USUN PRESS RELEASE # 48 (00)
April 14, 2000 AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
Statement by Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, United States
Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the situation in Rwanda, Security Council,
April 14, 2000
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, colleagues:
I want to thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, and your distinguished colleagues for all your
efforts in producing this path-breaking report. Along with the Secretary General's stunning report* on Srebrenica, it is a remarkable piece of self-criticism. We have much to
learn from these documents. That these reports were sponsored and conducted by the United
Nations - and that they criticize the actions of many of the nations represented in this
room -- is a testament to our collective commitment to work with the Secretary General to
reform the UN to overcome the failures of its past and prepare for the challenges of the
future.
Fifty-five years ago, the United Nations was created on the ashes of World War II to
help prevent conflict and atrocities. It is the Security Council's primary responsibility
-and as statesmen and stateswomen, our individual responsibility -- to stand against such
horrible actions and take the lead to respond. This is our core task, and it is the one
upon which this institution will ultimately be judged.
This report makes clear that in Rwanda - as in Bosnia and Somalia - the international
system failed and that those collective failures nearly brought the UN system down. It
sparked a political and institutional crisis from which the UN system is just now staring
to recover.
The United States accepts its own shortcomings in this depressing period. We have
expressed this with openness and candor. During his historic 1998 trip to Africa,
President Clinton made a speech in Kigali. He said:
"The international community, together with nations in Africa, must bear its share
of responsibility for this tragedy, as well. We did not act quickly enough after the
killing began. We should not have allowed the refugee camps to become safe havens for the
killers. We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide. We
cannot change the past, but we can and must do everything in our power to help [Rwanda]
build a future without fear, and full of hope."
Mr. President, there is little I can add to President Clinton's statement. Like the
Carlsson Report and the Secretary General's report on Srebrenica, his words stand as a
common indictment of both the perpetrators and the bystanders. These words are critical of
individuals and institutions, but most importantly, they are forward-looking. They are a
call to action to prevent the recurrence of genocidal violence.
In my December 1999 trip to Rwanda, I visited a memorial to the victims of the
genocide, the scene of incomprehensible violence that had been transformed into a silent
remembrance. Like the massacre sites of the Balkans or the factories of death of Nazi
Germany or Cambodia's killing fields, a visit to such a place of memory commands justice
for the dead and hope for the living. Such places compel us to recognize two fundamental
imperatives: never forget and never again.
What happened in Rwanda and Bosnia was not the spontaneous result of some sort of
genetic predisposition for genocide or "ancient ethnic hatreds." Such judgements
do nothing but allow people to justify their own inaction. The atrocities carried out in
Rwanda were done so by a small group of murderers intent on using hate to preserve their
hold on power. These were political acts, plain and simple. Those that perpetrated them
should be held responsible. And, by not acting against such violence when there were clear
indications that it would take place, so should we.
Again, we are grateful to Prime Minister Carlsson and his colleagues for their report.
Their work pulls no punches, spares no sensibilities, and leaves no stone unturned. It is
both an historical record and a blueprint for the future.
That future must now be our highest priority. The prevention of another round of
genocidal violence in Central Africa is one of the core elements of U.S. policy in the
Great Lakes, and is one of the United Nations' greatest challenges. The legacy of genocide
and ethnic cleansing in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of
the Congo is a tragic reality that must be addressed.
We must end the cycle of impunity in the region. Our discussion today should galvanize
support for UN sanctions against the ex-FAR and Interahamwe. We must also begin to plan
and prepare for demobilization and reintegration of those and other armed groups in the
Great Lakes region.
In Rwanda, the United States supports the International War Crimes Tribunal, and have continued
to press for reforms to make it more effective. We support Rwanda's own domestic justice
system. And we've allocated $25 million for the Great Lakes Justice Initiative to
help reestablish and strengthen the rule of law.
We cannot deny that many of the Rwandan murderers remain at large within the territory
of the DRC. They are intent on renewed genocide. The government of the DRC is unable to
prevent the use of its territory by armed groups. It is time for all the states of the
region to come together and find common solutions for the insurgencies of groups that
remain outside the Lusaka Ceasefire. Angolan, Rwandan, Burundian and Sudanese groups
operate with impunity in the territory of the DRC, and the solution lies both within the
countries of origin of these groups as well as within the country that is the unwilling
host.
Mr. President, we know what must be done. The full implementation of the Lusaka Ceasefire
Agreement and a rededication to the institutions of justice
offer the best hope for an end to the present crisis. We cannot say that the solution to
Rwanda's problems lies exclusively in actions within the DRC. Neither can we say that
Rwanda's problems should be solved without addressing the presence of the genocidal
militias in a neighboring state. Lusaka's full implementation, local and international
justice, and democratization and institution building in Rwanda and the DRC are the keys
to the prevention of further conflict and genocide.
Next month I will join many of you to journey to Congo. We will assess the status of
the progress being made and press the parties for more. In the days ahead, how we act to
help bring peace to Congo will be the best evidence that we've learned the lessons of our
past failures, as so eloquently outlined in Prime Minister Carlsson's report.
Thank you.
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