Citation
Charge Sheet Series No 9
V INCENT N ZIGIYIMFURA IN M ALAWI
A PILLAR OF THE 1994 GENOCIDE
Vincent Nzigiyimfura’s shop in Lilongwe.
African Rights
Tel: (+250) 50 36 79
PO Box 3836 Kigali, Rwanda
Email: rights@rwanda1.com
Web: www.africanrights.org
Charge Sheet Series, Number 9
Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…5
SUMMARY OF THE CHARGES AGAINST VINCENT NZIGIYIMFURA…………………………………………………………….6
1. UNLEASHING THE GENOCIDE IN NYANZA AND KIGOMA: THE MEN IN CHARGE……………..7
THE BUILD UP OF TENSION: 720 APRIL 1994 ………………………………………………………………………………10
A TURNING POINT: THURSDAY, 21 APRIL 1994………………………………………………………………………..........13
2. ROADBLOCKS EVERYWHERE: “TO STOP TUTSIS AND TO KILL THEM”…………………….….14
FRIDAY, 22 APRIL: SETTING UP THE CHECKPOINTS ………………………………………………………………………....14
SATURDAY, 23 APRIL: KILLING AT THE ROADBLOCKS ……………................................................................................20
3. THE GENOCIDE CONTINUES UNABATED……………………………………………………………….……23
CALLED OUT OF HIDING……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...27
SATURDAY, 7 MAY: A SYSTEMATIC MASSACRE………………………………………………………………………………...29
“MAYBE THEY WILL FIND NOTHING SHOWING THAT TUTSIS USED TO EXIST”………………………………...........31
4. EVACUATED TO MALAWI BY VINCENT NZIGIYIMFURA………………………………………………33
5. SEEKING JUSTICE AS WELL AS ANSWERS………………………………………………………………….…36
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Charge Sheet Series, Number 9
Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
“To talk of the genocide of Tutsis in sector Kavumu, without mentioning the role of
Vincent Nzigiyimfura, would be tantamount to denying the genocide itself. Without the
incitement and the orders given by him, I’m sure that all the Tutsis of Kavumu would
be alive today. And to describe genocide as a crime against humanity on an
international scale, without other countries joining in the effort to track down the
perpetrators, is to dismiss the importance of what happened here.”
~ Tatien, a former prisoner from Kavumu in Kigoma
“If Nzigiyimfura hadn’t been there, Tutsis would not have been killed on such a scale.
He was the one who trained people to kill during the genocide. He always walked
around with a stick. He used that stick to punish people for not killing Tutsis.
~ Lucien, a local government official in Kavumu in 1994 who acknowledges
that he helped Nzigiyimfura plan and implement the genocide in Kigoma
“The fact that so many of the people who incited the genocide in Nyanza have not been
brought to justice is a real problem. These leaders were the educated people and
businessmen. They are the ones who should have protected the region. Their absence
has had a huge impact on gacaca because the peasants here don’t feel as if they are
responsible for what happened. They argue that the blame should not be placed on their
shoulders while those who incited them have yet to be punished.”
~ André, who worked in a restaurant in Nyanza in 1994
“Everyone says that Vincent is in Malawi. We hear that he is doing business there and
that he is a rich man. He has taken many members of his family, wanted for genocide,
away from here. If he can evacuate these relatives, it shows his ability to influence the
justice system in Rwanda, and it means that he is comfortable and in a good position.”
~ Valentine, a genocide survivor in Kavumu
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
Genocide Memorial Site at Nyanza Stadium, 2008.
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Charge Sheet Series, Number 9
Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
INTRODUCTION
Vincent Nzigiyimfura is president of the association of “Rwandans Living in Malawi.” He
lives in Lilongwe, where he is also known as Vincent Nzigiye, and has a store in the old
business centre of Lilongwe, Area 2, as shown on the cover photograph. He appears to be
living in Malawi as a refugee with a Rwandese passport. He used the passport to obtain his
Business Resident Permit and is now believed to be in the process of obtaining Malawian
nationality.
In Rwanda, Nzigiyimfura is remembered for the genocide he helped to initiate and bring to a
successful conclusion in the town of Nyanza and in commune Kigoma, Gitarama.
Nzigiyimfura’s business was located in Nyanza, commune Nyabisindu in Butare , and he
lived in the nearby cellule of Gihisi in Kigoma. He worked alongside the military officers,
politicians, local government officials, businessmen and civilians who orchestrated and
executed the genocide in Nyanza, the sectors of Remera and Kavumu in Kigoma and in
many other locations in Nyabisindu and Kigoma. In Lilongwe, he has been active in setting
up networks to help his close relatives, imprisoned as genocide suspects, escape justice and
find refuge in Malawi.
1
2
Vincent Nzigiyimfura lived in cellule Gihisi in sector Remera, but worked in Nyanza as a
prosperous trader. Because Gihisi straddles the sectors of Remera and Kavumu, he left his
mark on both places. He owned many businesses in Nyanza, including a large shop and a
grocery store with a small bar inside. With his brothers he co-owned a butcher’s shop, and his
family were known as abatazi, meaning “the butchers.”
3
4
Nzigiyimfura, the owner of a number of vehicles, including a Toyota Stout, a Nissan truck
and a Datsun van, was considered an important figure in Nyanza. In addition to his economic
base, his influence and social standing were due, to a large extent, to the close ties he had
forged with the leading military and civilian officials in Nyanza, most of them natives of the
northern and politically powerful region. Prior to 1994, they had entrenched the Committee
for the Defence of the Republic (CDR) in Nyanza, Remera and Kavumu. The CDR was the
party which best embodied the most radical aspects of the political creed known as Hutu
extremism, whose aims came to fruition in 1994. Nzigiyimfura himself was an enthusiastic
supporter of MDR-Power, the extremist wing of the Republican Democratic Party (MDR).
