http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Africa/rwanda110100.shtml
Survivors sue UN for 'complicity' in Rwanda genocide
By Karen MacGregor in Johannesburg
11 January 2000
The United Nations is being sued, for the first time in its
history, for alleged complicity in the crime of genocide.
Lawyers are instituting a case on behalf of two Rwandan
women whose families died during the 1994 genocide in
which 800,000, mostly Tutsi people, were slaughtered
by Hutus.
The women – the widow of a former Rwandan supreme
court judge and the sister of a Tutsi former cabinet
minister – accuse UN soldiers who were meant to
defend their families of either handing them over to their
killers or running away.
They are being represented by the former South
Australian crown prosecutor Michael Hourigan, who quit
his job as an investigator with the UN's International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in disgust at UN inaction
and barriers to his investigation, and also by the human
rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, a fellow Australian.
Mr Hourigan, who works for a US law firm, told the
Melbourne Age that genocide had been committed
against Rwandans in the presence of a UN force, and
that the murders in question were "caused by the
cowardice, negligence and bungling of UN forces".
This is the first time that a formal claim for reparations for
such conduct has been made against the UN. Mr
Hourigan would not reveal the damages sought, but said:
"It is recognised in domestic and international law that
when you commit a tort you compensate for the
damage."
Last month the UN released the damning findings of a
three-man inquiry, headed by the former Swedish prime
minister Ingvar Carlsson, that showed the organisation
was guilty of a catalogue of failures during the genocide in
which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in
100 days. The killings, which wiped out three-quarters of
the Tutsi population, began after the Rwandan president
Juvenal Habyarimana died when his plane was shot
down by unknown attackers.
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, has expressed
regret, and admitted UN failings in responding to the
genocide. The Rwandan government has called on the
UN to help reconstruct the country, and genocide
survivors have asked the UN to set up a fund to
compensate victims.
One of the women suing the UN is Anonciata
Kavaruganda, the widow of a Rwandan supreme court
judge, Joseph Kavaruganda, who was killed because he
sympathised with the Tutsis. She claims UN troops from
Ghana, responsible for protecting her family, drank and
socialised with Hutus while she and her children were
being tortured. The other woman is Louise
Mushikiwabo, whose brother, Lando Ndaswinga, was
the only Tutsi minister in the Rwandan government. He
was shot with his mother, wife and two children. She
claims UN troops ran away when the killers arrived.
Mr Hourigan has given the Melbourne Age documents
that place a large amount of the blame for the genocide
on Mr Annan, who at the time was the head of UN
peace-keeping operations. Secure cables sent to his
office by the UN commander in Rwanda, General
Romeo Dallaire of Canada, and a UN special rappateur
show that Mr Annan was given extensive warning that
genocide was taking place and was asked for more
troops. The cables warned that UN forces would hand
over people "for inevitable killing rather than use their
weapons to save local people", that ethnic cleansing was
accelerating and that government radio was "exhorting
the population to destroy all Tutsis".
The documents, headed "most immediate", were never
given to the UN Security Council. Mr Hourigan has
asked why testimony by the two women, which was
given to the Carlsson inquiry team with copies of the
Dallaire cables, was not mentioned in its report.
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
Survivors sue UN for 'complicity' in Rwanda genocide
By Karen MacGregor in Johannesburg
11 January 2000
The United Nations is being sued, for the first time in its
history, for alleged complicity in the crime of genocide.
Lawyers are instituting a case on behalf of two Rwandan
women whose families died during the 1994 genocide in
which 800,000, mostly Tutsi people, were slaughtered
by Hutus.
The women – the widow of a former Rwandan supreme
court judge and the sister of a Tutsi former cabinet
minister – accuse UN soldiers who were meant to
defend their families of either handing them over to their
killers or running away.
They are being represented by the former South
Australian crown prosecutor Michael Hourigan, who quit
his job as an investigator with the UN's International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in disgust at UN inaction
and barriers to his investigation, and also by the human
rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, a fellow Australian.
Mr Hourigan, who works for a US law firm, told the
Melbourne Age that genocide had been committed
against Rwandans in the presence of a UN force, and
that the murders in question were "caused by the
cowardice, negligence and bungling of UN forces".
This is the first time that a formal claim for reparations for
such conduct has been made against the UN. Mr
Hourigan would not reveal the damages sought, but said:
"It is recognised in domestic and international law that
when you commit a tort you compensate for the
damage."
Last month the UN released the damning findings of a
three-man inquiry, headed by the former Swedish prime
minister Ingvar Carlsson, that showed the organisation
was guilty of a catalogue of failures during the genocide in
which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in
100 days. The killings, which wiped out three-quarters of
the Tutsi population, began after the Rwandan president
Juvenal Habyarimana died when his plane was shot
down by unknown attackers.
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, has expressed
regret, and admitted UN failings in responding to the
genocide. The Rwandan government has called on the
UN to help reconstruct the country, and genocide
survivors have asked the UN to set up a fund to
compensate victims.
One of the women suing the UN is Anonciata
Kavaruganda, the widow of a Rwandan supreme court
judge, Joseph Kavaruganda, who was killed because he
sympathised with the Tutsis. She claims UN troops from
Ghana, responsible for protecting her family, drank and
socialised with Hutus while she and her children were
being tortured. The other woman is Louise
Mushikiwabo, whose brother, Lando Ndaswinga, was
the only Tutsi minister in the Rwandan government. He
was shot with his mother, wife and two children. She
claims UN troops ran away when the killers arrived.
Mr Hourigan has given the Melbourne Age documents
that place a large amount of the blame for the genocide
on Mr Annan, who at the time was the head of UN
peace-keeping operations. Secure cables sent to his
office by the UN commander in Rwanda, General
Romeo Dallaire of Canada, and a UN special rappateur
show that Mr Annan was given extensive warning that
genocide was taking place and was asked for more
troops. The cables warned that UN forces would hand
over people "for inevitable killing rather than use their
weapons to save local people", that ethnic cleansing was
accelerating and that government radio was "exhorting
the population to destroy all Tutsis".
The documents, headed "most immediate", were never
given to the UN Security Council. Mr Hourigan has
asked why testimony by the two women, which was
given to the Carlsson inquiry team with copies of the
Dallaire cables, was not mentioned in its report.
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
