FW: {UAH} Breakdown of the Rwandan war 1990 -1994 into phases

Dear Allan, can you give us reference of this writing please?

---

Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2015 05:35:05 -0400
Subject: {UAH} Breakdown of the Rwandan war 1990 -1994 into phases
From: barigye.rugos@gmail.com
To: ugandans-at-heart@googlegroups.com

PHASE 1: From November 1990 to July 1991 

Phase one was marked by numerous hit-and-run attacks in several areas along the Ugandan border in a bid to stretch thin the government army and blunt their resistance in future attacks. It was an efficient military tactic, except it was executed with extreme cruelty in the different regions of the north as I will explain down below. Attacks in the north-east areas of Muvumba, Kiyombe, Nkana, Rushaki, Kaniga-Gatuna and in the surrounding boroughs were extremely violent: we summoned villagers "for a meeting" and then opened fire on them indiscriminately. Many among our troops raped local girls, and then killed them afterwards supposedly to ward off any jinx from these women. We butchered for meat domestic animals belonging to villagers; we ate their crops and forced them into starvation by driving them out of their homes; we destroyed many of these homes and sold the roofing sheet metals to Ugandan villagers; we razed homes simply so owners had nothing to come back to, etc. 

To the north-west in the areas of Cyumba, Kivuye, Butaro, Nkumba, Kinigi, Mukingo and the environs, our attacks were equally as ruthless as in the Mutara region of the north-east. It is important to bear in mind that one man, Kagame, was solely responsible for scripting the attacks, how they would be executed, and closely monitored field combat operations so nothing was done without his approval. But the government forces of President Habyarimana had heavily fortified their defense positions along the border so much that it was difficult to break through. A few examples: 

In the Mutara region: places like Nyagatare, Rwempasha, Kangoma, Mabare, Mutojo, Bushara, Kabuga, Nyabihara, Gikagati, Karama, etc. were known to every RPF Inkotanyi fighter as extremely dangerous. 

Deeper inside the country: we all knew we couldn't venture into the areas of Gatonde, Kaniga 1, Kaniga 2, Mukono, and Kivuye. 

In the Ruhengeri region: there were formidable defense fortifications at Nyamicucu, Butaro-Runaba, Rwabutama, Kinyababa, Muremure, Kagano, Bisate, and other areas like Ruhengeri city, Kinigi, etc. All these areas were so well defended that each time we attempted to push through we were soundly defeated and had to run. When that happened, we vented all our anger, shame and frustration onto innocent populations in the areas. This is exactly how we did it: we forced villagers to carry our dead and wounded, and to haul away the cattle and crops that we had looted from them. We forced them to dig their own graves, because we had to kill them for having seen too much. We ordered these villagers to kill each other, until there was only one of them left, who in turn was executed by one of us. Other times, we tied their legs and arms together, and crushed their skull with a used up hoe, or simply bayoneted them to death. There always was an easy pretext to kill them, like asking them the secret of the ruling MRND party or the plan of attack being devised by government soldiers, which of course we knew they didn't know. Having thus inflicted so much suffering onto local populations, we simply folded our belongings and retreated back to safety into Uganda. That's how the notorious RPF's "deny all and lie" strategy came into being as a general policy: never assuming responsibility for any of our crimes. We even categorically swore that none of our troops resided on Ugandan territory. The same ploy was used when we attacked Zaire: we never admitted publicly that our RPA troops had crossed the border. 

PHASE 2: From July 1991 to June 1992 

During this period, the RPA started a new tactic of occupying small areas along the northern border from the eastern Mutara region all the way to the volcanoes to the west. The tactic worked in some areas, and failed in others. Even when it worked, it was at the hefty cost of butchering entire populations in the occupied areas, and displacing out of their properties the lucky few who survived. Habyarimana's government had a very difficult time scrambling to regroup these people in localized areas, and was only able to feed them scanty meals and house them in makeshift shelters against the elements. Anyone looking to know some of the root causes of genocide may want to start here (1). 

The RPF also started the tactic of attacking the enemy from behind, cutting off their supply lines. Militarily, it was a brilliant move that allowed the ill-equipped RPF Inkotanyi army to force the government army to leave and expose their positions as they tried to flush us out. It was a defensive attack on our part, really the only one feasible under the circumstances, because we were an inferior army in numbers and equipment. However, there were catastrophic consequences of this tactic: 

1. Attacking government forces from behind meant going deeper into populated areas. The RPA army had zero confidence in the population who, if they saw us, were quick to alert government troops about our location and size. Therefore, any villager who we knew had seen us had to die because we had nowhere to keep them as a prisoner, nor did we know how long we would stay in the area. In short, each time we attacked the enemy from behind, the order was to kill the population without pity. 