Malawi has joined Zambia and Mozambique in Southern Africa as a country where a sizeable
number of prominent Rwandese genocide suspects have settled and have become successful
as businessmen and professionals. Furthermore, Malawi, like Zambia and Mozambique, has
become an increasingly important political base for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation
of Rwanda (FDLR), the military and political organization whose leadership and membership
1
The administrative system in Rwanda was restructured between 2001-2006. However, given the fact that this
report addresses events prior to the genocide, and during 1994, it refers to the system that was in use at the time.
2
Although the sectors of Kavumu and Remera were geographically part of commune Kigoma, their residents
were more closely connected to Nyanza than to Kigoma. Kavumu and Remera were in fact regarded more as
neighbourhoods of Nyanza town.
3
Cellule Gihisi was divided into two parts; one section was in sector Remera and another was in sector
Kavumu. The two lay on different sides of the football field in Gihisi.
4
Although the common word for butcher in Kinyarwanda is ababazi, in Nyanza Nzigiyimfura’s family was
known as abatazi. They were also known as imbaragasa which means fleas. It is thought they were given this
name because the family was so large.
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
includes officers and civilian officials who were directly involved in the massacres of 1994.
The FDLR, based in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has
been a major source of instability and conflict in the Great Lakes region for many years, and
has been accused of serious and widespread human rights abuses against the Congolese
people living in North and South Kivu in eastern DRC. The genocide suspects living in
Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique travel regularly, and at ease, between the three countries,
as well as to and from the DRC.
5
Apart from his own relatives who were imprisoned in Rwanda as genocide suspects, and who
Nzigiyimfura is accused of evacuating to Malawi, a number of men who joined forces with
him in 1994 are also currently living in Malawi. They include Chrisostom Nsabimana, alias
Kinshasa, a businessman, who shuttles between Malawi and Zambia; Eugène Kayisire, the
owner of a pharmacy in Nyanza; Dominico Karake and a certain Kennedy.
At the end of 2008, there were about 4400 Rwandese asylum-seekers and refugees in Malawi,
out of which the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) recognized about
half as refugees. There is one refugee camp in Malawi, in Dowa, about an hour north of
Lilongwe. However, many of the Rwandese in Malawi are not living in the camp, but in
cities and towns like Blantyre, Zomba and Lilongwe. These refugees and asylum seekers
include a significant number of prominent genocide suspects, including Vincent
Nzigiyimfura.
Summary of the Charges Against Vincent Nzigiyimfura
•
Instructing militiamen to establish roadblocks which were used to vet the ID cards of
Tutsis, and then used as convenient killing centres;
•
Supervising roadblocks and encouraging the militia who manned them to seek out,
detain and kill Tutsis;
•
Ordering the militia to kill Tutsis in his presence at the roadblocks;
•
Making his vehicles available to transport Tutsis to Nyanza stadium where hundreds
were massacred and the corpses of those killed elsewhere dumped;
•
Requiring Hutus to register the location of Tutsis in hiding, a strategy for identifying
who was still alive. Afterwards, Nzigiyimfura led the militia to their hideouts and had
them killed;
•
Distributing weapons to the militia;
•
Encouraging the destruction and looting of the houses and property of Tutsis.
5
For more details about the political evolution and leadership of the FDLR, see African Rights, A Welcome
Expression of Intent: The Nairobi Communiqué and the Ex-FAR/Interahamwe, December 2007, 88 pages, and
Opportunities and Constraints for the Disarmament and Repatriation of the Foreign Armed Groups in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Cases of the FDLR, FNL and ADF/NALU, by Hans Romkema, April
2007, commissioned and published by the Secretariat of the Multi-Country Demobilisation and Reintegration
Programme.
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1
UNLEASHING THE GENOCIDE IN NYANZA AND KIGOMA
The Men in Charge
The genocide in Nyanza, Kavumu and Remera, as elsewhere in Rwanda, was instigated and
led by servants of the State, working hand in hand with business leaders and well-educated
members of the community. The genocide was facilitated, to a great extent, by the close ties
which had been knit, particularly in the early 1990s, between military officers, local
government officials, the leaders of political parties close to the government, the heads of
para-statal agencies, businessmen and professionals, especially teachers and the clergy.
In Nyanza and Kavumu, Vincent Nzigiyimfura collaborated, both before and during the
genocide, with a range of individuals, many of them supporters of the CDR, including:
•
Captain François-Xavier Birikunzira, head of the gendarmerie post in Nyanza. This
post covered the sub-préfecture of Nyabisindu, made up of the communes of
Nyabisindu, Muyira, Mugusa, Ntyazo and Rusatira in Butare. In 1994, he was also
given responsibility over the communes of Tambwe, Ntongwe, Kigoma and Murama
in Gitarama. Birikunzira, who rose to the rank of colonel in the FDLR, was most
recently active in the FDLR cell in Congo-Brazzaville, but is now thought to have left
Congo-Brazzaville for Bénin in west Africa;
6
•
Gaëtan Kayitana, deputy-préfet for the sub-préfecture of Nyabisindu. Kayitana, who
comes from Karengera in Cyangugu, was a member of the CDR as well as the
MRND. He remains in exile;
7
•
Célestin Ugirashebuja, bourgmestre of commune Kigoma. Ugirashebuja was arrested
in the UK in December 2006, along with three other Rwandese, on charges related to
the genocide after the Government of Rwanda requested his extradition. In June 2008,
the court approved the extradition request. The decision was reversed on appeal on 8
April 2009 by the High Court.
