S/2004/933

United Nations

Security Council

Distr.: General
30 November 2004
Original: English

Letter dated 30 November 2004 from the Permanent
Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations addressed
to the President of the Security Council
On instruction from my Government, I would like to bring the following to the
attention of members of the Security Council.
The Rwanda Government welcomes the visit of the Security Council to the
Great Lakes region. Rwanda believes that such visits to the region are very useful in
enabling the Council gain a much better understanding of the challenges States in
the region face with respect to peace and security, than the relatively distant and
insular world of United Nations Headquarters in New York could every allow.
Rwanda also welcomes the signing of the Dar es Salaam Declaration on Peace,
Security, Democracy and Development in the Great Lakes Region. It is our earnest
hope that the process that began in Dar es Salaam on 20 November will culminate in
genuine and durable peace, security, democracy and development in the Great Lakes
region, and the wider continent of Africa. We welcome the determination by the
heads of State present at Dar es Salaam to respect the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of all States in the region and to prevent the use of their territories for
subversive and destabilizing activities against other States by armed groups. We also
welcome their commitment to fight against genocide in the region, and to disarm
and arrest the perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
Rwanda’s sovereignty and territorial integrity continue to be violated with
relative impunity by forces operating from the territory of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. Despite numerous Security Council resolutions, the exFAR/Interahamwe forces continue to operate from, and receive supplies on, the
territory of a State Member of the United Nations. Moreover, they continue to
recruit, train and inculcate their nefarious genocidal ideology into many others,
including young people and children who did not physically participate in the
genocide of 1994. The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has therefore
become a recruiting ground and crucible for the ideology of hate, destruction and
extermination in our region. This state of affairs is unacceptable.
Over the past three months, these genocidal forces have carried out a series of
attacks on Rwanda territory. They have killed our people and continue to destroy
property. Furthermore, in their planning, these forces not only intend to attempt to
complete the genocide of 1994, they have also targeted key infrastructure, vital for
Rwanda’s economy.

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The Security Council will recall that, on 15 November, the exFAR/Interahamwe launched a series of Katyusha rocket attacks from the territory of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo into a Rwanda village, causing civilian
casualties. A few months ago, this force together with its allies from Burundi
attacked a refugee camp at Gatumba and killed 160 civilians, among them young
children and women. In April and May of this year, the same force attacked three
provinces in Rwanda, stole property and terrorized civilians. Today these forces are
massed along the Congolese side of our common border, poised for an attack on
Rwanda.
The lack of reaction by the international community, especially peacekeepers
of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (MONUC) present in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has
emboldened these groups. Their representatives and spokespersons have made
public declarations that they will never allow themselves to be disarmed, partly
because, as they say, they were invited by the Government of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. These declarations have even been made on Radio Okapi,
the United Nations radio station operated by MONUC in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo.
It seems clear to Rwanda that some members of the international community
nurse the hope that, at a given time, the forces that committed genocide in Rwanda
will transform themselves, or be transformed into, something more acceptable to
both Rwandans and the international community. The attempt is being made. Those
groups now write to the Secretary-General of the United Nations from their
headquarters in Europe and elsewhere. One of the more unexplainable and
unacceptable events during the preparatory process for the International Conference
on the Great Lakes Region is the fact that the United Nations Secretariat
disseminated an application for those forces to attend the Conference as observers.
It is also a fact that the United Nations has made it clear that the best it can do is
call for voluntary disarmament of the ex-FAR/Interahamwe.
Rwanda would like the Security Council to recall that the Lusaka Ceasefire
Agreement of 1999, which ended the inter-State war in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, had four main pillars: a cessation of hostilities; the holding of an interCongolese dialogue; the withdrawal of foreign forces; and the disarmament of
negative armed groups, including, in particular, the ex-FAR/Interahamwe. Of the
four pillars, only the last required the presence of United Nations forces. The region
took responsibility for the cessation of hostilities, the holding of an inter-Congolese
dialogue; and the withdrawal of foreign troops was voluntary. It should be
unacceptable to the Security Council that the only pillar that remains unfulfilled is
precisely the one which required the presence and involvement of United Nations
peacekeeping forces. Clearly, voluntary disarmament would not require the United
Nations to dispatch thousands of troops and spend hundreds of millions of dollars
per year. Rwanda believes that MONUC should refocus itself, with an emphasis on
a clear mandate to disarm the genocidal forces, and do this expeditiously. Failure to
do so will inevitably lead to an increase in tension in the region, and would
fundamentally undermine the transitional processes in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo and Burundi.

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Rwanda does not consider that resolving the problem of the genocidal forces is
a matter for Rwanda alone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone or even a
matter between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a matter
for the Security Council, in the context of its mandate to address threats to
international peace and security.
We therefore ask once again, for how long will the Rwandan people have to
live with the spectre of genocide on their doorstep? We have waited 10 years for an
answer from the Security Council. We find it difficult to wait any longer.
What are the options in resolving this problem? We have repeatedly called on
the Congolese authorities to deal with this situation decisively. Cognizant of stated
incapacities of that country and the lack of an effective response from the
international community, we have offered to work jointly with the Government of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo to deal with this problem. This has been
rejected. We have even been willing to place Rwandan troops under Congolese
command and control to deal with the problem. This has not been accepted either. It
seems to us that Rwanda is expected to simply wait and fold its arms while its
people are killed, its infrastructure is destroyed and destabilization continues. This
Rwanda is not willing to do.
States members of the Security Council recognize that the overriding
responsibility of any State to its people is to protect and defend them when they are
under threat. The Rwanda Government recognizes this as not only a responsibility
but as an obligation to its people. We lost 1 million people to genocide and hate. We
cannot allow it to continue any longer. We also cannot allow threats to our people
and their livelihoods to continue to haunt us even now, 10 years after the genocide.
We must protect and defend our people. If my Government were to fail in this task it
would be failing in its most basic duty. We will not allow that to happen.
We request that the present letter be circulated as a document of the Council.
(Signed) Stanislas Kamanzi
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

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