YouSaid · the spoken record

Gasana

lines on the record: 923
first: 1993-10-05
most recent: 2016-06-10
sittings or episodes: 118
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“President, that the sceptics were not happy when the Pretoria Peace Agreements were signed between my Government and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, calling them unrealistic, too ambitious and a fool's game. President Kagame of Rwanda addressed the Security Council on 13 September 2002. Four days later, on 17 September 2002, our armed forces began to withdraw from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as we promised the Council. But the Security Council remained silent during the entire period of our withdrawal, which was completed on 5 October 2002.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“That fact alone discredits its claim to expertise - a true expert would avoid making statements about an issue about which he did not have all the facts and the truth of which he had not corroborated. Our complete withdrawal was supervised by the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Joint Military Commission and members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Kigali, and was properly verified by the third-party verification mechanism. We fear that reports such as the one before the Council today, which any informed analyst or reader would judge to be politically motivated, have a hidden agenda: to perpetuate the war between my country and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. You may recall, Mr.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“The final report adds almost nothing new to earlier reports; it merely repeats unsubstantiated allegations that we refuted on 3 May 2001, after the first report was issued. The report is politically motivated. Those who promote the idea that there should be a Panel of Experts decided in advance, as is well known, that Rwanda should be a target. The Panel of Experts finished its work on the ground four months before we withdrew from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it has not returned since our complete withdrawal on 5 October 2002. How, then, can it be in a position to write page after page of the final report claiming that our withdrawal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was not complete?”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“The Rwandan Government refutes categorically any allegation that it sent its army to exploit the mineral resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our army had a clear and precise mission: to combat the ex- FAR and Interahamwe so as to enable the people living in the four Rwandan provinces bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere to enjoy peace and public order once again and to enable the members of the foreign community working in Rwanda to carry out their development assistance activities in those provinces. We were successful, because our army never deviated from its primary mission. The exploitation of mineral wealth has never been a motivating factor for our armed forces.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“General Augustin Bizimungu, Chief of Staff of the ex-FAR forces; Colonel Renzaho Tharcisse, former mayor of Kigali; Major-General Ntiwiragaba, who recently participated in a joint meeting between the Congolese Armed Forces and the ex-FAR and Interahamwe at Lubumbashi, under the direction of President Kabila himself; Colonel Rwarakabije, Commander of the ex-FAR; Colonel Bigaruka; Colonel Gasake, who was a member of President Kabila's protection battalion; Major Mpiranyi Protais, former Commander of the presidential guard; and many others: do they constitute the coltan of the Democratic Republic of the Congo? Is it truly believed that pursuing those planners and authors of the genocide is the same as searching for coltan?”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“We do not understand how the second Kassem report can deny both the findings and the conclusions of the first. We cannot make sense of that contradiction, but it is very revealing: it shows that anything is possible when reports are the result of partisan political motives rather than of a firm will to resolve existing problems such as those that we have just described. The ex-FAR and Interahamwe are present in great numbers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, having taken with them a huge arsenal of weapons from Rwanda and having purchased new weapons with public funds stolen from Rwanda's commercial banks, including the Central Bank. Have they, perchance, been confused with the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo?”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“The international community, which neither prevented nor put an end to the genocide in Rwanda, was not able to disarm the genocidal ex-FAR and Interahamwe, who took shelter in refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On the contrary, some members of what is called the international community continued, with the complicity of the then Kinshasa Government, to arm and provide political and financial support to the ex-FAR and Interahamwe - the authors of the genocide in Rwanda. That was proved clearly and unambiguously in the Kassem report - the report of the International Commission of Inquiry on the sale and flow of arms to the ex-FAR and Interahamwe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - contained in document S/ 1998/1096.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“How can the Panel of Experts now deny in its report the security concerns of Rwanda and of its people? How can we explain this revisionist attitude? It can only be manipulation and political motivations, the underlying reasons for which we do not know. My Government would like to remind the members of the Council that in 1994 the ex-FAR and Interahamwe - the planners and perpetrators of the Rwandese genocide - after having massacred more than a million Rwandese, fled, taking all of their weapons, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo under the cover of a military operation - "Operation Turquoise" - which had set up its headquarters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the cities of Goma and Bukavu.