05.04.07 - RWANDA/BELGIUM - THE MAIN RWANDAN SURVIVORS ASSOCIATION WANTS TO SUE BELGIUM

Kigali, 5 April 2007 (FH) – Ibuka, the main organization of Rwandan survivors of the genocide in 1994, which caused about one million victims according to Kigali, threats to sue Belgium for failure to render assistance at the height of the massacres. “On 11 April (1994), the Belgian contingent of the UNMIAR (United Nations Mission for assistance to Rwanda) left to the killers more than 10,000 persons who took refuge in Nyanza, in the district of Kicukiro (in Kigali town)”, Ibuka executive secretary, Benoît Kaboyi, explained to Hirondelle Agency on Thursday. “Thousands of Rwandans were in the hands of these Belgian militaries. They were wildly massacred after the departure of the Belgians, I think there is at least a responsibility for failure to render assistance”, M. Kaboyi said. The Ibuka leader added that his organization still examined the practical modalities of the complaint registration. The massacres of Kicukiro will be at the heart of the 13th commemoration of the genocide which will start on Saturday with an official ceremony led by the President Paul Kagame in Murambi in the South province. The national mourning week in memory of victims will officially end on 13 April in Rebero, Kigali, at the cemetery of the political figures assassinated at the beginning of the genocide. Among them is the Prime Minister at that time, Mrs. Agathe Uwilingiyimana, who is one of the “national Heroes”. During this week, the bodies of victims, often discovered due to confessions of repentant genocide perpetrators, will finally receive worthy funerals, 13 years after the drama. ER/PB/CV © Hirondelle News Agency