BICAMUMPAKA SAID ALL TUTSIS SHOULD BE HUNTED DOWN AND KILLLED, SAYS WITNESS

20 January 2004 By

Arusha, January 20, 2004 (FH) – A prosecution witness on Tuesday told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that the former Rwandanminister for foreign affairs Jérome Bicamumpaka asked Hutu civilians and the Interahamwe to hunt down and kill all Tutsi survivors in Ruhengeri Prefecture in April 1994. The seventh prosecution witness dubbed GAP, to keep his identity concealed from the public, recalled that the minister made the inciting remarks during a meeting in Ruhengeri prefecture office.

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He quoted Bicamumpaka as having said that “No Tutsi should survive in Ruhengeri Prefecture. All of them should be exterminated”. GAP, who is testifying for the second day, added that the meeting was held to install a new prefect for Ruhengeri, Basile Nsabumugisha. He could notremember the exact date of the meeting, saying that it was between April 19th and 25th . Bicamumpaka is tried jointly in the trial known as Government II, with Casimir Bizimungu, former minister for health, that of Commerce, Justin Mugenzi and Prosper Mugiraneza, former minister of Public Service. Bicamumpaka told the gathering that he was representing Prime Minister Jean Kambanda in the installation of the new prefect. The prefect's mandateaccording the Bicamumpaka was to ensure that the task to eliminate the surviving Tutsis in the prefecture was achieved. The witness, a former soldier and currently a detainee in Rwanda, said that as a result of Bicamumpaka's utterances, he shot dead a Tutsi friend called Mathias Munyambibi who had taken refuge in his house. “The statement (Bicamumpaka's) meant every surviving Tutsi should be killed and anyone who was hiding the Tutsis should be killed along with them. That is why I killed Munyambibi,” GAP stated. Prior to the massacres, GAP had attended meetings which started in January 1994 at the house of Joseph Nzirorera's mother at Ruhengeri every lastSaturday of the month. Nzirorera was the President of the National Assembly and the Secretary-General of the MRND). The meetings agenda according to the witness was “no Tutsi should survive in case the RPF resumed war”. Apart from Bicamumpaka, Nzirorera, Casmir Bizimungu, Augustin Bizimungu, chief of staff of Army, and Juvenal Kajelijeli, former Mukingo mayorattended and led the meetings. “The instructions given in such meetings were implemented in April1994 when we massacred Tutsis,” GAP said. The trial continues on Wednesday with the cross-examination of GAP by Bicamumpaka's lead counsel Pierre Gaudreau from Canada. Government II trial is before Trial Chamber Two where Judge Asoka de Zoyza Gunawardana (Sri Lanka) is presiding assisted by judges Lee Muthoga (Kenya) and Khalida Rashid Khan (Pakistan)PJ/CE/FH (GVII'0120e)