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“They ordered the girls to split up into two groups - Hutu and Tutsi - in order to spare the Hutu and massacre the Tutsi. But the Hutu girls refused to leave their Tutsi compatriots alone, so they were all shot on the spot by the ex-FAR and Interahamwe. Today those young girls have been declared national heroes in our country. Another event that triggered the departure of our troops for the Democratic Republic of the Congo in pursuit of the genocidal rebels was, unfortunately, the assassination by the ex-FAR and Interahamwe of a Chinese expert who was working on the Kigali- Gitarama-Kibuye road - again in a province bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo - in the context of a road-building programme financed by the World Bank. The foreign community living in Kigali was an eyewitness to these events, if not their victim.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“I remember that the last straw was the assassination by the ex-FAR and the Interahamwe militia of a woman who was the Mayor of one of the districts of Cyangugu province, which borders on the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was at that point that we decided to pursue them in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The second stage of our departure for the Democratic Republic of the Congo - which was motivated by security imperatives with respect to our country, our people, and foreign residents on Rwandese territory - was triggered by the massacre of young girls in a secondary school in Nyange, in Kibuye province, which borders on North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The ex-FAR and Interahamwe attacked the school during the night.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“I myself was in the Government as Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1996, when we decided to commit troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Therefore I know exactly why and in what circumstances we went there in 1996, and not before. The ministries in Kigali, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations were passing around handmade maps of Rwanda, with bright red shading along the Rwandese provinces bordering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, telling everyone in the international community never again to enter into any of the four provinces bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This was because the former Rwandan Army (ex-FAR) forces and the Interahamwe militia were carrying out savage attacks, and innocent people were being murdered, including women, the elderly and children.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“You were wise, Sir, to convene this open debate of the Security Council on the report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. My Government would like to take this opportunity to reject entirely what is stated in the report with respect to the false accusations against Rwanda and the Rwandese people, as we stated in the written response of the Rwandese Government, transmitted officially in a letter addressed to the President of the Security Council dated 23 October 2002. It was a tremendous shock for us to see it stated in the Panel's report that the Rwandese defence forces went to the Democratic Republic of the Congo merely for economic reasons. This is truly shocking and unacceptable.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“Mr. Gasana (Rwanda) (spoke in French): My Government warmly congratulates you, Sir, on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council during the month of November 2002, and also for the acumen that you have always shown in guiding the work of the Council whenever you have presided over it. We wish also to congratulate your predecessor, Ambassador Martin Belinga-Eboutou, Permanent Representative of the sister Republic of Cameroon, for his outstanding leadership of the Council last month. My delegation would like also to welcome the Third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the sister Republic of Uganda.”
2002-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4642 (2002) · source
“Namibia has no border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has no security problems with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and therefore is not concerned with the DDRRR programme, which is one of the sine qua non conditions for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo. In conclusion, I should like to congratulate our brother and friend, Assistant Secretary-General Ibrahima Fall, on his new duties. We wish him every success.”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“I should like to take this opportunity to welcome the recent report of the Security Council mission to the Great Lakes region, which recognized Rwanda's security concerns. We recall that the Rwandese troops who are present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are there only because of the security problems of Rwanda and its people. I should also like to reaffirm my Government's commitment to supporting all provisions of the Lusaka Agreement, as well as its commitment to withdraw its troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo once the question of disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation or resettlement (DDRRR) is settled. This morning, the representative of Bangladesh referred to the withdrawal of Namibian troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Namibian presence was merely symbolic.”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“Why does the conflict persist? Who is behind the curtains? Who is at the backstage? Why does the spirit of genocide - of exterminating "the other" - spread through the whole Great Lakes region before our very eyes, as we all stand by helplessly? With regard to the genocide in Rwanda, at the request of the Security Council, the independent inquiry led by former Prime Minister Carlsson of Sweden submitted a report to the Council. That report, having assigned responsibilities for the African- Rwandese tragedy, recommended the establishment of a special post-genocide economic and social assistance programme for Rwanda. Why has that recommendation - favourable to a needy Member of the United Nations - not been implemented?”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“There was a genocide in Africa for the first time in our continent's history, and unfortunately that genocide occurred in Rwanda. The planners and authors of that genocide fled to the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo in July 1994, under the cover of the operation involving the so-called Turquoise Zone. There, they continued to launch attacks on Rwanda and to massacre innocent people. The Government of Rwanda shouldered its responsibility and fought them right into their Congolese sanctuaries. But had it not been for the military, political, material and financial support of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its allies for these genocidal forces, the Rwandan army would long ago have been able to find a solution to the problem. What are the underlying causes of the Great Lakes conflict? Who is pulling the strings?”