Rwanda: Canada Acts on Justice for the Victims of Rwanda’s Genocide

Statement by African Rights

Canada Acts on Justice for the Victims of Rwanda’s Genocide
Désiré Munyaneza is Arrested in Toronto
More Genocide Suspects Remain at Liberty in Canada

For Immediate Release, 21 October 2005

For further information, contact Rakiya Omaar, Kigali: (office) (00 250) 501007

African Rights welcomes the news that Désiré Munyaneza, a Rwandese citizen who played a significant role in the 1994 genocide, was arrested in Canada on Wednesday, 19 October. Munyaneza, arrested in Toronto and accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, is the first person to be charged under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act passed five years ago. African Rights, which has long campaigned for genocide suspects to be tried in the country of asylum, commends the Canadian government’s decision to prosecute Munyaneza in Canada, rather than to deport him or to transfer him to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania. “The trial of Désiré Munyaneza in Canada will provide an important platform to raise awareness about what happened in Rwanda in 1994”, commented the director of African Rights, Rakiya Omaar. She added that, “public acknowledgement of their suffering is the least of the debts we owe to the survivors of that genocide.”

African Rights, a human rights organization which has been documenting the genocide since 1994, has published a huge body of work on the genocide. It has also campaigned vigorously and consistently for the perpetrators to be brought to justice, wherever they may be. The group has long been aware of the allegations against Munyaneza, identified as a leader of the militiamen responsible for massacres, abductions, murder, torture, rape and extreme sexual violence against Tutsis in Ngoma, the urban commune in the préfecture of Butare.

Munyaneza was a friend and key ally of Shalom Arsène Ntahobali whose mother, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, was, ironically, the Minister of Family and Women’s Affairs in 1994. She used her authority and influence to plan, incite, organize and supervise a highly successful genocide of women, men and children. Nyiramasuhuko and Shalom relied upon Munyaneza to help them implement the genocide in Butare, together with his brother, Clément Munyagasheke. In so doing, Munyaneza also formed a close working relationship with the principal military officers and local government officials in charge of the genocide in Butare, namely Lt. Col. Tharcisse Muvunyi, head of the Junior Officers School (ESO); Captain Ildephonse Nizeyimana, Muvunyi’s deputy at ESO; Alphonse Nteziryayo, responsible for the Military Police and appointed governor of Butare later in the genocide; and Joseph Kanyabashi, the bourgmestre (mayor) of Ngoma commune. Each of these individuals, with the exception of Capt. Nizeyimana, has been indicted by the ICTR.

Known as a political extremist even before April 1994, Désiré Munyaneza distinguished himself during the 100 days of killings by his energy and dedication to the policy of massacres, and for the efficiency of his operations. One of his responsibilities was surveillance of the formidable network of roadblocks established throughout the town of Butare, and manned by militiamen wielding machetes, axes, nail-studded clubs and other instruments of death. Armed with a gun and wearing military uniform, Munyaneza gave orders to the militiamen at the roadblocks in front of Hotel Faucon, at the entrance to the National University and in front of the home of a certain Juvénal Bihira. He was also in close contact with the militia and soldiers who jointly manned the roadblock at the entrance of ESO. Anyone who was identified as a Tutsi was killed on the spot, or taken away and assassinated elsewhere.

A large number of refugees flooded the grounds of the primary school of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda (EER) towards the end of April. Many of them were survivors of massacres in communes neighbouring Ngoma. They had first gone to the office of the préfecture and were chased away. EER was located near the home of Pauline Nyiramasuhuko. Some of the refugees were abducted by Munyaneza and Shalom, using vehicles that belonged to their families. They were taken to the Institute for Scientific and Technological Research (IRST) near the University, felled by machetes and other traditional weapons and dumped in graves that had been prepared for them. The abductions from the EER continued for weeks, but were always led by Munyaneza and Shalom working in tandem, sometimes accompanied by gendarmes.

Munyaneza is also accused by witnesses and survivors of abducting Tutsis from the University Hospital, together with soldiers.

