Government has

been training, equipping and enrolling in its own army ex-

officers of the former Rwandan armed forces who

committed acts of genocide and should be prosecuted.

Furthermore, these officers, who directed the genocide, are

on the headquarters staff of the army of the Democratic

Republic of the Congo. As the representative of Burundi

has just said, these armed elements are fomenting insecurity

and propagating the idea of genocide throughout the region.

Now that the Lusaka Agreement has been signed by

all the parties to the conflict, we dare to hope that a United

Nations peacekeeping force will be deployed as soon as

possible, and that soon peace will reign in our subregion.

May this Agreement enjoy the full support of the entire

international community.