OFFICIALS OFFERED MONEY TO KILL TUTSIS, SAYS WITNESS

Arusha, October 12th, 2000 (FH) - A protected witness in the trial of threeformer Rwandan officials told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda(ICTR) that attackers who killed Tutsi refugees in Cyangugu were rewardedwith 1000 Rwandan francs for each killing. The fourth prosecution witness, dubbed LAH to protect his identity,testified from Tuesday to Thursday in the trial of three former officialsaccused of genocide in the Cyangugu prefecture of southwestern Rwanda in1994.

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They are Bagambiki, who was prefect of Cyangugu, former minister ofTransport André Ntagerura and Samuel Imanishimwe, who was commander of thearmy barracks in the prefecture. The witness has admitted to participating in the genocide, and is beingheld in detention in Rwanda. LAH told the court that Imanishimwe gaveinstructions to Interahamwe militia via a certain Anananie Kanyamuhanda, andalso encouraged the killings. “He told us: now you know who your enemy is. Go to Kanyamuhanda, you will find a message. " LAH told the court that themessage in question concerned how to kill Tutsis. " He told us to take the identity card of each Tutsi that was killed andgive them to Kanyamuhanda who would give us 1,000 Rwandan francs for eachone,” the witness said. “The money had been given to him by Ntagerura. ”Witness LAH told the court that machettes to kill Tutsis were given to them(the militia) by Bagambiki. He said there was one delivery of machettes atthe Shagasha tea factory in Cyangugu, some of which were taken to MrKanyahumanda's home and others left in the factory to be used later. "I was there, I was the one who unloaded the vehicle," he said. Witness LAHtold the court that Bagambiki brought to Kanyahumanda’s residence petrol toburn the victims' houses. He said Bagambiki told Kanyahumanda that oneperson should be responsible for the petrol and the burning of houses. Witness LAH also accused Bagambiki and Imanishimwe of participating in amassacre at Gashirabwoba football field. He told the court that he and otherattackers went there on two occasions, once to kill Tutsi refugees, and onceto loot from those who had been killed. On April 9th, prior to the massacre,the witness said Bagambiki and Imanishimwe claimed they would sendreinforcements to Gashirabwoba so that the « problem could be solved ». He claimed that Bagambiki and Imanishimwe gave the group of attackersgrenades. LAH added that two other attackers in their midst, who werefamiliar with grenades, said "they were Chinese grenades". Witness LAH said that the attackers were divided into two groups, some ofwhom went with Bagambiki on one side of the field. There were about 2,000refugees, he said. LAH said the attackers used machine guns during themassacre. The witness told the court that after the attack, Mr Bagambiki requestedthem to go and kill three specific people at the Bushenge Hospital and gavethem the names all who were Tutsi. LAH said the attackers were also givenbriefings in which " we would, for example, say we did not work well thatday if we did not kill many people. Mr Kanyamuhanda often chaired thesemeetings and we gave him identity cards of those killed and told him thenumber of those who had been killed but who had no identity cards, » thewitness said. Witness LAH appeared before Judges Lloyd G. Williams of Jamaica(presiding), Yakov Ostrovsky of Russia and Pavel Dolenc of Slovania. He said the attackers, including himself, trained to kill so that theycould be recruited into the army, but later realised they had been deceived. "There was no intention to recruit us into the army, « he told the court. « All they wanted was for us to kill the Tutsi. "SW/JC/FH (CY%1012f)