{UAH} HOW DEATH OF A DOTED UPON SIBLING CEMENTED A FAMILY'S HATE

How death of a doted upon sibling cemented a family’s hate    

Felicien Kabuga was a jolly, social man but when it came to the Tutsi, he hated them with all his heart, says son of a former Kabuga's employee. Photos/File

Summary

In this third and final part of a series on fugitive genocidaire Felicien Kabuga, Rwanda Today talks to the son of a former employee about the two sides of the man: humble and down to earth yet full of hate towards the Tutsi.

Around Mwukarange sector, where Felicien Kabuga was born, and in the whole of what used to be Byumba Prefecture, now Gicumbi district, little is known about Kabuga’s role in the genocide and how he turned out to be one of the most wanted fugitives in the world.

Even his own brother Alphonse Cyiza is not sure how or where Mr Kabuga committed genocide crimes but says he heard that “he used his business connections to supply the machetes that were used during the genocide.”

“I think most of his secret plans used to be made in Kigali but we in the village didn’t know much about his dealings and movements. He also had another home in Rushaki, where he used to do most of his stuff,” says the 66-year old retired civil servant.

In fact, one of the former employees of Kabuga’s Minotri — a wheat milling factory in Byumba that is currently run by Pembe Flour Mills — told Rwanda Today that he does not believe that “Kabuga committed genocide crimes.”

The son of one of Kabuga’s former personal bodyguards, who preferred not to be named for security reasons, told Rwanda Today how Kabuga harboured a noxious hate for the Tutsi.

The 35-year-old, who, despite being a child at the time, was close to Kabuga’s family and especially his children, said that the hatred was shared by Kabuga’s family.

“He was a jolly, social man but when it came to the Tutsi, Kabuga hated them with all his heart. His father Gasimba hated them very much, so it is not surprising that Kabuga did the same,” said the young man.

He further added that his father, who turned down our request for an interview, used to tell them how Gasimba and his children including Kabuga, came to harbour an immense hatred for the Tutsi.

One of the fugitive’s brothers, identified only as Nyanjobe, is said to have married a Tutsi against his father’s wishes, but along the way, the couple developed serious misunderstandings and separated.

Nyanjobe, who, thanks to Kabuga, was becoming an established businessman in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was never the same after the bitter break-up. Around 1982, Nyanjobe is said to have attempted to lure back his estranged wife.

The unsuspecting woman is said to have agreed. The two met at a bar to celebrate their reunion. After hours of drinking and merrymaking, Nyanjobe took out a gun, shot and killed his estranged wife before killing himself.

Nyanjobe is said to have been the favourite son of the family. Kabuga and his father are said to have blamed his death on a Tutsi.

The Kabuga aide, now 68, also tells of how Cyiza, the younger brother of Kabuga, had also been also castigated by his family for marrying the Tutsi.

Though he did not mention it in his interview with Rwanda Today, Cyiza is said to have defied the family to hold onto his wife, isolating himself in the public service, while his brothers were venturing into the business world and succeeding.

Having no other option, the family accepted him back. However, Cyiza was always an outsider in this influential family. It is alleged that they used to say that Cyiza “married an enemy.”

“I was in the public service, where I spent most of the time with tea and coffee farmers. I was not part of the family businesses,” said Cyiza.

Kabuga developed a deep hatred for the Tutsi. In fact, in all his enterprises, he never employed Tutsis, saying that they were “dishonest” people.

When the war intensified, Kabuga is said to have limited his visits to his home area, which is ironically a few kilometres from what was then the cradle of the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA) struggle, known as “ku Mulindi.”

As the RPA advanced, Cyiza and other family members fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo and lost contact with Kabuga.

The country descended into the mayhem of the genocide and on July 4 when the RPA marched on Kigali, Cyiza and others entered the then Zaire.

At this point, they came to learn that Kabuga had fled into Kenya, a few days before Kigali fell. They also heard that he briefly came into DRC.

“We lost touch in the process. We reunited in Congo; those who had means proceeded to other countries while we remained in the DRC until October 1996 when the RPF returned us home,” Cyiza said.

Prior to the genocide, when the RPA had waged war on Kigali, Kabuga’s relationship with Juvenal Habyarimana intensified but according to Cyiza, his dealings, including his financing of the hate radio, Radio de Television Libre de Mille Colline (RTLM), were not known to the family.

“We only came to know about Kabuga being wanted when we were in the camps in Zaire. We have not had any form of communication in exile or after returning home,”

“We don’t know whether he is dead or alive,” the elderly man said.

“Well, maybe you journalists know where he is; you can as well tell me,” he added, laughing. “I know you journalists know a lot of things; you can investigate, so you can give me a little information,” he added.

Kabuga was also said to have had a strong attachment to the people of Byumba. In fact, they are the ones he hired most.

“The people of Byumba know little of Kabuga’s hate activities, even that radio (RTLM) was known by only a few people here but they heard that Kabuga’s father hated the Tutsi so much, he used to refer to them as ‘snakes’. Even his neighbours know that,” said the son of Kabuga’s former bodyguard.

According to Francois Gakwaya, 44, a former employee of Minotri de Byumba, Kabuga was a short, stout, energetic man who had a sense of flamboyance and humour yet down-to-earth.

“He used to socialise with us as his workers, once in a while treating us to parties. We knew little about his other activities.

“We were surprised when we heard that he played a big role in the genocide; we knew nothing about that. We only heard of it on radio,” Mr Gakwaya said.

At the time, Kabuga drove a flashy Mercedes Benz and had about 40 trailers for his wheat processing factory.

The factory closed two and a half years after the genocide. It was reopened after the government repossessed the properties of Kabuga.

It was later privatised, being sold off to Kenya-based Pembe Flour Mills.

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