On 6/3/13, Charles Banda <
chasbanda@gmail.com> wrote:
> Genocide survivors have petitioned the UN Secretary General and U.S
> President over remarks made by Jakaya Kikwete, the President of the
> United Republic of Tanzania at the 21st African Union Summit on May
> 26th, 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
>
> In his remarks, Kikwete is quoted to have called upon the Rwandan
> government to "negotiate" with the Democratic Forces for the
> Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an issue that has raised anger among the
> genocide survivors in and outside of Rwanda.
>
> The FDLR rebel group is predominantly composed of members of the
> Interahamwe militia and the Armed Forces of Rwanda, who carried out
> the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and have continued to
> conduct killings of innocent civilians in the Democratic Republic of
> Congo.
>
> During an enclosed meeting called by the UN Secretary General in Addis
> Ababa, Kikwete is also reported to have argued that since Kinshasa was
> in talks with the M23 rebels, then it was about time Kigali opened
> negotiations with the FDLR rebels. Kikwete also pushed argument to
> Uganda, stating that Uganda should do likewise with its Congo-based
> rebel force, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
>
> In a statement, released by Alice Umutoni, Vice Coordinator of the US-
> based organizing committee of the 19th Commemoration of the Genocide
> against Tutsi in Rwanda, the genocide survivors asked Kikwete to
> openly apologize to all survivors of the genocide in Rwanda and
> Rwandans in general, Congolese, Americans and many more people who
> have suffered from the FDLR terrorism.
>
> The Rwandan genocide survivors also argued that Kikwete was fully
> aware of the atrocities committed by the FDLR in Rwanda and DR Congo,
> and other rebels groups in Uganda, though he went ahead to make such
> ridiculous remarks.
>
> The petitioners stated that they were confident that the United States
> of America would not support this kind of political dealings that act
> as a setback to Rwanda's efforts to ensure peace in the DRC and the
> region as a whole.
>
> United States of America's leadership has made a commitment to fight
> the international terrorism, and marked FDLR as a terrorist group, UN
> also placed a five-million-dollar bounty on handing over some Rwandan
> genocide perpetrators, including Sylvestre Mudacumura, the FDLR
> supreme commander who is wanted by the International Criminal Court
> (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including
> murder, rape, torture and attacking innocent civilians.
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