2. Going deep inside the country meant surviving on what we found in the areas, and that was nowhere other than in villagers' homes. If the home owner was present when we arrived, we killed them immediately. If they were absent, we destroyed the house, and took away all the goats, chickens and cattle for food. At times, meat became so plentiful that we started being very selective as to what we ate, with everyone of us killing their own animal and taking only the heart, one leg, the liver, etc., leaving the rest to go to waste. About 20 people sharing 2 cows, 10 chickens, and 3 goats for food evidently was nothing but a display of wastefulness and cruelty. Now picture this: here's a Hutu peasant who is not particularly informed about the RPF and its agenda, and then the same RPF shows up, kills his children, rapes his wife, takes away his cattle and destroys his property for which he has worked his entire life! Anyone wanting to understand how genocide happened need not look further (2). 

3. The situation boiled up to a point where county Counselors, Mayors, and the government army ordered the population to own a dog – every public and private institution also decided to own dogs – because dogs are able to detect at night the slightest noise and movement at a distance, and with a simple bark could signal an approaching RPF force and allow the population to evacuate the area early enough. This strategy proved disastrous for the population. RPF troops sneaked in from behind government army lines, and because of the night's darkness, fleeing villagers often unwittingly scrambled in the wrong direction right into the hands of RPF attackers. Each time this happened, every single one of these villagers was executed immediately, because for us these were IBIPINGA (or unruly Hutus) fleeing us, proving they had resolved to die for the MRND party in power. This happened not only during this phase of the war, but also throughout the entire war campaign: each time we staged a sneak attack from behind government defenses, our primary job was to eliminate each and everyone of these villagers from out of our path. 

4. Setting up ambushes, firing on public transportation buses in the areas near the Ugandan border, as well as laying mines was done all the time as part of our overall guerilla warfare. We even mined sweet potato fields, aiming to maim or kill, and ultimately scare away, their displaced owners if they ventured back to harvest their crops. How so very cruel! We drove these people out of their homes and properties into starvation camps, where they hardly had any food except perhaps a few beans and corn grains, while leaving behind plenty of cassava, plantains, and potatoes. Many times hunger forced them to swing back home in order to get some food supplies and grab maybe one or two pieces of clothing on the way. RPA fighters had received no other order but to shoot these people if they came back. Now, clearly, what else could have been expected from such a cruel practice of starving people when they had their own food, except genocide? Anyone eager to know what made genocide possible need not look further (3). 

5. Camps of refugees, also commonly referred to as "war-displaced people", were set up in well-known locations such as the Rukomo-Rwebare in Muvumba. I saw with my own eyes this camp being shelled with 120mm mortars, 107mm MRL (Multiple Rocket Launchers), and a Katiusha mortar. Often times Commander Kyakabale of the Ugandan army across the border provided his own 23mm, 37mm, and 14.5mm mortars for the RPF to fire on camps sheltering war-displaced villagers. It got to a point where we couldn't figure out what was in the minds of our leaders. Many of us thought the misery of the camps was unbearable enough for these people to be subjected to additional heavy artillery fire. This particular camp, as well as camps at Runaba, Nkumba, and Muhambo were used as performance trial sites for such weapons as anti-aircraft missiles. Heavy artillery that lit up the sky above the camps were used, especially by those learning the skill of firing hand-held missiles. Many times these bombs exploded right in the middle of the camps, killing innocent civilians. The people in the camps were so terrorized by these attacks that they were constantly on the move, trying to get as far out of reach as possible. There were many villagers from the north who trekked as far south as Nyacyonga on the outskirts of Kigali, after being driven out of a new camp more than 20 times in less than 2 years. It was simply impossible for any fleeing family to reach such a far-out area whole and complete: often, people abandoned a camp after it was shelled, and those who lost their loved ones, a child, a wife or another relative in the shelling had to hastily bury their dead before resuming their fleeing journey. This is also one of the deep reasons why so many people joined in the genocidal frenzy (4). 

