Rwanda threatens UN over report

2010-08-31 20:06

Helen Vesperini

Kigali - Rwanda will withdraw more than 3 000 peacekeepers from Sudan if the UN publishes a report on war crimes allegedly committed by Kigali in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an army spokesperson said on Tuesday.

"The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) has finalised a contingency withdrawal plan for its peacekeepers deployed in Sudan in response to a government directive in case the UN publishes its outrageous and damaging report," a statement from spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jill Rutaremara said.

The UN draft report alleges that Rwandan Tutsi troops and their rebel allies targeted, chased, hacked, shot and burned Hutus in the DRC, from 1996 to 1997, after the outbreak of a cross-border Central African war.

"All logistical and personnel resources are in place. The pullout will take the shortest time possible. The withdrawal will apply to the RDF peacekeepers serving under the UN/AU Mission in Darfur (Unamid) and the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)," he said.

Unamid is a joint UN and African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur which consists of 21 800 uniformed personnel.

'Damning elements'

UNMIS is a force with 10 000 troops from dozens of countries deployed in 2005 to support the implementation of the 2005 peace deal that ended the two-decade-long north-south civil war in Sudan.

Rwanda has 3 300 troops in Unamid and a further 256 serving with UNMIS.

Rwanda last week accused the United Nations of trying to deflect attention from its own failures by leaking a draft report accusing Kigali of war crimes in neighbouring DRC.

Rwanda's Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon earlier this month that Kigali would curtail co-operation with UN peacekeeping missions if the report was released.

"We reiterate here what we have already told the high commissioner, namely that attempts to take action on this report will force us to withdraw from Rwanda's various commitments to the UN, especially in the area of peacekeeping," Mushikiwabo wrote.

The UN report, a copy of which was seen by AFP, says Rwandan Tutsi commanders and their rebel allies carried out systematic attacks on Hutus in the DRC from 1996 to 1997 that resembled the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

"The systematic and widespread attacks described in this report... reveal a number of damning elements that, if they were proven before a competent court, could be classified as crimes of genocide," stated the probe.

The 600-page report is expected to be released in the coming days.

- SAPA