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Butare trial resumes

By Sukhdev Chhatbar

Genocide suspect Joseph Kanyabashi watched a group of attackers surround and kill 2500 refugees in Kabakobwa, Butare Province, during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, a witness today claimed before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

The witness ‑‑ identified only as ''FAM" -- is testifying mainly against Kanyabashi, a former mayor of Ngoma commune in Butare. Kanyabashi is one of the six defendants in the so‑called  "Butare Trial."

FAM, the seventh prosecution witness since the trial began in June 2001, testified that the refugees gathered at Kabakobwa to escape attacks that began after unknown assailants shot down a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana on 6 April 1994.

"Kanyabashi was standing by a vehicle observing the killings," the witness alleged, adding that he was one of the attackers.  FAM is a detainee awaiting sentencing in Rwanda for his role in the genocide.

The witness told the court that Kanyabashi, Alphonse Nteziryayo, former governor of Butare and another man named Muvunyi, directed him and other attackers to arm themselves with machetes, clubs and other traditional weapons and go to Kabakobwa. Nteziryayo is one of the Butare six.

Led by prosecution attorney Jonathan Moses of New Zealand, FAM testified: "We were told to dress in banana leaves and to paint the lower part of our bodies in white and the upper parts in black before the attack." FAM claimed that on reaching Kabakokwa, he saw a huge crowd surrounded by the soldiers and para‑military police.

"On reaching there, they [the soldiers and the police] asked us to attack the refugees, two minutes later, the soldiers opened fire on the crowd."

"We prevented those escaping the shooting with our machetes and traditional weapons," FAM stressed.

Kanyabashi also ordered the setting up of roadblocks in April 1994 in Ngoma, FAM claimed.

During proceedings in the morning, the fifth prosecution witness ‑‑ identified only as "TO" ‑‑ completed his testimony. He claimed that genocide suspect Elie Ndayambaje told a meeting in Muganza commune that he would co‑operate to wipe out the "enemy," meaning ethnic Tutsi.

The Butare Trial is the largest before the ICTR. The six are: Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, a former Rwandan minister for family and women's affairs; Nyiramasuhuko's son Arsene Ntahobali, a former militia leader; Elie Ndayambaje, a former mayor of Muganza commune; Alphonse Nteziryayo, a former governor of Butare; Joseph Kanyabashi, a former mayor of Ngoma commune and Sylvain Nsabimana, a former Butare governor.

All six  have denied charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. They allegedly committed the crimes in Butare Province, southwestern Rwanda. Nyiramasuhuko is the only woman indicted by the ICTR.

The trial is held before Trial Chamber II of the ICTR, comprising Judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Winston Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho and Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar.

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Last modified: March 08, 2002.
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