\nArusha, February 4, 2004 (FH) \u2013The former assistant to General Dallaire when the genocide took place in 1994, Major Brent Beardsley onWednesday told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that a third force \u201cplanned to destabilize the Arusha peace accord\u201d. Major Beardsley was being cross-examined for the second day in the so-called \u201cMilitary I\u201d by Mr.\n<\/p>\n
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\nRaphael Constant (France), the lead counsel for former Chief of Cabinet in the Ministry of defense, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora. \u201cWhen UNAMIR went for the tactical mission in August 1993, we only knew of two parties which signed the Arusha peace accord, but in November we realized there was a third force on the side of the Rwandan government which planned to derail the Arusha Peace accord,\u201d Beardsley explained. He added that the third group \u201cwas determined to discredit UNAMIR, to torpedo the Arusha peace accord. It was prepared to kill. \u201dHe explained how the UN mission was encouraged by a moderate group which existed on the part of the government, but \u201cthe government was split in two, one side complied with the Arusha Peace Accord and the other was undermining the accord. UNAMIR made an effort to find out who the third force were, how many they were, how many weapons they had and where they were,\u201d he continued. The defense counsel had asked the accused a question regarding a letter on 3rd December 1993, which had been sent by senior RPF soldiers to UNAMIR informing them that president Habyarimana had a \u2018Machiavellian plan' to exterminate Tutsis and Belgians. \u201cYou said you did not know who carried out the massacres in November but the letter of 3rd December says Habyarimana. You now mention the government's third force. So you knew who killed?,\u201d Constant challenged the witness. \u201cHabyarimana seemed to be remote from the whole situation he was not supportive to the mission, the RPF sent us allegations weekly but we did not take all the allegations seriously all the time,\u201d the witness replied. Major Beardsley was then challenged as to why UNAMIR trusted the December 3, 1993 letter. \u201cYou said there was a group of Anti-Arusha Peace Accord. Wasthis based on any substantial information or was it just hearsay?\u201d asked the defense counsel. \u201cA series of events led us to that conclusion. The coup in Burundi, the South was destabilized, the RTLM was broadcasting anti-Belgium statements and the two killings in November led us to conclude that there was a group attempting to block the Arusha accord,\u201d he retorted. Bagosora is jointly accused with the former chief of operations of the former Rwandan army. Brigadier Gratien Kabiligi, the former militarycommander of Gisenyi region, Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva, and Major Aloys Ntabakuze, who was the commander of the Para-commando battalion based In Kanombe (Kigali). All have pleaded not guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. The trial continues in Trial Chamber One of the ICTR composed of Judge Erik M\u00f8se from Norway (presiding), Judge Serguei Aleckseievich Egorov from Russia and Judge Jai Ram Reddy of Fiji. SV\/CE\/FH (ML'0204e)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arusha, February 4, 2004 (FH) \u2013The former assistant to General Dallaire when the genocide took place in 1994, Major Brent Beardsley onWednesday told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that a third force \u201cplanned to destabilize the Arusha peace accord\u201d. Major Beardsley was being cross-examined for the second day in the so-called \u201cMilitary I\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-18384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n