I would like to thank you for giving me the time to summarize the key events of the genocide against the Tutsi, which we are commemorating for the 30th time today.

I will mainly focus on the role of the international bodies that made the genocide possible, and for whom there is still room for improvement in international genocide prevention. I’ll continue in French.

We commemorate the extermination of more than a million Tutsi that States could have saved. The UN recognized this appalling figure in resolution 2150 of 16/4/2014:

"There is overwhelming evidence that acts of genocide were committed against the Tutsi group; more than a million people were killed in this genocide, and taking note with concern of any form of denial of this genocide.”

On 7/7/2000, an African Union commission of inquiry, headed by Ketumile MASIRE, former president of Botswana, published its report "A genocide that we could have prevented”, recognizing their responsibility in the way that follows:

"The genocide which occurred in Rwanda could have been avoided by those of the international community who were in a position and had the means to do so. But these people lacked the will and not the means.”

On 15/12/1999, a UN Commission, headed by Ingvar CARLSSON, former Swedish Prime Minister, published a similar report: "It is on the entire United Nations system that falls the responsibility for not having been able to neither prevent nor put an end to the genocide in Rwanda.”

The UN and its member states had all the necessary information. On 11/8/1993, its Human Rights Commission published an investigation concluding: "The Tutsi population is the target of large-scale massacres carried out by the Rwandan Armed Forces, administrative authorities and the militias.

The majority of Tutsi victims have been designated as targets solely because of their ethnicity. These killings clearly raise the question of genocide.”

On 18/5/1994, a delegation from the genocidal government composed of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jérôme Bicamumpaka, and the leader of the extremist CDR Party, Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, who sat on the Security Council; took part in the debates, falsifying the facts, and reversing responsibilities by accusing the RPF of committing genocide on the Hutu.

The consequence will be that in resolution 918, the use of the. term Genocide was declined. Waiting until 8/6/1994 for the UN to use it in a timid way, speaking of it as acts of genocide.

Meanwhile, Zaire allowed the genocidal government to equip itself with weapons purchased through different states and traffickers. On 22/6/1994, the UN, under pressure from France, authorized ‘Operation Turquoise’ which helped the genocidaires to settle in Zaire.

In July 1994, the genocidal forces were defeated. On 30/10/1994, they formed a government in exile, led by the president and the prime minister who had led the genocide.

A staff, commanded by General Bizimungu, chief of staff of the genocidal forces, was also installed. Colonel Athanase Gasake, who had directed the "civil defense” program during the genocide which distributed weapons to the militiamen, became the Minister of Defense. His deputy was Colonel Bagosora, who had been the mastermind of the genocide.

On 3/4/1995, they created a political party, RDR, with ethnic and negationist ideology. In short, the genocidal administration was reconstituted in Zaire, and the FDLR active today in the DRC was then born from this system.

Several international resolutions demanding their dissolution and prosecution have been taken without result.

Examples: Security Council resolution 2150 (16/4/2014) asks States "to learn the lessons of the genocide perpetrated in 1994 against the Tutsi; investigate the facts, arrest, prosecute or extradite all fugitives accused of this genocide who reside on their territory, including the leaders of the FDLR; and unreservedly condemns the denial of this genocide.”

On January 10, 2005, during its 23rd Summit of Heads of State held in Libreville, the African Union voted for an identical resolution on the FDLR. On 14/5//2008 and 12/8/2010, the European Union also adopted similar resolutions. Germany took an important action by arresting, putting to trial, and condemning two FDLR political leaders, Ignace Murwanashyaka and Straton Musoni, in 2015.

The latter was repatriated to Rwanda in 2022 at the end of his sentence and is comfortably living in his country. Murwanashyaka died in prison in 2019. Belgium sent Major Ntuyahaga to Rwanda in 2018 after the end of his 20-year sentence for genocide.

States that are hesitant to return genocide convicts or suspects to Rwanda should learn from these illustrations. Still on the subject, how would Rwandans understand the fact that the remains of Colonel Simba, sentenced for genocide by the ICTR to 25 years in prison, were secretly transferred to the USA on 30/7/2023?

How could they accept that the FDLR who murdered eight western tourists in Rwindi Park in Uganda on March 1, 1999, apprehended by the Rwandan justice system and handed over to the United States, were sent to live freely in Australia without trial?

In November 1994, during UN deliberations on the establishment of the International Tribunal, Ambassador Karel Kovanda of the Czech Republic emphasised the critical importance of sending a force to neutralise and repatriate the genocidaires. He was not listened to. 30 years later, their crimes are still punishable today.

We are witnessing an indifference similar to that observed in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994. Are we looking for another million deaths to take action? It would be a shame, which, this commemoration calls to stop.

This speech was delivered by Jean-Damascène Bizimana, the Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement during the 30th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi at BK Arena on Sunday, April 7.