What is happening to Ms. Del Ponte today is exactly what happened to Kofi
Annan on may 8, 1998. The Rwandan problem "was with the organization, not the
man". Today, the Rwandan problem still with the organization, not the woman.
The UN will never please the Rwandan regime unless the Secretary-General does
what Kigali wants or becomes a RPF member/associate. Zephanie
UN Chief Leaves Rwanda after Unhappy Visit
by Nicholas Kotch
Reuters
May 8, 1998
Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Uganda on Friday after a two-day
visit to Rwanda that became one of the most humbling of his long diplomatic
career. Annan was given a public dressing down by Rwanda's foreign minister,
roasted by national assembly politicians, boycotted by the country's rulers
and snubbed by survivors of a 1994 genocide he has said he tried in vain to
prevent. But the visit ended on a happier note with Annan and Rwandan
President Pasteur Bizimungu insisting at a news conference that they were
friends. A senior U.N. diplomat later told reporters that a private meeting
between Annan and government leaders had cleared the air. ``By the end the
mood had brightened and was cordial,'' the diplomat said, adding the Rwandans
had explained their problem ``was with the organisation, not the man.''
Annan was due later on Friday to attend a state banquet hosted by President
Yoweri Museveni in Kampala. The two were due on Saturday to discuss the
refugee situation in East and Central Africa as well as other regional issues.
Annan's visit to Rwanda, the fifth country on his eight-nation African tour,
started badly on Thursday and continued in similar vein on Friday. The reason
for the frosty reception centres around a perception by the Rwandan
government, and others, that as head of the U.N. department charged with
international peacekeeping in 1994 Annan did little to prevent the massacre of
over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu extremists. All but 250 members
of a U.N. peacekeeping force were withdrawn after the slaughter began on April
6.
The Rwandans were further irked by the apparent reluctance of the U.N.
chief to personally apologise for his alleged inaction, saying a speech by
Annan to the national assembly on Thursday had been ``arrogant.'' Annan has
consistently defended himself and the world body by saying there was not
enough international will to prevent or end the genocide and arguing that the
U.N. was only as effective as the combined determination of its members.
Relations between Rwanda and the U.N. were not improved on Friday with news
that Kigali had ordered the expulsion of a U.N. human rights official on the
grounds he was a security threat. Jose-Luis Herrero, spokesman for the U.N.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda, told Reuters his
expulsion and lack of protest by the U.N.... ``somehow reflects the
malfunctionings of the U.N. system in Rwanda.'' Last month Herrero angered
Kigali by voicing his agency's objections to Rwanda publicly executing 22
genocide culprits. Over 130,000 people -- including 36 U.N. staffers -- are
currently languishing in Rwanda's jails awaiting trial on genocide charges.
Annan had felt the full force of Rwanda's anger on Thursday when he had to
sit through a blistering indictment delivered in parliament by Foreign
Minister Anastase Gasana. Then he was stood up by the country's president,
vice- president and prime minister at the dinner they were due to host in his
honour. Presidency spokesman Joseph Bideri told Reuters the boycott was a
protest against the ``arrogance'' of Annan's speech after Gasana's broadside.
As Annan sat beside him in parliament, Gasana attacked the U.N. and its
predecessor, the League of Nations, for its treatment of Rwanda since 1922
when it became Belgian-run.
Annan, whose wife Nane was in the audience of parliamentarians and
diplomats, remained calm and prefaced his prepared speech with a dignified
response. ``...I did not come here to get into polemics and I am sure you know
the old proverb that the guest is always the prisoner of the host,'' he said.
Annan agreed that ...''in their greatest hour of need, the world failed the
people of Rwanda,'' but he said the ``horror came from within'' and Rwandans
had to change to restore trust.
On Friday, Annan was expected to talk to a group of survivors of the
genocide at a technical college on the outskirts of Kigali, but when the U.N.
chief's entourage arrived at the school there was no one to meet him. No
reason was given for the latest snub, but Annan adopted the dignified
grin-and-bear-it approach he has maintained throughout the visit and continued
his journey to a genocide memorial site at Nyanza, around 50 km (30 miles)
from Kigali. He visited a shrine where he saw hundreds of skulls of victims
and a jumble of human bones piled up in a long corrugated iron shed. He looked
tense as he was berated by a survivor who related how Tutsis in the area had
attempted to fight back against the killers, but were eventually overwhelmed.
``The battle lasted eight days and we waited for the help of the United
Nations and Kofi Annan,'' he said. Annan replied: ``Your pain is something
that we can only imagine. I and the whole international community share your
pain, share your tragedy.'' ``I knew given the history between the U.N. and
Rwanda this was not going to be an easy mission,'' Annan told a news
conference later, ``(but) I have been able to do all the essential things I
came here to do.''
the ICTR in order to
finish the investigation that had already
started.
Thanks.
