The Global Pan-African Movement (PAM) has added its voice in condemning recent indictments by two foreign judges against senior Rwandan military officers. The indictments by judges from Spain and France respectively, have attracted the ire of several international organizations. “The Secretariat denounces this blatant display of arrogance by Africa’s former colonial tormentors and would want to put it on record that they are the ones that indeed have war crime cases to answer,” reads the statement issued by the PAM secretariat. “We as Africans, cannot and will not sit by as these former colonial tormentors continue to intimidate and disrespect us, as well as literally dance on the graves of the millions of Africans that have died at their hands,” the strongly worded statement reads. It cited an example of the French army’s complicity in the massacre of innocent and helpless people prior, and during the 1994 Genocide. The statement continue that acting in the guise of different ‘humanitarian missions’, they sent their military to Rwanda at different times and trained and gave material support to the Interahamwe militias. “It is public knowledge that is well documented.” The climax of these missions was the Operation Turquoise which is said to have masterminded killings in the Southern and Western part of the country as well as providing an escape corridor to the militias, who were fleeing to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, then called Zaire. “It is from this safe that many fugitive genocidaires continue to launch guerrilla attacks against Rwanda. It is also from this safe haven that the ringleaders of the Genocide later took sanctuary in other countries, notably France and Belgium, where they enjoy protection today and continue to plot their subversive plans”, PAM said. “If warrants for war crimes, acts against humanity and Genocide are to be issued, it is clear who the criminals are. The Pan African Movement therefore demands that France take responsibility of their actions, in as far as the Rwanda Genocide is concerned,” according to the statement. PAM also called upon Africans and other peoples of African origin to take these matters seriously by taking steps that send clear signals to what they called ‘imperialist maneuvers.’ This strong statement joins a recent resolution by the Pan-African Parliament which denounced the indictments ‘in the strongest terms’. This was preceded by a similar one by African Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General. The indictments which were issued by Jean Louis Bruguiere, a French judge, and Fernando Andreu Merelles of Spain have been ignored by Interpol, an international body charged with among others, tracking and arresting international fugitives. The Rwandan government has always maintained that the indictments were based on unfounded facts, and hearsay, mainly spread by well known revisionists of the Genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda. Ends