PHASE 3: From early June 1992 with the Attack of Byumba to April 6, 1994 

The assault on Byumba was a trial attack to check whether or not the RPF had mustered enough strength to launch a major offensive on a large scale. As peace talks progressed, it had become imperative for the RPF to stage an impressive show of strength in order to demand and win important concessions from the government. Let me just point out that throughout the Rwandan peace talks, not once did Kagame give assurances to his army that the talks would yield anything. Rather, he repeated to his army over and over again that the only way to reach Kigali was through the barrel of the gun. By launching major offensives, we were able to reach Rukomo, part Byumba in the direction of Kigali. That's also how we captured Mukarange, part of Kinyami, Buyoga, Rushaki, part of Ngarama, Cyumba, and Kivuye. In all these areas, any single villager who was not able to flee was killed. Then the RPF army committed one of its biggest blunders. It went back to Uganda, and invited Tutsi exiles into Rwanda, urging them to harvest the abandoned crops and to start getting acclimated to these lands of their original country of Rwanda, which they were going to inhabit very soon anyway. That's exactly what the Tutsi villagers did, in big numbers, and the news of their arrival quickly spread to camps of the war-displaced, proving to them beyond a doubt what they had been told: that the RPF's only goal was to kill them, take away their land, and bring back the much feared erstwhile monarchy system so Hutus will service Tutsis again. This was also one of the major elements that stoked ethnic hatred and drove Hutus to embrace genocide (5). 

During this phase, the RPF markedly gained in confidence that they were capable of conquering large stretches of territory and hold on to them. The only way to find out was to mount a 2nd trial attack, bigger in scope this time, except it could not be undertaken without a very good reason. 

At this time, peace talks were already under way, and a ceasefire was in effect. So, the RPF, or better Kagame and his RPA army, started exploring ways in which it might be possible to resume hostilities while peace talks were on-going. This is when the idea came up to put together a special battalion under the direct supervision of Kagame, assisted by his close collaborators, namely Kayumba Nyamwasa, James Kabarebe, and Charles Kayonga. This battalion was known under different names depending on circumstances. Some of those names are NETWORK, NETWORK COMMANDO, TECHNICIANS, or CDR COMMANDO. 

These names were assigned to small groups within the battalion, or had a direct reference to the location of the assignment, or the assignment itself. For example, the group that was infiltrated within the CDR party was known as the CDR Commando. Those planted inside government army barracks as firewood collectors, or in Kigali city as vagabond youths, or as cooks in the homes of many dignitaries, were known as Technicians, etc. 

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW THAT THIS SPECIAL BATTALION KNOWN AS NETWORK OPERATED IN A MAFIA-TYPE, VERY SECRETIVE WAY, TO A POINT WHERE ITS MEMBERS DID NOT KNOW EACH OTHER, EXCEPT PERHAPS THOSE WHO WERE TRAINED TOGETHER OR CAME FROM THE SAME ARMY BATTALION. 

In putting this special battalion together, the intent was to achieve the following goals: 

a. Using this battalion to spread terror and insecurity inside the country through criminal acts and impute them to the government as a pretext to resume fighting. 
b. Setting off bombs throughout the country in a more coordinated manner than was done up until that time. 
c. Planting small RPF cells throughout the country, recruiting and training infiltrators throughout the country, poisoning water used by war-displaced people in camps, following closely and passing information from behind enemy lines, etc. 
d. Carrying out targeted killings of individuals unwanted by the RPF, etc. 

In the meantime, we launched the massive attack of February 8, 1993, designed to assess our ability to strike Kigali, and the progress made by the NETWORK in fabricating pretexts for the resumption of hostilities right in the midst of peace talks. Once again, the RPF committed horrible crimes during this attack. I recall that in some areas of Ruhengeri where I was, like Base, RPF soldiers decimated the local population in such high numbers that they buried and burned the corpses but were unable to finish them up. Several days later, left-over bodies were decomposing on the roadside and in the nearby Base River, and members of the UN Military Observer Team were shocked to find that we lived unruffled among decaying corpses. So we summoned a few villagers, ordered them to bury the bodies, but we executed them all as soon as the UN team left. It was during this offensive that we started targeting public infrastructures. We exploded the electrical grid of the Ntaruka dam, and demolished and burned country residences of such high- ranking government officials as Boniface Rucagu and Colonel Gasake in the areas of Nyarutovu, Cyeru and Nyamugali. Also notable were the criminal acts of extremeviolence and property destruction by the RPF Charlie battalion as it withdrew from the city of Ruhengeri after attempts to occupy it fell through. In the Musanze area, at the Etiru factory, at Karwasa, Kigombe, and Kinigi, criminal acts of untold brutality were also committed by the RPF-Inkotanyi army, just as in the areas of Ngarama and Buyoga. 

--

*A positive mind is a courageous mind, without doubts and fears, using the experience and wisdom to give the best of him/herself.

 

 We must dare invent the future!
The only way of limiting the usurpation of power by
 individuals, the military or otherwise, is to put the people in charge  - Capt. Thomas. Sankara {RIP} '1949-1987

 *"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent

revolution inevitable"**…  *J.F Kennedy

 

--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com or Abbey Semuwemba at: abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com.