8
•
Jean-Damascène Mugenzi, secretary at the office of the sub-préfecture of Nyabisindu.
He remains in exile;
•
Pierre Ndimumakuba, advisor to the Court of Appeal in Nyanza. He comes from
Ruhengeri;
•
Appolinaire Barihuta, alias Tubirimo, a long-time director of the iron foundry in
Nyanza. He had retired by 1994, but still maintained considerable influence over the
foundry. Barihuta, who comes from Ruhengeri, has died;
6
See African Rights, A Welcome Expression of Intent.
Information concerning imprisonment or other details relevant to an individual’s whereabouts is presented as it
was given to us at the time of the interview.
8
On 8 April 2009, the High Court judges, who found that the suspects had a case to answer given the evidence
that was presented, ruled against extradition on the basis that the suspects would not get a fair trial in Rwanda.
Ugirashebuja was released along with Vincent Bajinya, a medical doctor, and two men who had been
bourgmestres in the préfecture of Gikongoro, namely Emmanuel Nteziryayo and Charles Munyaneza.
7
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
•
Faustin Mbereye, director of the Electrogaz station in Nyanza. Mbereye, who came to
Nyanza in 1980, comes from Kinigi in Ruhengeri. He was detained in Nyanza prison
in January 2006;
9
•
Dr. Callixte Mirasano, a veterinarian, was the director of the government-owned dairy
in Nyabisindu. He was one of the founders of the CDR in Nyanza. He has been living
in Zambia since the end of the genocide and works in a milk factory in Livingstone.
He comes from Ruhengeri. Mirasano is on Interpol’s November 2007 list of wanted
Rwandese genocide suspects;
•
Dr. Célestin Higiro, from Butare, was the director of Nyanza hospital. He was head of
the CDR in Nyanza. He was first imprisoned in Nyanza and later transferred to
Mpanga prison;
•
Fr. Hormisdas Nsengimana, a Catholic priest, was the rector of Christ Roi secondary
school. He was arrested in Cameroon on 21 March 2002 at the request of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and transferred to the ICTR’s
detention facilities in Arusha on 16 April 2002. The ICTR has charged Nsengimana
with “genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity for
murder and extermination.” His trial is on-going;
10
•
Anaclet Nkundimfura; he worked in the Court of Appeal in Nyanza;
•
Pierre Karake, a businessman. He died outside Rwanda;
•
Zacharie Nshimyumuremyi, a businessman, in prison in Mpanga;
•
Jean-Damascène Kanyamibwa, in prison in Mpanga;
•
Ephron Nshimyumuremyi, a businessman in Nyanza. He comes from Murama in
Gitarama. He is currently living in Belgium but maintains business interests in Africa;
•
Maburanturo, manager of the Commercial Bank of Rwanda (BCR) in Nyanza;
•
Chrisostom Nsabimana, known as Kinshasa, a businessman. He travels between
Malawi and Zambia;
•
Frédéric Rwagasore, the director of the Louis de Monfort Secondary School of
Sciences, in prison in Mpanga;
•
Minani, the director of the Technical School for Girls (ETF) in Nyanza;
•
Augustin Nyamulinda, director of a teacher training school;
•
Eugène Kayisire, a medical assistant who had his own pharmacy in Nyanza. He lives
in Malawi;
9
There is no longer a prison in Nyanza, and most of the prisoners there have been transferred to Mpanga prison.
For details about the role of Fr. Hormisdas Nsengimana in the genocide, see Fr. Hormisdas Nsengimana:
Accused of Genocide, Sheltered by the Church, African Rights, Witness to Genocide, Issue 14, November 2001,
43 pages.
10
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
•
Athanase Harindintwali, a businessman;
•
Emmanuel Rumonge; he worked in one of the courts in Nyanza;
•
Augustin Twagirimana, alias “Terrible”, a teacher at Christ Roi secondary school. He
comes from Murama in Gitarama and is said to have died in the DRC;
•
Gervais Nyilinkwaya, president of the Court of First Instance in Nyanza. He has died.
Dieudonné , a mechanic who lived in cellule Kavumu in sector Kavumu, said he regularly
saw Nzigiyimfura in the company of several of the men whose names appear above,
including the powerful bourgmestre of Kigoma, Célestin Ugirashebuja.
11
Vincent was my neighbour and my garage was in the town of Nyanza, not far from Vincent’s
shop. During the period of multi-partyism, I always saw people like Birikunzira, Mirasano,
Ugirashebuja, Rwandekwe, Tubirimo and other people known as extremists in Nyanza
meeting at Vincent’s bar. Several times I saw them entering his house in Gihisi. When
Ugirashebuja came, they always met at Vincent’s house. They didn’t seem to like to meet in a
bar.
Charles, a driver from Kavumu, underlined the importance of “the collaboration between
Nzigiyimfura and other prominent génocidaires in Nyanza,” notably Captain François-Xavier
Birikunzira, commander of the gendarmes who killed thousands of Tutsis across Butare and
Gitarama. He spoke about the political fault lines in Nyanza prior to the genocide, and about
some of the men who were politically active.