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“All the harm caused on the African continent by slavery and colonialism must be told. The conflicts that ravage Africa have deep causes related mostly to colonialism and its ravages and also to the neocolonialism that followed the period of so- called political independence of African countries of the 1960s. Since then, each African country that has attempted to organize and to experience true political independence has been blocked by neocolonialists and their allies, either directly or indirectly through the intermediary of certain international bodies. What is to be done when neocolonialism remains invisible, wearing kid gloves, and when sometimes the glove is the United Nations, which blocks Africa and prevents it from experiencing a true rebirth, over and above all slogans?”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“But there is also the Africa of Nkrumah, the Africa of Lumumba, the Africa of Benbella, the Africa of Nasser, the Africa of Um Nyobe of Cameroon, the Africa of Se'kou Toure and the Africa of Mandela. Fortunately, that Africa too has existed, and it exists today in our awareness. The Africa that we are discussing today is ravaged by ignorance, dire poverty, bad governance, military coups d'etat, manipulations, struggles and Western and other foreign influences. What can we do to pull it back out of the dark pit of slavery and colonialism into which it sank? How can we say today that the debate on slavery and colonialism in Africa is no longer relevant when their disastrous consequences still exist in Africa - when the damage done then still afflicts it today?”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“When we recall the way in which Africa was carved up, we can discuss the reality of the multitude of Africas: the Africa of slavery, the Africa of colonialism and of neocolonialism, the so-called black Africa and white Africa, the Africa of apartheid, the Africa of tribes and of ethnicities, the Africa of hatred and of exclusion, the "Bantu" Africa, the mythic Africa, the Africa of soldiers and of coups d'etat, the Africa of militias and mutinies, the Africa of nationalities and of unbridled nationalism, the Africa of demons and of evil spirits, the Africa of the illiterate and the functionally illiterate, the Africa of the poor, of misery and of the miserable, the Africa of diamonds and of black and yellow gold - it is all there.”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“Africa, therefore, should not have to bear and suffer alone the consequences of history and of the passing ofthe colonial era. Since we are having a substantive debate on Africa, we might ask ourselves the question: which Africa are we discussing? There are various Africas, which constitute facets of the physical Africa depicted on maps or of the physical Africa that we fly over in aeroplanes.”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“My country would like to offer our experience to the international community to make the world aware of the danger inherent in all philosophies of hatred and exclusion and to ensure that the principle of "never again" declared after the Second World War will be realized as a universal principle for all the peoples of the world through the philosophy of collective security. Since we are discussing Africa today, I should like pay tribute to all freedom fighters - to all those heroes who died as pioneers in the fight for the freedom and dignity of their peoples. Africa not only lost its sons and daughters, but also suffered monstrous humiliation and immense material damage as a result of the systematic plunder of its natural resources without compensation.”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“Mr. Gasana (Rwanda) (spoke in French): On the occasion of this open meeting of the Security Council, I would like, on behalf of my Government, to thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore and his Permanent Representative to the United Nations for having taken this auspicious initiative of organizing a Security Council debate on Africa. We congratulate all speakers for their relevant statements, which have contributed a great deal to our understanding. Rwanda has just commemorated the eighth anniversary of the genocide that it suffered in 1994, which caused incalculable human and material losses.”
2002-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4538Resumption1 (2002) · source
“That is what the Democratic Republic of the Congo needs for the future of that beautiful land and the Congolese people, who have been suffering for decades.”
2002-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4532 (2002) · source
“Rwanda and the sister Republic of Uganda have just publicized through our two Foreign Ministers the common position of our two countries and the specific proposals that could lead Sun City to a political agreement and fully inclusive power-sharing. The agreement between President Kabila and Mr. Bemba is an agreement only between these two individuals, who negotiated it in a hotel room, away from the facilitator and the formal framework of the inter-Congolese dialogue. We believe that the two partners of the inter-Congolese dialogue must rejoin the other Congolese partners under the auspices of Facilitator Masire and negotiate inclusive power- sharing acceptable to all. As the Permanent Representative of South Africa rightly said, all the Congolese partners of the inter- Congolese dialogue must be considered equal.”
2002-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4532 (2002) · source
“The Lusaka Peace Agreement, if it were implemented in all its components, would reassure Rwanda as soon as the planners and perpetrators of Rwandan genocide now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo no longer have the political, military, material and financial support that they now have and are disarmed, disengaged and reintegrated into the socioeconomic life of the country, in the case of those who have not been held accountable before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha or before other tribunals. The inter-Congolese dialogue is a major component, even a decisive component, in the implementation of the Lusaka Peace Agreement.”
