Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
15 February 2008
Kigali — Burundian Hutu refugees attacked Tutsis in southern Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, claimed a protected witness who testified Thursday before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), trying key suspects of the slaughter.
The witness, who testified under the pseudonym "CBP-77" for safety reasons, added that the attack was launched with armed rifles around 20 April at the Kansi Parish Church, where several Tutsis had sought refuge.
There have been allegations since the Genocide suggesting that Burundians were brought in to reinforce the Genocide machine. Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana had a cordial relationship with Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira, and both died in the Presidential plane over Kigali from Arusha-Tanzania.
According to reports, the civilians on border areas between Rwanda and Burundi often attacked Rwandans fleeing the massacres. Witnesses testifying in the Mucyo commission probing the role of France in the Genocide alleged that Burundians were also brought in to train militias in eastern Rwanda.
The visiting Burundian Senate President Mr. Gervais Rufyikiri expressed concern yesterday that Burundians had attacked their Rwandan brothers and sisters. These acts if they happened are inhuman and those responsible should be followed so they face the law, Rufyikiri told journalists in Kigali.
The witness "CBP-77" at the UN tribunal rejected the prosecutor's argument that Rwandan gendarmes had launched the attack.
"I knew the uniform of the gendarmes, if they had been there, I would have recognized them", stressed the witness, who was testifying for the defence of General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, former Chief of Staff of the
Gendarmerie, during 1994 genocide, according to Hirondelle News Agency.
Accused of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the General is in particularly prosecuted for not having sanctioned gendarmes implicated in the massacres.
The witness indicated to have seen gendarmes only at the residence of the defendant located, according to him, between two and three kilometres from the Parish.
General Ndindiliyimana is on trial alongside three other officers of the former Rwandan Armed Forces (RAF), including the former army Chief of Staff, General Augustin Bizimungu.
The Burundian Senate President said under the new cooperation accords signed with the Rwandan Senate, there would be a platform through which such crimes could be addressed and brought to book by responsible officials.
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