17.02.07 - RWANDA/FRANCE KNOCKOUT DECISION AGAINST AGATHE HABYARIMANA

Paris, February 17 2007 (FH) – The rejection of Mrs. Agathe Kanziga’s demand for asylum issued last Thursday by the Refugee Appeals Board (RAB) is based upon facts and overwhelming testimonies against the wife of the late President Juvénal Habyarimana.She insisted however that her « fears » concerning her potential deportation to Rwanda were « justified ». Overall, the RAB judged that the Rwandan ex-First Lady’s statements had not been « credible (...) full of untruths » and showed « her will to conceal the activities that were hers ».According to the three judges of the French administrative board, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda « is the result of a political strategy implemented by organizations of radical Hutus who used the attack to trigger (the genocide) ». From the testimony of Michel Bagaragaza, and an open letter Christophe Mfizi addressed to Habyarimana in 1992 and other documents, the judges have considered it possible to prove « the existence of a first ring of the power » (Agathe Kanziga belonged to) « as of the creation of the second Republic ». Mrs. Kanziga held a position « at the heart of the regime » and « though she was not employed officially, she has had a de facto authority on the government » from 1973 to 1994 and on the planning of the genocide the beginning of which the RAB dates back to October 1990. She would have participated notably in listing names of opponents to get rid of, such as the Prime Minister. One of her attorneys, Philippe Meilhac, said in a phone interview to Hirondelle Agency that « she does not deny that she was there, but that she ever encouraged anything. When your husband’s body comes falling down from the sky, you don’t summon a meeting. Her emotion when she testified is enough to prove it ». « She has nothing but her word; beyond the person, it is the very symbol of what she represents that is the target » (of the accusations). Mr. Meilhac also announced his intention to seize the State Council.It shows the judges haven’t been the least moved by the sobbing of Agathe Kanziga who, « following her evacuation conducted by the French forces » on April 9 1994, « remained in contact with the interim government and later on with the Rwandan government in exile with the help of her trusty correspondents », namely Pauline Nyiramasuhuko and Augustin Ngirabatware. The latter, incriminated by the ICTR, had slipped to Gabon in November 1999 to avoid being captured in Paris. Since 1994, Agathe Habyarimana has been able to travel freely thanks to a diplomatic passport established under a false name in Gabon and a forged Zairian passport issued by the late Marshal Mobutu. Agathe Kanziga’s unconcealed negationism is no longer profitable: « Her denial of the reality of massacres perpetrated by radical Hutus against the Tutsi community as well as her denial of the climate of ethnic tensions in Rwanda before October 1990 » illustrates « her will to cover up her actual knowledge of the situation in her country ». Consequently, Agathe Kanziga has been considered as an illegal alien on the French territory since 1998. However, Paris can hardly be expected to deport her to Rwanda. She has filed a civil suit in the case of the investigation on the attack against the presidential plane conducted by Judge Bruguiere whose report released last November 2006 incriminated the sitting president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, and his government. SM/PB/MG© Hirondelle Agency