2002-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4532 (2002) · source
“We all remember those two statements, and the Government of Rwanda took them very seriously. We thought that such threats could be carried out only by using a certain number of airports in Kisangani, Kindu and Kalemi, among others. As the result of those threats to bomb our country using a limited number of airports in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as declared by the two heads of State, we were obliged to try to prevent such bombing.”
2002-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4532 (2002) · source
“That was the day - I was in the Government at the time - when, entering from Congolese territory, the ex-FAR and the militias massacred many innocent people in Rwanda, including a woman who was the mayor of one of the districts of Cyangugu province, which borders on the Democratic Republic of the Congo in southwestern Rwanda. I also recall the day - during the time I served in the Government - when we decided to advance the 600 kilometres referred to earlier by the representative of France. There as well, the action was based on the security of Rwanda and its people. Everyone will recall the statements of President Kabila at Kinshasa and of President Mugabe at Lubumbashi, in which the two heads of State declared that they were going to bomb Rwanda.”
2002-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4532 (2002) · source
“Rwanda's concerns with regard to the security of our country and our population were expressed in our letter dated 15 April 2002 (S/2002/420) addressed to the Security Council and by the Rwandan delegation to the political committee that met in Angola during the Council's visit and during the audience that the President of the Republic of Rwanda granted Council members. Those concerns have received the Council's attention, according to the representative of France, head of the Security Council mission, and we welcome that. I recall clearly the crucial moment when we decided to fight the former Rwandan Armed Forces (ex-FAR) and the Interahamwe militias systematically and to pursue them into their Congolese sanctuaries.”
2002-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4532 (2002) · source
“Mr. Gasana (Rwanda) (spoke in French): My country congratulates you, Sir, on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for the month of May. We should also like to congratulate your predecessor, who served in April, the month when the Council decided to make a trip to visit the Great Lakes Region. My country appreciated that initiative of the Council, in particular because its objective was to search for all the ways and means by which peace could return to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to the entire African Great Lakes region. My country welcomes the fact that the Council has focused all its attention on the underlying causes that prompted Rwanda to intervene militarily in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by virtue of its natural right of legitimate defence under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.”
2002-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4532 (2002) · source
“We hope that unfortunate event - which was due to poor political leadership in Rwanda at the time, after our dialogue - which we experienced will never, ever happen to our neighbours and brothers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We wish them every success in this inter-Congolese dialogue, and we hope that the agreements they sign at the African Union, in Addis Ababa, will all be implemented in full sincerity and openness for the good of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and for the Congolese people as a whole.”
2001-08-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4361 (2001) · source
“That dialogue led to an outstanding text, an unequalled document which Rwanda sorely needed, but the fateful moment came when one of the political leaders of Rwanda, the late President Habyarimana, a signatory to this text, as soon as he had signed it simply called it, publicly, a piece of paper. He was in a province in the north of Rwanda, where he was holding a public meeting. He stated there that he and his followers, the Interahamwe militia and the former members of the Rwandan armed forces, would come down like lightning and strike anyone in their path, reducing them to dust. Everything disappeared in a flash - the text, everything. And in this view of the whole world.”
2001-08-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4361 (2001) · source
“This is how, at least in part, the sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be assured. The other beneficiaries of the upcoming inter- Congolese dialogue will be the international community, which will heave a sigh of relief to see, finally, a positive outcome to the Congolese crisis, so that international solidarity can prevail to promote economic and social development in the Great Lakes region and Africa as a whole. Perhaps, Mr. President, you will tell me that this is all well and good. That is quite true; it is very good, but we must never lose sight for one moment of the fact that we Rwandans have had our inter-Rwandese dialogue, which lasted some two years in Arusha.”
2001-08-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4361 (2001) · source
“As a result of this inter-Congolese dialogue the Democratic Republic of the Congo will, we hope, have representative political leadership able to manage and administer this large country and to set up mechanisms for exercising political power and to keep the entire Congolese territory under control. In this way the Congolese and neighbouring countries will be reassured that there will be governmental interlocutors who can rise to the task of administering the Congolese territory. In this way the Congolese territory will no longer be used as a rear base for attacks by negative forces, including the planners and implementers of the Rwandan genocide who carried out their infamous acts in the countries neighbouring the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including Rwanda.”