The team known as ‘Power’ often met up over a beer in Vincent’s bar. Vincent was part of
this group, made up largely of people from the north called Abakiga. Four of them behaved as
if they were the leaders. That is Nzigiyimfura; Mirasano, the director of Nyanza dairy;
Appolinaire Barihuta, the ex-director of the government-owned iron foundry in Kavumu and
Pierre Ndimumakuba, an advisor to the Court of Appeal. The other members included:
•
•
•
•
•
Faustin Mbereye, manager of the Electrogaz station in Nyanza;
Emmanuel Rumonge, he worked at the district court in Nyanza;
Anaclet Nkundimfura;
Gaëtan Kayitana, the deputy-préfet;
Gervais Nyilinkwaya, president of the court in Nyanza, who has died.
No one could gain entrance and become one of them. And as no one, except Vincent, was a
native of Nyanza, people couldn’t accept their influence in the region and complained about
their decisions. But in spite of protests by the residents of Nyanza, the last word regarding the
destiny of Nyanza fell to this group.
Well before the genocide, Nzigiyimfura, Dr Callixte Mirasano, Fr. Hormisdas Nsengimana,
Gaëtan Kayitana and Appolinaire Barihuta, alias Tubirimo, amongst others, established a
militia composed of men who came from the north, most of them employees of institutions
under their control, for example the dairy, the foundry and Christ Roi, or those controlled by
their political allies, like Electrogaz. This militia, which became known as the Dragons (Les
Dragons) included the sons of many of the influential men in Nyanza who were associated
with Nzigiyimfura’s political circle. They included, for example:
11
Pseudonyms have been used to protect the identity of witnesses, with a few exceptions.
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•
•
•
•
Louis de Gonzague Uwimana and his brother, Bosco; their father Nyamulinda, was
the headmaster of a school in Nyanza. Uwimana is now a captain in the FDLR;
Jean de Dieu Munyaneza, alias Jean Muitzig, whose father, Marc Munyaneza, was a
businessman. Jean de Dieu Munyaneza lives in The Netherlands;
Gasore and Mugabo, Tubirimo’s sons;
Zéphyrin, the son of Dr Célestin Higiro.
The Dragons, who were created, supported, encouraged and given directives by the men who
established this militia force, appeared to be aimed explicitly against Tutsis and political
opponents of the CDR.
Nzigiyimfura and his allies also relied upon soldiers from the Senior Military Academy
(ESM) in Kigali. They had accompanied the interim government when it left Kigali on 12
April, because of the fighting between the Rwandese Armed Forces (FAR) and the rebel
movement, the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), and settled in Gitarama. Some of the soldiers
were housed at Christ Roi.
Nyanza was known for having a large concentration of Tutsi residents. The move to
exterminate them therefore required accurate planning, extensive resources and significant
motivation. In April 1994, Nzigiyimfura and like-minded men in Nyanza drew on their
position and authority, and the financial, material and human resources available to them, to
put in place all the necessary elements for a highly successful genocide not only in Nyanza,
but more broadly in Nyabisindu and in Kigoma.
The Build Up of Tension: 7-20 April 1994
The leaders of the genocide in Nyabisindu came up against two major hurdles from the
outset. The first obstacle was Jean-Baptiste Habyarimana, the préfet (governor) of Butare, the
only Tutsi préfet in the country, and a man who was determined to keep the genocide out of
his préfecture. He visited Nyanza and spoke to residents on the grounds of ESPANYA, a
secondary school, to reassure them and also to urge them to remain united in the interests of
peace. His success explains why, for nearly two weeks, Butare remained largely calm. The
interim government, however, sought to undermine his achievements and finally dismissed
him on 19 April. Systematic killings began in Butare town, and in many of the rural
communes, the following day.
The second impediment was the bourgmestre (mayor) of Nyabisindu, Jean Marie-Vianney
Gisagara, whose principled stand against the genocide cost him his life, and the lives of 11
members of his family. Gisagara cautioned the Hutu population against turning on their
Tutsi neighbours, and made an example of those who refused to heed his words by arresting
and detaining them. He boosted the morale of Tutsis in Nyabisindu by his actions and his
words.
12
Compared to many other regions, large-scale massacres also started relatively late in most of
the communes in the préfecture of Gitarama.
12
For more information about Jean Marie-Vianney Gisagara, and his efforts to save lives during the genocide,
see Tribute to Courage published by African Rights, December 2002, 299 pages.
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News of the plane crash which killed President Juvénal Habyarimana on the night of 6 April
1994, and the fact that Tutsis were immediately blamed for his assassination, created fear and
suspicion in Nyanza and Kigoma, as it did throughout the country. According to both
survivors and prisoners, the radio broadcasts about Habyarimana’s death initially brought
about panic and confusion among all residents. Lucien, a member of the administrative
committee responsible for the cellule of Gihisi in Kavumu, and a man who would later make
a significant contribution to the genocide in Kavumu, summed up this mood of uncertainty.
Many people in this area didn’t know what was going to happen. We were all apprehensive.
Sometimes we would follow the Tutsis and spend the night in the forest with them because
we thought the Hutus from the north, the Abakiga, would kill us together. Around the 18th of
April, we heard the sound of gunfire coming from the town of Nyanza. Although it didn’t last
long, some Tutsis started to leave their houses.
Paul, who also lived in Gihisi, said everyone was influenced by the news that filtered in as
the genocide gathered momentum.
Tutsis were not sleeping in their houses because they heard that other Tutsis were being killed
in other parts of the country. Instead, they slept in the bushes and forest and some stayed in
the houses of their Hutus friends.
Marcel, a student, was home in Nyanza for the Easter holidays.
13
For a couple of weeks, nothing happened. There were just meetings and people said that a
genocide was being prepared. Things were very quiet in Nyanza and businesses were only
open on Mondays and Thursdays.
The sense of unease persuaded Marcel’s parents to leave their home each day before it got
dark.
