Search and capture of Grégoire Ndahimana
Mr.Ndahimana was among the thirteen war criminals from the Rwanda genocide thought to be at large. He was considered a Category 1 suspect by the ICTR-International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.This rank is reserved for the perceived masterminds of the 1994 genocide. The US Department of State issued Rewards for Justice Poster in May 2008 stating that part of a $5 million USD reward will be paid for information leading to his capture.
Ndahimana was captured by an UN-backed joint Rwandan-Congolese task force on August 2009. Ndahimana had been hiding amongst, and fighting alongside, FDLR rebels. The FDLR, or Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, is a group with a large component of Hutus who took part in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The Rwandan-Congolese task force arrested Ndahimana in a village in North Kivu after catching him by surprise while he was coming to look for some food within the local population. The arrest was announced on the following day.Ndahimana had been in hiding for 15 years, and, according to Rwanda’s justice minister Tharcisse Karugarama, was considered by the government to be one of the big ones.Ndahimana's trial is to take place in Arusha Tanzania, where the ICTR is based.
Grégoire Ndahimana who is the former mayor of Kivuma, Rwanda was born in1952. He was indicted by ICTR for alleged war crimes , Ndahimana was one of the key figures in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, and had up to 6,000 Tutsi killed. He will stand trial in Arusha, Tanzania, where the ICTR currently holds its courts.
His Role in Rwandan Genocide
Ndahimana was the mayor of Kivuma which is his birth town in Rwanda and it is here that he perpetrated the hunting down and killing of Tutsi people. The ICTR had already indicted him of conspiring to kill up to 2,000 Tutsi civilians by ordering the bulldozing of a local church housing them.[1] Ndahimana is reported to have conspired with Athanase Seromba who was a Catholic priest convicted by the ICTR in 2008 of the same massacre. Most the 6,000 Tutsis who had been living in Ndahimana's town, Kivuma, while he was the mayor were killed in the genocide.
According to eyewitness reports, Ndahimana and the local police including various government officials started massing Tutsi refugees in the parish of Nyange on 10 April 1994. About 2,000 refugees were inside this church were they met their death. Ndahimana met with other leaders in the local area including the parish priest, Athanase Seromba, on April 15, 1994 and the decision to bulldoze the church was made. This sounds familiar to Kenyans when we remember what happened at Eldoret in December, 2007 at the height of post election violence. The only difference is that the masterminds of the violence in Kenya are in the present coalition government.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
KENYA BURNS,
We went for General Election on 27th dec 2007. What followed was nothing anybody could have foreseen. I am lucky that I am still alive. 1500 Kenyans lost their lives and 600,000 were uprooted from their farms and homes. We now have Kenyans who are refugees in their own country. We call them IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons)
How did we get to that point?
We had three main parties running in these Elections. Party of National Unity (PNU) was led by the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) led by Raila Odinga and ODM-Kenya led by Kalonzo Musyoka.Each party had to nominate one candidate per constituency. To select the party’s choice there was a nomination exercise within the party. During the party nominations, violence and blatant rigging was the order of the day. People who could buy the party tickets called the day. As expected very dirty characters sailed through. This should have been a pointer to what we were headed for.
Both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections were held on 27th dec 2007.
Rigging was rampant and violence was commonplace. Election Commission of Kenya which was running the show lost control of the events compleately.Desputes became the order of the day.The last straw was the announcement of the Presidential results.
During the run up to the election, ODM had kept insisting that plans were being made
to rig the elections. In Rift Valley Province, some communities were told to lookout for any signs that PNU was winning to know that the election were rigged and prepare for war. On 30th dec 2007 The Election Commission declared President Mwai Kibaki of PNU the winner placing him ahead of Raila Odinga of ODM by 232, 00 votes.Naturaly ODM disputed the results and the country was plugged into bloodletting never before seen in Kenya. Images of violence and death were screened by the major Media services all over the world. This madness went on for three months until pressure from the international community brought the warring sides to negotiating table.
Committee of Africa’s Eminent Persons led by former United Nations Secretary Genaral.Kofi Annan brought PNU and ODM to a power sharing deal in which Kibaki of PNU retained the Presidency and a Prime Minister’s Post was created and given to Raila Odinga of ODM. Kalonzo Musyoka of ODM-Kenya was appointed the Vice President. Ministries were shared between all parties and the violence stopped. Grand Coalition Government has been formed and the biggest challenge is resettling the Internally Displaced People.
How did we get to that point?
We had three main parties running in these Elections. Party of National Unity (PNU) was led by the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) led by Raila Odinga and ODM-Kenya led by Kalonzo Musyoka.Each party had to nominate one candidate per constituency. To select the party’s choice there was a nomination exercise within the party. During the party nominations, violence and blatant rigging was the order of the day. People who could buy the party tickets called the day. As expected very dirty characters sailed through. This should have been a pointer to what we were headed for.
Both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections were held on 27th dec 2007.
Rigging was rampant and violence was commonplace. Election Commission of Kenya which was running the show lost control of the events compleately.Desputes became the order of the day.The last straw was the announcement of the Presidential results.
During the run up to the election, ODM had kept insisting that plans were being made
to rig the elections. In Rift Valley Province, some communities were told to lookout for any signs that PNU was winning to know that the election were rigged and prepare for war. On 30th dec 2007 The Election Commission declared President Mwai Kibaki of PNU the winner placing him ahead of Raila Odinga of ODM by 232, 00 votes.Naturaly ODM disputed the results and the country was plugged into bloodletting never before seen in Kenya. Images of violence and death were screened by the major Media services all over the world. This madness went on for three months until pressure from the international community brought the warring sides to negotiating table.
Committee of Africa’s Eminent Persons led by former United Nations Secretary Genaral.Kofi Annan brought PNU and ODM to a power sharing deal in which Kibaki of PNU retained the Presidency and a Prime Minister’s Post was created and given to Raila Odinga of ODM. Kalonzo Musyoka of ODM-Kenya was appointed the Vice President. Ministries were shared between all parties and the violence stopped. Grand Coalition Government has been formed and the biggest challenge is resettling the Internally Displaced People.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
