The Umbrella organisation of the survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, IBUKA, is pushing for the appeal of a court case in which Belgian troops are accused of abandoning Tutsis to the men with machetes.
Specifically, 2,000 Tutsis were murdered by Interahamwe militias at the former École Technique Officielle (ETO) Kicukiro just hours after the Belgian UN peacekeepers who were tasked to guard them pulled out on April 11, 1994.
During the commemoration of ETO Kicukiro victims on Monday, Egide Nkuranga, the President of IBUKA, said that several years ago the civil society lodged a court case accusing the Belgian government of abandoning people who were hiding there.
However, court did not rule in their favour, instead shifting blame to the UN, Nkuranga said.
The civil society accused the Belgian government of having forced the UN to withdraw its troops.
The government based the decision on the fact that their soldiers were being blamed for the shooting down of President Juvénal Habyarimana’s plane, and that ten Belgian soldiers were captured and hacked to death by Hutu extremists at the outset of the genocide on April 7.
Nkuranga told mourners on Monday at Nyanza Genocide Memorial that the group of experts in the civil society were not satisfied by the court decision and are currently making in-depth research to support their appeal.
As part of the research, he disclosed, the Belgian experts came to Rwanda in the first quarter of 2022, visited ETO Kicukiro and other genocide memorials and interviewed more genocide survivors among other research activities.
They were led by Professor Joel Kotek, a Belgian-Jewish anti-genocide activist who doubles as an academician.
He has appeared in several publications tackling the role of the international community during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.
Upon conclusion of their findings, according to Nkuranga, the experts will appeal the case and ask for the compensation of the victims’ families.
The Speaker of Parliament, Donatille Mukabalisa, appealed for Rwandans to remain resilient.
"We were abandoned by the international community, but the sons of Rwanda came to our rescue, stopped the genocide and crashed the enemy at once,” she said at the commemoration event at Nyanza Genocide Memorial.
We should draw a lesson from this, she added, that the development, security and unity of Rwanda shall be guaranteed by Rwandans.
About ETO Kicukiro massacres
ETO Kicukiro holds a strong chapter in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi due to the memory of the victims murdered in cold blood after UN troops abandoned them.
In 1994, over 2,000 Tutsis camped at ETO Kicukiro under the protection of the Belgian UN troops. The Belgian contingent formed the backbone of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR).
The troops, however, pulled out of Rwanda on April 11, 1994, following the murder of ten Belgian soldiers by government forces.
A total of 97 Belgian peacekeepers based at ETO Kicukiro were ordered to fly back home, leaving Tutsi refugees at the mercy of the marauding militia.