Because my family and I were afraid, between the 6th and the 19th, we spent the nights in
banana plantations or in the homes of Hutu friends.
On the 19th, Marcel’s father, worried about the deteriorating security situation, sent his son to
stay with Hutu friends in another commune, where he stayed out of sight until the end.
Julienne explained why she chose to abandon her home in Gihisi, and to disperse her children
among Hutu friends.
There was tension because Tutsis were blamed for Habyarimana’s death. We could see that
something wasn’t going well in the country. I slept in the bush with the baby on my back and
I took my other children to the homes of different Hutu friends, thinking that if some died,
others would survive. We knew a little about what was happening elsewhere from listening to
the radio. When we called friends in Kigali, sometimes someone would pick up and we could
hear the house being demolished in the background.
She spoke about the joint security patrols, which she said in Gihisi were set up following
Nzigiyimfura’s instructions.
13
The genocide coincided with the school holidays for Easter.
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All the men in the area, both Hutu and Tutsi, were asked to join night patrols and circulate
around the neighbourhood. The purpose, they said, was to monitor developments in the area,
ensure security, and to stop the RPF from entering the country. It was Vincent who gave the
directives for these patrols. He came to our house to order my husband to participate.
But on the 20th, her husband returned home half an hour after he had been on patrol duty.
He said he couldn’t continue participating because Vincent had told them: ‘We now know
who will die. It is the Tutsis who will die, not the Hutus.’
I asked my husband how Nzigiyimfura knew this. He said there had been a meeting in
Kigoma at the office of the bourgmestre, Ugirashebuja, where Nzigiyimfura had been told
this.
During the first two weeks of the genocide, Nzigiyimfura and his powerful network worked
hard to prepare the Hutu population of Nyanza and Kigoma to catch up with the pace of
killings in the rest of the country. Mobilizing forces in Kigoma would not be difficult, as they
could count on the full support of Ugirashebuja. Rather, the challenge for them was in
Nyabisindu, where they deemed it necessary to thwart Gisagara’s campaign for peace and
security. Gisagara had rallied the population to maintain their solidarity and vigilance, and
urged them to work together to push back attackers from Gikongoro.
However, Gisagara’s call for resistance was ultimately fruitless. Within a few days
militiamen could be seen breaking into Tutsi shops in Nyanza, in full view of Birikunzira and
the gendarmes under his control. Planning meetings took place at Christ Roi, under the
stewardship of Father Hormisdas Nsengimana. After the meetings, witnesses say that many
of the same men would then share a beer in Nzigiyimfura’s bar in Nyanza town.
14
Meetings also took place in Nzigiyimfura’s house in Gihisi, according to his former
neighbour, Dieudonné.
Between the 7th and the 22nd of April, I saw people gathering at Vincent’s house on three
occasions. Those who came included:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Célestin Ugirashebuja, the bourgmestre of Kigoma;
Narcisse Simuhuga, the councillor of sector Kavumu;
Birikunzira, head of the gendarmerie of Nyanza;
Mirasano, director of the Nyabisindu dairy;
Tubirimo;
Rwandekwe, a retired soldier;
Emmanuel, alias Mbangambanga, an agronomist at the German project called PAP in
Gihisi, as well as many others.
On 21 April, the purpose of those meetings became clear.
14
See Fr. Hormisdas Nsengimana: Accused of Genocide, Sheltered by the Church.
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A Turning Point: Thursday, 21 April 1994
The bourgmestre of Nyabisindu, Gisagara, worked tirelessly to prevent the killings in his
commune. He took on the interahamwe with the support of his communal police force, called
on sector councillors to refuse the demands of those in favour of genocide while all the time
appealing for non-violence and unity. His determination to hold the genocide at bay angered
Birikunzira, Nzigiyimfura and, amongst others, Mirasano, and the threats against Gisagara’s
life increased. Forced to go into hiding several days before, Gisagara was discovered on
Thursday 21 April. He and 11 members of his family were murdered, including his parents,
wife and siblings. Before he was killed, Gisagara’s body, watched over by soldiers, was tied
to the back of a truck and driven through the town, as a punishment for his stand and as a
warning to other Hutus who opposed the genocide.
With Gisagara now out of the way on the 21st, and with the dismissal of the préfet on 19 April
and his replacement by an army officer fully committed to the genocide, the killings began in
earnest on Friday, 22 April.
Julienne’s husband had returned from patrol duty on the 20th convinced that Tutsis were
going to die. She heard the first warning signs on the evening of the 21st.
On the 21st, we stayed here at home. We couldn’t do anything or go anywhere. In the evening,
when I went to sleep outside, I heard gunshots.
She later found out that the victims were two men named Joseph Rusima and Amon
Rutayisire.
Camille, a student at the University of Butare, was spending the holidays at home in Nyanza.
He had slept the night of Wednesday the 20th in the bush. What he saw when he returned
home the following day led to the decision which ensured his survival.
On Thursday the 21st, I went into Nyanza town with my mother and two friends to take stock
of the situation there. As we approached the town, we immediately caught sight of many
clusters of soldiers brandishing guns. I counted more than ten groups.
The following day, Camille and his friends crossed the border into Burundi. But countless
others were not so fortunate. It became increasingly difficult to escape as the militia
infiltrated the area after Gisagara’s death, and set up roadblocks to ambush Tutsis trying to
reach safety.
