TUTSIS WERE NOT TARGETED DURING THE GENOCIDE WITNESS SAYS

28 April 2003 By

JusticeInfo.net

Arusha, April 28th, 2003 (FH) -The thirtyfirst defence witness testifying for former Rwandan Minister for Higher Education Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda that the Tutsi ethnic group was not targeted during the 1994 genocide as the trial resumed on Monday. The witness identified only as TMB to prevent his identity from the public said as far as he was concerned, "not all Tutsis were being killed but most of them were accused of being accomplices of RPF".

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Kamuhanda is charged with eight counts including genocide, complicity in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape and murder. These crimes were allegedly committed in his native Gikomero commune (Kigali province, central Rwanda). TMB who is Kamuhanda's close friend and has now sought refuge in Kenya insisted during crossexamination by the prosecution attorney Marks Moore of Ireland that it was not only the Tutsis who were killed but also perceived political opponents. The prosecution attorney had asked him if he agrees that the Tutsis were being targeted during the war. "You do not accept that when you left Rwanda in July 1994, there had been an ongoing policy to target Tutsis," Moore asked the witness who answered, "I was completely unaware of that ". The witness however added that he only heard from the Radio France Internationale that Tutsis were being targeted. Asked by Moore if he was aware that there were significant killings of Tutsis in Gitarama Prefecture than elsewhere in May 1994, TMB disagreed with the prosecution attorney. He denied an allegation by the prosecution attorney that he did not tell the court the truth in his testimony but had only given evidence to assist his friend. During chief examination by Kamuhanda's lead counsel Aicha Conde of Guinea, TMB told the court he was deeply touched and surprised when he heard of Kamuhanda's arrest over Radio Rwanda. "I was just overwhelmed I knew Kamuhanda very well and I knew he could not participate in the killings", TMB said. He added that one of the parents of Kamuhanda's wife was a Tutsi. The witness said he would only go back to Rwanda once there is democracy, rule of law and peace, which to him lacks in the current government. Another witness RGM who was a gendarme in 1994, began his testimony in the afternoon and will continue testifying on Tuesday. Kamuhanda's trial is before Trial Chamber II composed of Judges William Hussein Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson (Madagascar) Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu (Lesotho)PJ/FH (KH'0428e)