Dissecting Rwandan criticism of UN report on Congo genocide

The UN failed abysmally to bring and end to the genocide in 1994. It also failed to separate soldiers from civilians in the refugee camps. These failures will continue to bring shame and discredit to the organization. However, that past mistakes should somehow prevent the UN from criticizing other atrocities does not make sense. We should recall that the massacre of refugees was not carried out in self-defense, nor were the civilians killed by stray bullets; the evidence gathered by the UN investigators suggests that the massacres were systematic and carried out intentionally, in a coordinated fashion. That 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in Rwanda in 1994, and that the RPA helped bring an end to the genocide should in no way prevent the UN from criticizing them for killing tens of thousands in the Congo.

The mapping team did not consult the Rwandan government.

The mapping team did apparently show the Rwandan government a draft of the finished report shortly before publication. However, they should have probably confronted the Rwandan government with the evidence gathered, but we should remember that none of the armed groups had a right of response to the allegations before they were published. The investigators presumably – I don't know this for sure – wanted to prevent interference in their investigations. In any case, given the evidence listed in the report it is difficult to imagine that anything the Rwandan government said would have changed the investigators' minds.

Rwanda's intervention in the DRC was a matter of personal survival for Rwanda and a consequence of the irresponsible management of the refugee camps by the UN.

Yes, this was in large part true. But does it excuse the massacre of innocent civilians? Some argue that the innocent civilians were not innocent but had hidden grenades or were otherwise complicit with the ex-FAR/Interahamwe. I suggest you read the parts of the reports, as well the newspaper articles from the period I link to below. Can one simply presume that thousands of infants, women and elderly men were all some how complicit in the genocide and execute them without trial or jury?

The standards of evidence were so low that the investigations cannot be taken seriously.

The standards of evidence were not as high as in a court of law – that would have made investigation of 700+ cases impossible given the limited resources. But the officials did rely on two independent, reliable sources for each incident. This usually included an eyewitness, but not always. For the specific cases of Rwandan involvement, again I invite you to read some of the excerpts. They are telling. They also confirm what I have heard from several Congolese soldiers who fought side-by-side with the RPA in 1996 and witnessed the killings, in some cases even were forced to participate in it. Victims' accounts can also be found, for example Beatrice Umutesi's Fuir ou Mourir au Zaire.

But I recommend you read the entire report. You can also read this New York Times piece from April 1997, as well as this one.

--- Jason Stearns, an expert on politics and security in Central Africa, blogs at Congo Siasa.

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