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
2
ROADBLOCKS EVERYWHERE
“To Stop Tutsis and to Kill Them”
Checkpoints, set up in many parts of the country within hours of Habyarimana’s death, were
used to identify Tutsis, to monitor their movements and to deny them escape routes. The fact
that everyone over 18 had an ID card with a mention of their ethnic group made the task of
those who manned roadblocks much easier. Anyone who failed to produce an ID card was
assumed to be a Tutsi who was afraid. Others were judged to be a Tutsi by their looks and
were dealt with accordingly. In Butare, as everywhere in Rwanda, countless Tutsis had their
lives cut short at roadblocks, or were led away and killed elsewhere. Women were taken into
the bushes and raped and families became separated. In Nyanza and Kigoma, as in other parts
of the country, checkpoints would prove to be key to a successful genocide.
Immediately on the heels of Gisagara’s death, Nzigiyimfura set out to establish a formidable
series of roadblocks in sectors Kavumu and Remera. He made the purpose of the roadblocks
clear to the men he ordered to construct and guard them: kill all Tutsis.
One of the men who obeyed these instructions is Jules, who was given a prison sentence of
22 years in 1996 for his contribution to the genocide. He has since confessed his participation
in the killings.
“Vincent was quite clear that the purpose of roadblocks was to
stop Tutsis and to kill them.”
He repeatedly emphasized that Tutsis were the enemies of the Hutus. Therefore, he said, we
shouldn’t save any of them.
Friday, 22 April: Setting Up the Checkpoints
As the testimonies below highlight, Nzigiyimfura played a crucial role in the construction of
roadblocks. One of them was placed in front of his own house so that he could easily
supervise progress. Others were set up at convenient crossroads where many Tutsis were
forced to pass as they deserted their homes in search of safety. To speed up the pace, he lent
his vehicles to facilitate the transport of militiamen, as well as weapons, stones and other
components needed to create and operate an efficient roadblock. He travelled between all the
stops, presiding over the killings and punishing the militiamen who failed to show up for duty
and those who were reluctant participants.
According to both prisoners and survivors, Nzigiyimfura built and oversaw multiple
roadblocks. The different roadblocks they mentioned were set up in the following locations:
•
In cellule Kavumu, opposite the home of Bosco Biziyaremye;
•
In cellule Gihisi, opposite the home of François Ndaruruhira;
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•
In Gihisi, opposite the home of Léonard Gakiga;
•
In Gihisi, in front of Nzigiyimfura’s own house;
•
In Gihisi, opposite the home of a woman called Olive;
•
Near the Protestant Parish of Hanika.
Nzigiyimfura, said Valentine, who lived in Gihisi, did not waste time. She said she saw him
enter their cellule on the morning of Friday 22 April.
Nzigiyimfura came in a Toyota truck loaded with stones. The stones were used for the
roadblock near the Parish of Hanika. I was at home and could hear him saying, ‘Come, come
to the roadblocks!’
Paul, a farmer in Gihisi, said he has known Nzigiyimfura since he, Paul, was a child. He
underlined the strategic placement of the roadblocks in Gihisi, chosen in order to maximise
their effectiveness as a trap for Tutsis leaving their homes.
On the 22nd we saw Vincent’s blue Toyota carrying soldiers15 and big rocks used for
roadblocks. He created the first roadblock at Hanika, near the Protestant parish, the second
was in front of his house and the third one at the home of a woman called Nyampundu. This
one was well placed because it was a meeting point for three roads, that is the road from
Nyanza, the one from Hanika and the one from Kinamba. The last roadblock he put up in our
cellule was on the football grounds.
Jules acknowledges that he helped to oversee a roadblock in Gihisi, where he lived, but added
that it was built at the behest of Nzigiyimfura and a group of gendarmes sent by Birikunzira.
In our sector, it was Vincent and some gendarmes who told us to create roadblocks. That was
the first time Hutus were encouraged to rise as one against Tutsis.
In Gihisi, he said, two men in particular “helped to mobilize the population”, naming Joseph
Niyoyita and Lucien.
About 30 others also met with Vincent to receive orders, including Enock Sinenge, who is in
prison, and Rudakubana and Alphonse, who are in hiding.
Lucien, whose name was mentioned by all witnesses from sector Kavumu, does not deny that
he served as one of Nzigiyimfura’s principal right-hand men. He said he has known
Nzigiyimfura all his life because they grew up in the same area in Gihisi.
On 22 April, we heard the sound of gunfire all morning. We didn’t know they had started
killing Tutsis in Nyanza. In the afternoon, the responsable of the cellule came to my house
and asked me to come to a meeting.
When he reached the place where they normally held the meetings of the cellule, Lucien said
he encountered Nzigiyimfura.
15
Soldiers and gendarmes are used interchangeably by witnesses.
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
Vincent was using large stones to put a roadblock in place. He had brought the stones in his
blue Toyota Stout. There were many soldiers in his car.
Lucien spoke about the meeting.
Vincent himself and Jean-Damascène Gatunzi, the responsable of the cellule, led it. They told
us we had to start hunting the inyenzi.16 Vincent told us to stay at the roadblock. If anyone
tried to pass, we should stop him, he said. And if we found out that he was an enemy of
Rwanda, we should kill him. And the enemies of Rwanda, he said, were the Tutsis.
Afterwards, he continued on his way, leaving two soldiers with us.
Gaspard has spent many years in Nyanza prison. It took him six years before he decided to
confess the crimes he now acknowledges. He lived in cellule Nyagatovu in sector Remera.
He went to hear Nzigiyimfura speak at the football field in Nyagatovu on the 22nd where, he
said, “Vincent announced that Tutsis should be killed.”
Vincent’s first action, in planning the death of Tutsis in Nyanza, and in sectors Remera and
Kavumu in Kigoma, was to build roadblocks. Vincent and some policemen came to our area
and made us put up a roadblock to stop Tutsis. It was quite usual for people from Nyagatovu
cellule to gather on the football field.
