afrol News, 24 April - The former military chief of Rwanda, Bernard Ntuyahaga, has refuted charges of killing his country’s former Prime Minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10 United Nations soldiers protecting her.

Mr Ntuyahaga, who is standing trial in Belgium for his role in the killings of Ms Uwilingiyimana and the 10 UN peacekeepers in Belgium, admitted being set up.
He faces life sentence if the Belgian prosecutors prove their case beyond reasonable doubts. Unlike other suspects of war crimes or crimes against humanity, Bernard Ntuyahaga surrendered himself to the Belgian authorities in 2004 for prosecution.

It is the third Rwandan trial in the Belgian capital Brussels.

He accused others of trying to cover their faces and therefore leaves him to pay for their actions. The former military chief says he is the only courageous person to call spade a spade by saying what he saw.

Major Ntuyahaga admits being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He said he had gone to the former Prime Minister’s house but agreed to have come across white UN peacekeepers in difficulty on 7 April morning. Major Ntuyahaga admits ordering soldiers to take the peacekeepers to Camp Kigali, the closest place to the UN post.

He had however denied pedalling rumours that Belgians were involved in the killing of the former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana.

The former military commander was accused of supervising the killings on 7 April 1994, barely few hours after the plane of the former Rwandan President - Juvenal Habyarimana – was shot down. Mr Habyarimana’s assassination reportedly fuelled the 100-day genocide in which about 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by Hutu extremists.

Mr Ntuyahaga’s forces were accused of brutally killing the UN troops who flew to Rwanda to protect Prime Minister Uwilingiyimanawere. This soured relations between Rwanda and Belgium. Her killing took place when she was getting prepared to deliver a speech calling for national unity on the radio.

The UN peacekeepers, who were accused of shooting down Mr Habyarimana’s plane, were said to be brutally massacred.

In June 2001, four Rwandans were sentenced by a Belgian court to between 12 and 20 years in prison for playing key roles in the killings. Also in June 2005, two Rwandan businessmen were found guilty of war crimes and mass murders during the genocide. They were sentenced to serve 10 and 12 years in jail.

The former military commander is also accused committing killing people en masse, including his five neighbours.

The trial is expected to last for eight weeks. Within the period, the court will hear testimonies from at least 150 witnesses, including Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian commander of the UN mission at the time. Romeo Dallaire has been blamed for failing to prevent the Belgians from facing brutal killings. He will appear before the court on 10 May.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories