Gen. Gatsinzi accuses Bagosora of sabotage

The Minister for Disaster preparedness and Refugee Affairs, Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi, yesterday, accused Col. Theoneste Bagosora of having sabotaged his duties after he was appointed acting army Chief of Staff following the death of Juvenal Habyarimana. Bagosora, who was the Director of Cabinet in the Ministry of Defence during the Genocide, is regarded by the ICTR as the mastermind of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Gatsinzi was testifying at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), as a trial chamber witness during the appeal hearing of the case involving Bagosora, and Lt Col Anatole Nsengiyumva. Nsengiyumva was, during the Genocide, the Commander of the Gisenyi military sector in the Northern Province. “Bagosora circumvented me. He gave orders to some unit commanders who had to receive the orders directly from the Chief of Staff,” Gatsinzi, who was appointed army chief on April 6, is quoted by agencies as saying. Gatsinzi added that Bagosora, who was on first instance sentenced to life, had a walkie-talkie which he used to communicate directly with commanders of the para-battalion and presidential guard and that there was a parallel network within the ministry coordinated by Bagosora. The witness gave another example of orders in which Bagosora had sidelined him including transfer of funds of the National Bank, from Kigali to Gitarama. He said Bagosora issued orders to a unit commander in Kigali and the funds were transferred without his knowledge. Gatsinzi also disclosed that Bagosora was behind an April 7 assassination attempted on his life as arrived in Kigali from Butare town to assume his new post. ICTR in December 2008 sentenced Bagosora to life imprisonment after convicting him for the assassination of several politicians including former Prime Minister Agatha Uwilingiyimana, and Joseph Kavaruganda, the President of the Constitutional Court. Ends