Vincent drove a blue Toyota Stout. He was with some policemen, but they came in their
vehicle, also a Toyota. Vincent told us to put up a roadblock in the centre of Nyagatovu to
better capture Tutsis. He was very clear that the Tutsis were the enemies of the country, and
that we, therefore, had to kill them. The policeman who seemed to be in charge of the others
told us not to be afraid, since those responsible for security were, he assured us, on the side of
the Hutus. To prove this, he left us two policemen with two guns.
Around 8:00 p.m. approximately ten of us were told to go to where the roadblock would be.
Of those in the group, I remember:
•
•
•
•
Emmanuel Kamanzi, who is now free and can be found at Nyagatovu;
Uzzia Nsabimana, who is dead;
Ntamwete, also dead;
Michel Ngango, Vincent’s older brother. He’s in prison but has refused to confess.
Dieudonné, the mechanic who lived near Nzigiyimfura in Gihisi, was another person who
obeyed Nzigiyimfura’s orders to stand guard at roadblocks. On the 22nd, Dieudonné said, he
too witnessed Nzigiyimfura’s blue Toyota carrying stones and soldiers for the construction of
roadblocks. Shortly afterwards, he was summoned to a meeting where Nzigiyimfura gave
further instructions.
The responsable of the cellule sent the members of his committee to all the houses to ask
people to come to a meeting. When we got there, Vincent took the floor. He said: ‘We just
want to tell you that you have to stay at those roadblocks and stop all the inyenzi. You have to
come with your weapons, especially ntampongano y’umwanzi.’ This was the name given to
the clubs they used to kill Tutsis. That was my first time to hear this term used.
Dieudonné was stationed at the roadblock near the house which was once owned by a woman
named Nyampundu. The stop became well known for its strategic location.
16
Inyenzi, meaning cockroach, had previously been used in reference to the RPF, However, during the genocide,
it meant all Tutsis.
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This roadblock was at a crossroads, so the Tutsis who fled Nyanza, Hanika and Remera all
came to our roadblock. The soldiers Vincent left with us asked the people who passed there
for their identity cards. When they came upon Tutsis, or people who didn’t have their IDs on
them, they asked them to sit down. Then they shot them.
Nzigiyimfura was often present at the roadblocks to supervise their actions, according to
Dieudonné.
We kept stopping Tutsis and Vincent continued to circulate everywhere, checking that
everything was going according to plan at his roadblocks.
To make sure that everything was “going according to plan”, Dieudonné said they were given
lessons in how to take the lives of Tutsis.
In the evening, the soldiers wanted to show us how we should eliminate Tutsis. One soldier
took a club and struck down a man. Then our colleagues picked up their machetes and clubs
and did likewise to other Tutsis. The following day, the soldiers left because they saw that we
were able to kill Tutsis ourselves.
“Vincent was the one who controlled and led everything. We always gave him reports
about everything we did. He then gave us new instructions, and the killings continued.”
Tatien also spent several years in prison denying the crimes he had committed in 1994. But
when he eventually confessed, he shed light on what happened in Kigoma and the imprint of
men like Nzigiyimfura on those events. Tatien lived in cellule Kavumu, sector Kavumu.
He said he was startled when Nzigiyimfura visited him on Friday the 22nd.
He came on foot, as he didn’t live far from me. I was very surprised. He lived a life of
privilege such that he didn’t really talk to poor people. He told me: ‘I’m visiting all the homes
of Hutus in Kavumu. You must all now put into action the plans we made in Nyanza. All
Hutus must erect roadblocks.’ He was carrying a large stick that he was going to use against
anyone who opposed his orders. As he wanted the killing to begin immediately, he made us
block the road with large rocks. The roadblock was established opposite the home of Bosco
Biziyaremye and it was done so under the watchful eye of Vincent.
Tatien responded positively, but asked about the purpose of the roadblocks.
Vincent was astonished. He said it was stupid if Hutus didn’t know they had to kill Tutsis
without consideration of their sex or age. He added that they were snakes in the grass and that
the bourgmestre, Gisagara, deserved what he got. This was the day after Gisagara died.
Tatien cited the names of some of the other men at his roadblock.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kabalisa, at liberty;
Wellars Kabanda, at liberty;
Cyubahiro;
Emmanuel Ntawuhiganayo from Byumba;
Iyumve, originally from Gikongoro;
Mapengu, also from Gikongoro;
Rukuturi, deceased;
Nkurunziza;
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•
•
•
Ruvunderi;
Elias Munyange, at liberty in Kavumu;
And many others.
Nzigiyimfura, he commented, also left them with clear instructions.
Before he left to go and put up roadblocks elsewhere, Vincent asked us to present each Tutsi
we captured to him, before we killed them. About two hours after he left, we seized
Munyakaragwe and his wife. We sent them to Vincent’s house. He registered their names on
a list and then gave the authorization to have them murdered at Hanika school.
But Nzigiyimfura, added Tatien, was not satisfied.
A few minutes after their execution, Vincent rejoined us at the roadblock and told us;
“You haven’t yet fully understood the message I gave you. You have to be on the look
out. It’s not enough to just kill the adults and spare the children. Send me all of
Munyakaragwe’s children.”
The children were rounded up in no time.
There were eight children. We got hold of them pretty quickly, whilst Vincent was still at the
roadblock. We handed them over to him. They should, he said, be subjected to the same fate
as their parents.
