07.04.12 - RWANDA/GENOCIDE - PAUL KAGAME ACCUSES WESTERN COUNTRIES OF PROTECTING GENOCIDE SUSPECTS

Kigali, April 7, 2012 (FH) - Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Saturday accused Western countries of letting genocide suspects “move freely in their capitals”, as he was delivering a speech in Kigali for the 18th commemoration of the 1994 genocide.

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“As we remember those we lost, some of those who killed them are still moving freely in some capitals of the so called free world. There is little effort to apprehend them and when this happens, it is a token meant to blind us and give us the impression that they are doing justice”, Kagame claimed.

Even when suspects are arrested, “They are released shortly after”, Kagame added in his speech in English that he then translated himself into Kinyarwanda. “Yet when acts of terrorism are committed against their people, the whole world is mobilized, in fact sometimes forced to join them in the research of those criminals so that they can be brought to justice”.

“It would appear that Rwandan lives, or similarly, lives of Africans are less valued than the lives of their citizens”, the Rwandan Head of State emphasized. “It is hypocrisy, injustice that we, Africans, have had to confront for a long time and that we must reject by all means”.

He ended up by stating that archives of genocide trials should be all kept in Rwanda: “Those records are ours even if they are to be shared by the rest of the world, especially shared by our continent. We should be the primary custodians of all these things. There is no sound reason why all records regarding the genocide should not be in our custody here in Rwanda”.

SRE-ER/GF