In addition to organized massacres, Munyaneza also targeted certain individuals. One of them is Marie Mukamuganga, 62, known as Maman Amina. She was much sought after by Munyaneza, who claimed that she was a descendant of the Tutsi royal family. The mother of five children, she lived in cellule Ngoma B in sector Ngoma. She was a good friend of Munyaneza’s mother, and her son and Munyaneza had been in the same class at school. She said Munyaneza helped her with drinks from his business when she organized festivities, and also loaned her tables and other items. But these ties did not shield Marie when the killings began. Munyaneza came to look for her on two occasions, but failed to find her. He came back a third time, together with some soldiers, after he learned that Marie’s son had returned to Butare from Kigali. Marie described the ordeal.

Désiré came with Shalom and some soldiers. They were very aggressive. I was in the sitting room with my son, his wife and their baby. Désiré asked me, “Where have you been?” Overwhelmed by fear, I replied that I myself didn’t know.” He told me that they had been looking for me for a long time, but in vain. He took three grenades out of his pocket. It was the first time that I had seen such a weapon. And in fact it was Désiré who told me what they were.

He grabbed me and started banging my head against the grill on the window. Even now my head still hurts. Some of my teeth started to come loose. I begged him not to hurt me, pointing out that I was an old woman, just like his mother. I added that it would be better if he just shot me.

While Munyaneza was dealing with Marie, his companions were beating up her son, asking him “to show them the interahamwe that he had brought from Kigali.” Marie and her son were then led out of their house.

They made us lie down by a stream in front of our house. Then they told us to get up. They took up positions facing us, standing in front of a neighbour’s house. They fired at us, but miraculously the bullets didn’t hit us. Then the gun jammed. Since the authorities of the préfecture had given an order that people shouldn’t be shot, but killed by other means, some officials came running to find out who had disobeyed their instructions. They arrived and started quarrelling with the militiamen. We took advantage of this to run for our lives.

African Rights has also gathered substantial evidence about Munyaneza’s complicity in the crime of rape and sexual violence, particularly among the women and girls who had sought refuge at the office of the préfecture. The refugees there led a life of unmitigated misery, stalked by hunger, torture, rape and abductions. One woman who spent several weeks there commented that, “Désiré, Shalom and a certain Ntakujenjeka, Mahenga’s son, specialized in rape.”

Désiré raped a lot of girls. Some of them have died. He used to take them behind the office of the préfecture, in a building used by Mirinko Plastics, and to Mahenga’s home.

Munyaneza’s name came up repeatedly in 2002-2003 when African Rights carried out research on rape and sexual violence during the 1994 genocide. Sadly, some of the victims have since died of HIV/AIDS, including Michelle (not her real name). Michelle was 17 in 1994 and lived in commune Huye with her parents and seven siblings. The whole family fled to Butare town at the start of the genocide, and decided to separate to increase their chances of survival. Michelle ended up at the office of the préfecture and stayed there for a month.

I was raped by a lot of men at the office of the préfecture. I remember about six of them, including Désiré and Clément, the sons of Munyagasheke. There was a man responsible for our safety, and he too raped me. Many of the girls and women there were also raped; they used to take us into the bush behind the buildings. The killers came every day and picked women out. The group of men who came varied from day to day. Sometimes they returned several times in one day. They were violent.

Michelle’s parents and five of her brothers and sisters perished in the genocide. She was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in early 2002 and died in 2004.

It is impossible to fathom the sense of loss that defines the lives of survivors, so thorough, intense and brutal was the 1994 genocide. Bringing the men and women who killed their loved ones, their friends and neighbours, and who have condemned them to a life of sorrow and loneliness, is a small but necessary gesture towards the survivors. Many of Munyaneza’s allies in 1994 are in the custody of the ICTR in Arusha, including Shalom, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, Muvunyi, Kanyabashi and Nteziryayo. But many other leading perpetrators of the 1994 genocide remain at large, some of them in Canada. African Rights is aware of other militiamen, academics, civil servants and clergy who committed genocide and acts against humanity, who are today living quiet lives in cities and towns throughout Canada. We hope that they too, like Désiré Munyaneza, will be charged and tried in Canadian courts.