Rwanda genocide report blames UN, US

An investigation sanctioned by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on Friday blamed the UN Security Council under the guidance of the US, Belgium and France for the death of up to 800,000 Rwandans in the 1994 genocide. DPA news agency quoted the report entitled ‘Rwanda, the Preventable Genocide’, as saying that the Catholic and Anglican hierarchies in Rwanda and the governments of France and Belgium, all had a role in the massacres of Tutsis and moderate Hutus by the Hutu-led government in Kigali “because of their strong support for the Hutu”. It said the Security Council was “led unremittingly by the US and simply did not care enough about Rwanda to intervene appropriately”. “What makes the Security Council’s betrayal of its responsibility even more intolerable is that the genocide was in no way inevitable,” it said. “The facts show, however, that the American government knew precisely what was happening, not least during the month of the genocide,” the report said. According to AFP, the report said Rwanda had the right to financial reparations from the international community because it did not prevent the massacres. The investigation was carried out by an International Panel of Eminent Persons led by former Botswana president Ketumile Masire.