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Village Divided Over Ex-Minister's Impending Judgement

Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne)
NEWS
May 14, 2003
Posted to the web May 15, 2003

High in the cold, bushy, west Rwanda hills of Bisesero, a community has been
divided by the forthcoming judgement of its most prominent son-genocide suspect
and former Rwandan minister of information, Eliézer Niyitegeka.
Hundreds of kilometres away, in Arusha, Tanzania, the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will on May 15th, 2003 determine whether or not 50-
year-old Niyitegeka masterminded attacks on ethnic Tutsis of his birthplace
during the 1994 genocide.
For the largely inaccessible village of Gitabura, some 40km out of the little
provincial town of Kibuye, information from the outside world is not the
easiest thing to lay hands on. However, almost all the residents say they have
at least heard of the Niyitegeka trial. Some say they know him very well and
even encountered him during the genocide.
'He should be killed like he killed others'
"We were running away from Interahamwe militia when we met Niyitegeka with
Musema, Rutaganira, Ruzindana and many others next to that little tree", 26-
year-old Adrien Harerimana remembers. He points to a valley 50 metres below the
steep hill as the point at which he, together with other fugitives, were
spotted by Niyitegeka. "He told the attackers to stop looting and concentrate
on killing us. Musema then shot at me", adds Harerimana as he pulls up his
trousers to display a large scar on his thigh.
"We're told that in that court there is no death penalty", explains Harerimana.
"In that case, we would be happy with life imprisonment", he adds. He goes on
to say that "He (Niyitegeka) killed many people. If we had our way, he would be
brought here and executed", he adds. "You see, when our people were killed as
we tried to hide", he says, "it was around this time of the year -May. The
weather was as terrible as it is today. Rain, fog and mud everywhere".
Of the genocide survivors in Gitabura and nearby hills, Harerimana appears to
be one of few that are a little lenient to the former minister. Most others,
when asked to propose a sentence for Niyitegeka if was to be found guilty,
quickly and strongly respond that 'he should be killed like he killed others'.
"He knew us. He was ours", says an elderly man outside a monument in memory of
the Bisesero hills victims. "He brought the attackers here", he says before
proposing a death penalty for his former minister and also once a member of
parliament.
'He is a good man. We never saw him in these hills' On the other hand, some
Gitabura residents think their neighbours are claiming more knowledge and
sightings of Niyitegeka than they could possibly have come across.
"I know him from my childhood", says 32-year-old Amiel Kwizera who now lives
about 150 metres from the ruins of Niyitegeka's parents' house and his birth
house. "Later on, he moved to Kigali. He only came here once in a long while",
he adds. Asked what he thought of the accusations levelled against Niyitegeka
by the ICTR prosecutor, Kwizera says; "It depends on what he is accused of and
how he defends himself. I think he is innocent."
On the hill opposite to Kwizera's, Hirondelle meets one Tito Ndayisaba
returning from his farm. He says he is a cousin of Niyitegeka's. He says he is
not so interested in the judgement. "Because he (Niyitegeka) lived in Kigali
and I lived in Kigali", he says. "We never lived here", he adds. "I cannot
judge him. Those who claim to have seen him are the ones who should judge him."
As to the innocence or guilt of Niyitegeka, "I can't confirm that he is
innocent. Neither can I confirm that he is guilty".
Even Tamari Nirere who lives about 100 metres down the ridge where what is left
of Niyitegeka's house lies says she has never seen Niyitegeka. "I heard of him
but I have never seen him. He never lived here. He only passed by and left
immediately", she says. Nirere says that she is a cousin of Niyitegeka's and
has lived in her present house for 20 years.
Regarding the allegations against Niyitegeka brought by some of the residents,
Nirere says that she doesn't understand how Niyitegeka could have killed people
in Bisesero while he was never there. "To me, this makes no sense. I don't
think a man like that one could do something like that. Again, I never saw him
anywhere around here during the war", she says pointing her fingers to the
surrounding hills.
Some of Nirere's neighbours echo these feelings. While others would not settle
for anything less than death for Niyitegeka, they say that the fairest thing
that could happen to Niyitegeka now would be to set him free.
Whereas the fate of Niyitegeka will be determined on May 15th, it remains
unclear whether any decision would bring unity among residents of Niyitegeka 's
birthplace and surrounding areas. Regardless of their opinion on the verdict,
most seem not to be ready, at least for now, to tell whether a judgment from a
court whose authority they largely respect, would lead to reconciliation.

   

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