2001-08-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4361 (2001) · source
“There are intellectuals of a high level; there are very talented political men. Unfortunately, after 32 years of Mobutu's dictatorship, these people were silenced, paralysed, frozen. Now the sun has risen, and the human warmth that has always been a strong point of the Congolese people is again evident. They are working hand in hand to set their country on the right course, thanks to this inter-Congolese dialogue. The nine neighbouring countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are certainly the second beneficiary of this inter-Congolese dialogue.”
2001-08-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4361 (2001) · source
“We congratulate Sir Ketumile Masire, former head of State of Botswana, for his tireless and wise efforts, which, as the Council knows, have been severely tested time and time again - though wisdom has prevailed. If today we are pleased with the success of this pre-inter-Congolese dialogue in Gaborone, I believe it is the fruit of that wisdom which we recognize today, which President Masire has displayed. We thank him for it, and we are all at his side. The benefits of the success of the pre- inter-Congolese dialogue belong, first of all, to the Congolese themselves, of all political leanings- the Government, rebels, the unarmed opposition, civil society, the people as a whole, without any political or ethnic exclusion. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, that great country with some 50 million people, has considerable human potential.”
2001-08-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4361 (2001) · source
“Kofi Annan, to achieve peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and throughout the Great Lakes region. In this context, it will be an honour for us to welcome the Secretary-General and Mrs. Nane Arman, as well as the members of the important delegation that will be accompanying him, to Kigali on 3 and 4 September. We are steadfastly determined to support the endeavours of the Secretary- General, and we hope that all the efforts that he will undertake to resolve the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will meet with success. We will contribute to the best of our ability. Rwanda also welcomes the success of the preparatory meeting of the inter-Congolese dialogue, held in Gaborone, Botswana.”
2001-08-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4361 (2001) · source
“Mr. Gasana (Rwanda) (spoke in French): Rwanda would like to congratulate you, our colleague and friend, Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso, the representative of that friendly country Colombia, on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for the month of August. We welcome the outstanding quality of the work of this body, the result of your great intellectual and diplomatic skills. We greatly appreciate the briefing that Mr. Annabi, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, provided. I believe that his analyses, suggestions and proposals aimed at strengthening the ceasefire in the region and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and at creating a climate of mutual trust and confidence deserve close attention. Rwanda welcomes the initiatives taken by the Secretary-General, Mr.”
2001-08-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4361 (2001) · source
“Rwanda once again reaffirms its full cooperation with the Secretary-General and the Security Council in order to establish a lasting peace in the Congo and the Great Lakes region. The meeting was suspended at 1.10pm.”
2001-07-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4348 (2001) · source
“Rwanda still relies on the assistance of the Security Council, an organ of the United Nations, to continue to ensure that all the signatories to the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement respect their commitment to its full implementation. Since the negative forces that planned and carried out the genocide in Rwanda and their sponsors still threaten peace in the region, we feel that the Security Council absolutely must address this very particular case and continue to seek to help the region in order to ensure that the forces of evil - those who planned and carried out the genocide in Rwanda - are prevented from doing any further harm. Those negative forces, as we have heard throughout this meeting, are deeply hurting our region.”
2001-07-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4348 (2001) · source
“At their meeting in the margins of the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS, the Secretary-General and the President of the Republic of Rwanda resolved to work together, as Africans, to find a solution to the Congolese crisis. At the summit of the Organization of African Unity at Lusaka, the Secretary- General brought together Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As I speak here today, I know that the Secretary-General is pursuing his efforts. If they are successful, they will mark above all our shared success, and especially that of Rwanda, as a State Member of the United Nations directly concerned by the conflict in our region. I therefore do not wish to dwell at length on these issues.”
2001-07-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4348 (2001) · source
“In preparation for this important meeting, on 13 July the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo wrote a letter to the President of the Security Council. My letter of 19 July, contained in document S/2001/716 of 20 July 2001, was a response to that letter. I would ask you, Sir, to absolve me of having to respond orally to that letter at this public meeting today or even tomorrow, for I would not wish to engage in polemics here. Indeed, Ambassador Morjane, here beside me, has strongly urged me not to do so. As the accredited Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Rwanda to the United Nations, I would not wish to say anything in my statement to the Council that might impede or undermine the current efforts of the Secretary-General to settle the Congolese conflict in the Great Lakes region of Africa.”
