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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| New Book Exposes Planning for Massacres in Rwanda |
| 2004-03-27 |
| .... The UN Security Council pulled most of a small UN peacekeeping force out shortly after the genocide began and key members of the Council - the US, Britain and France, lobbied against reinforcing the UN presence in a way that UN commanders on the ground recommended. But subsequent investigations, such as [Linda] Melvern’s book [Conspiracy To Murder - The Rwandan Genocide], show that in fact the killings were to a large extent planned in advance by a relatively small group of extremist ethnic Hutu politicians from northern Rwanda who obtained support from the outside world. This reinforces suspicions among many that something could have been done to stop the worst of the killings, and that this group of politicians were susceptible to outside pressure. One of the most revealing episodes from the transcript is where [Rwanda’s Prime Minister] Jean Kambanda reveals that the genocide was openly discussed in cabinet meetings. ... one cabinet minister said she was personally in favour of getting rid of all Tutsi; without the Tutsi, she told ministers, all of Rwanda’s problems would be over. The Kambanda testimony also gave an insider’s account of the roadblocks where so many Tutsi lost their lives. As Prime Minister, he received complaints from some Hutus about the roadblocks; he didn’t get complaints from Tutsi for obvious reasons. Linda Melvern’s book .... reveals, for instance, that in 1993 the government of Rwanda imported, from China, three quarters of a million dollars worth of machetes. This was enough for one new machete for every third male. Machetes were used for many of the murders committed during the genocide. The details of pre-genocide arms imports from Egypt and France are also given, as is the extent of French military cooperation with the parts of the Rwandan army most responsible for the genocide. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #3 We said no to more troops. |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-03-28 1:11:42 AM |
| #2 .com, here's the Amazon editorial review for Conspiracy to Murder -- I think no less than John Effing Pilger is the writer! There are no reader reviews so far. She has another book, A People Betrayed, that looks to be about the same, written in 2000. That has 3 reader reviews, all 5-star. Here's the review of the 2004 book: Editorial Reviews John Pilger With testimony from witnesses and access to documents previously unseen, she tells an epic and shaming story. About the Author Linda Melvern is a well-known and widely published investigative journalist. She is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and was a consultant to the Military One prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda. Her previous books include The Ultimate Crime, a secret history of the UN’s first fifty years, and A People Betrayed. Book Description In April 1994 up to a million people were slaughtered in Rwanda during a murderous campaign of horrifying efficiency. The ferocity of the killing and the cruelty inflicted on defenseless people has no comparison in modern times. Conspiracy to Murder is the story of how that genocide was planned. It reveals how, from as early as 1990, the political, military and administrative leadership of Rwanda became involved in planning the complete extermination of the Tutsi population. A vicious hate campaign filled the media, urging Hutus to kill; a network of roadblocks was devised to prevent any escape; civil-defense groups were established throughout the country, with eventually every third Hutu being armed; half a million machetes and other agricultural tools were imported, and 85 tons of munitions distributed country-wide, in the year leading up to the genocide. In an outstanding example of investigative journalism, Linda Melvern reveals the full story behind the conspiracy, detailing the involvement of world governments whose responses ranged from complicity to apathy. She shows how the killers outmanoeuvred the Security Council and led UN peacekeepers into a deadly trap; how the French military trained! the killers and how their "humanitarian intervention" in June 1994 enabled many of those killers to escape justice; how the John Major government ignored warnings and then proceeded to mislead the British Parliament about what was really happening; how the US is still withholding wiretap and satellite evidence showing that the genocide had begun; and how significant was the knowledge of the then Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Drawing on a vast range of new material gathered in Kigali, Paris, New York, Brussels and London, and using interviews with those caught up in the genocide, this book provides a compelling account of one of the last century’s greatest crimes. The author has had exclusive access to a wealth of fresh sources, including an extraordinary collection of documents abandoned by the conspirators when they fled Rwanda and a full confession from the prime minister in the government that presided over the genocide. Written especially for the tenth anniversary year, Conspiracy to Murder is a shocking indictment of those who knew what was happening and chose not to intervene. It makes the case for an urgent enquiry into the scandalous behavior of both the US and the UK in a crime that could and should have been prevented. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-03-27 4:05:53 PM |
| #1 "The UN Security Council pulled most of a small UN peacekeeping force out shortly after the genocide began and key members of the Council - the US, Britain and France, lobbied against reinforcing the UN presence in a way that UN commanders on the ground recommended." Whoa, hold on here. I suppose I have to buy the book to read any notion of proof that the US or UK, in fact, were as complicit as this slur clearly implies? Hell, the charge of French treachery in the arms sales demands solid corroboration. Nope - not even cheesedick extraordinaire Clinton is this low, is he? I just don't buy it without substantive corroboration. Certainly not on the Beeb's word and that of someone attempting to profit in a book deal. We already have a handy example of that sort of squalid perversity in Clark. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-03-27 1:02:58 PM |