2001-07-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4348 (2001) · source
“Mr. Gasana (Rwanda) (spoke in French): Rwanda warmly welcomes the presidency of China for this month. We express our sincere satisfaction at seeing you, Sir, preside over the Council and at the outstanding manner in which you have guided its debates. We followed with great attention and interest the briefing on the situation in the Great Lakes region. We thank Ambassador Kamel Morjane for his work as Special Representative of the Secretary-General. He has fought the good fight, as Saint Paul would say, and has now completed his assignment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His successor will assume the reins on a firmer basis, although one that remains to be consolidated. Ambassador Morjane is an extremely talented individual. His experience and wisdom will always shine among us and his advice will always be most welcome.”
2001-07-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4348 (2001) · source
“Why not undertake a joint action, all of us together - Rwanda, the Security Council, the Democratic Republic of the Congo - to neutralize those elements, which are sowing the seeds of the genocidal philosophy in the Great Lakes region? In conclusion, I reaffirm the willingness of the Government of Rwanda to pursue its close cooperation with the Security Council, with MONUC on the ground in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and with any other agency that is working for the implementation of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement in its entirety.”
2001-06-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4327Resumption1 (2001) · source
“It is not my neighbours to my left at this table who created the Interahamwe and the ex-FAR, nor is it I myself who am responsible; they are the legacy of poor leaders on both sides. The philosophy of genocide - the exclusion and extermination of others - that has been entrenched in the region was invoked by Rwandese civil society in Kigali during the Security Council's recent mission to the Great Lakes region. This spirit and philosophy of genocide have been propagated throughout the region by their advocates, the Interahamwe militias and the ex-FAR, who move freely throughout the region. The Security Council was unable to make an appropriate, adequate or precise response in Kigali, but it promised to continue to reflect on the genocidal spirit that continues to reign in the Great Lakes region.”
2001-06-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4327Resumption1 (2001) · source
“We are very pleased that the Secretary-General has spared no effort in support of the activities of the Security Council in the region with a View to assisting our people to re-establish peace, which everyone needs, especially those children to whom Mr. Otunnu referred this morning with such emotion and compassion. We spoke earlier of the chagrin of Congolese and Rwandese alike at having to live to this day with the unfortunate legacies of Mobutu in the Congo and Habyarimana in Rwanda. Following their massacres of hundreds of thousands in Rwanda in 1994, Habyarimana's Interahamwe militias and the ex-FAR crossed the Rwanda-Congo border with their war machines and their spirit and philosophy of genocide, which, unfortunately for us all, they have exported to the peaceful people of the Congo.”
2001-06-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4327Resumption1 (2001) · source
“It is also known that, in an effort fully to implement the provisions of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement, Rwanda has taken the initiative to withdraw 200 kilometres from Pweto and to meet all the deadlines for withdrawal, in conjunction with the other components of the Agreement, taking into due account the requirements of our country's security. Our head of State had occasion to refer to this in his meeting at Kigali with the Security Council mission and on his recent travels in the region, including to Zimbabwe, where he met with his counterpart, President Mugabe, and elsewhere on the continent.”
2001-06-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4327Resumption1 (2001) · source
“The Panel of Experts has been asked to continue its investigation and to seek tangible proof of the allegations it made in its first report. Why not await the issuance of the next report before we reaffirm anything and proclaim our intentions? I cannot conclude my statement without briefly addressing the eighth report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As members of the Council are aware, we received the Security Council mission to the region. The mission met with members of the Political Committee in Lusaka under the chairmanship of Rwanda. The outcome of the meeting was set out in a joint communique annexed to the report before us today.”
2001-06-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4327Resumption1 (2001) · source
“Rwanda once again reaffirms loud and clear that it went into the Congo for security reasons, threatened by the genocidal forces of the Interahamwe militias and ex-FAR operating from Congolese territory, and not in search of any natural resources of that neighbouring country. Proof of this can be found in the fighting taking place today, as we speak, along the Rwanda-Congo border, which attests to the fact that we went into the Congo for no other reason than the security of our country. Rwanda therefore believes that we cannot come to the conclusion, on the basis of information howsoever troubling, that there has been any illegal exploitation, as yet unproved, of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
2001-06-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4327Resumption1 (2001) · source
“Two Rwandese border provinces have been designated in red as dangerous regions where no United Nations agency, no embassy and no non-governmental organization can venture, just as it was in 1996-1997. We believe that the Security Council is duty- bound to assist Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the entire region, so that the Interahamwe militias and ex-Far responsible for the genocide in Rwanda can be disarmed and disengaged in accordance with the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement. Various reports and even some statements have highlighted what has commonly been called the illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
2001-06-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4327Resumption1 (2001) · source