A roadblock was raised near Valentine’s house in Gihisi late at night on the 22nd. As she
watched the stones pile up, she went inside, feeling afraid.
At about 2:00 a.m., a group of militiamen came. I recognized some of them, for example:
•
•
•
•
•
Nyaritwa;
Yotam Sempabuka;
Karingene;
Nzabandora, in prison;
And many others.
They forced us to walk with them to the roadblock. I was with two children, my grandmother
and my uncle. When we got there, we saw two soldiers and many other people. The soldiers
had guns and the others were armed with traditional weapons such as machetes. Vincent
wasn’t there. The men spat at us and then told us to go back home. Since we consisted mainly
of women and children, they said we wouldn’t be able to do any harm and therefore weren’t a
threat. We were allowed to return home.
But the militiamen had the last word.
They said they would come and get us later.
And they kept their word, coming back the very next day, as detailed in a later section.
Charles, the driver from sector Kavumu who often drove soldiers and officials, accepts that
he was Nzigiyimfura’s accomplice at the roadblocks. He recalled a particular incident on 22
April.
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
The day after Gisagara’s death, Captain Birikunzira arrived in a vehicle with Vincent, who
was accompanied by his escorts. After speaking with Vincent, Birikunzira and his
subordinates started to hound people who passed by Vincent’s house. They focussed
primarily on anyone who physically resembled a Tutsi. I saw all of this with my own eyes
because I didn’t live far from Vincent’s home. They went to the house of a man called Amon,
who was a teacher at Hanika school, and a Tutsi. They gathered everyone who was in the
house and killed Amon.
In the haste to begin the genocide, Hutus were also arrested. They complained, said Charles,
and Birikunzira turned to Nzigiyimfura for help in separating the Hutus from the Tutsis.
The Hutus, including a girl whose surname was Ndeyi, were released. The Tutsis were taken
in the vehicle and executed.
Julienne, who had taken to sleeping outside since 7 April, returned home at about 9:00 a.m.
on 22 April. She too was frightened as she watched roadblocks go up.
From my house, I saw Vincent Nzigiyimfura arrive in a truck which belonged to the German
Agro-Pastoral Project which had an office down the road. The truck was filled with
militiamen and soldiers. I don’t know how Nzigiyimfura got this truck, but no one could
refuse to give it to him because he was so powerful. Under his command, the militiamen
erected a roadblock at the intersection, near the Parish of Hanika. After seeing what they were
doing, I went out the back door with my child to go where I usually passed the night. My
husband wasn’t at home.
Together with her aunt, her children and friends of her children who were staying with them
for the holidays, Julienne sought shelter in a house under construction.
I spent three days there. The owner wasn’t present. On the third day, Vincent insisted that the
house be burned down because its owner hadn’t showed up for duty at the roadblocks.
Two boys came to the house shouting that they knew we were there. They said they were
going to come and burn the house that night since that’s what Nzigiyimfura wanted. They
asked if they could help me move somewhere else. They were kind to us. They came back
that evening. I gave them money to escort us to the Parish of Hanika. I thought that if I
reached the parish, I would be safe and could be protected by the pastors there.
But there was no security in that church either because Nzigiyimfura had placed a roadblock
nearby. Julienne slipped out of Hanika unseen by the interahamwe, and stayed with Hutu
friends until the end of the genocide.
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Saturday, 23 April: Killing at the Roadblocks
The primary purpose of roadblocks, as a central feature of the infrastructure of the genocide,
was to kill Tutsis, a programme that started within 24 hours of the assembly of the first
roadblocks. Some were caught as they tried to go into hiding; others were arrested in their
homes and brought to the roadblocks.
Jules said Nzigiyimfura returned to Gihisi on the 23rd, driving a Toyota and accompanied by
two policemen. Nzigiyimfura had come to deliver guns to the men at the roadblocks.
There were about a dozen guns in the back of his car. There wasn’t much of a distance
between three of the roadblocks, so Vincent gave a gun to Célestin Sekimonyo, which was
meant for all of us to use.
But the gun was intended as a weapon of last resort for Tutsis who tried to run away.
Vincent told Sekimonyo that he shouldn’t waste cartridges. Traditional weapons were
sufficient, he said, to massacre all the inyenzi. The gun was only to be used when a Tutsi tried
to escape.
He spoke about the people they killed.
We didn’t know most of them. They had been brought from Nyanza by Vincent and the
gendarmes. Most of them were half-dead already, as they had been beaten by the militia who
had arrested them.
He mentioned the names of some of the people they murdered in Nzigiyimfura’s presence.
.
•
•
•
•
Olive;
Lambert Mudahunga;
Bucyana and his four children;
Innocent, his wife and three children.
Gaspard also killed at the roadblocks, and says he did so under Nzigiyimfura’s orders.
Vincent had taken it upon himself to tell everyone about the need to wipe out Tutsis. At every
roadblock he made it clear that no Hutu was allowed to taken in Tutsis, and anyone who did
would be killed alongside the Tutsi he was hiding.
He gave an example of an incident where, he said, “Vincent’s threats scared people into
exposing the Tutsis they were hiding.”
Uzzia Nsabimana, who is now dead, worked at the roadblock with us. But he hadn’t told us
that he was protecting a woman named Vénantie and her children. Three days after the
roadblocks went up, Vincent came to our roadblock, absolutely furious. He told us it was not
enough to guard the roadblock; we had to kill Tutsis as well. He said he knew there were
Hutus who didn’t want to reveal that enemies lived in their homes. He warned us, again, of
what would happen if an enemy was found in the home of a Hutu.
Nzigiyimfura’s words had the desired effect.
Uzzia became nervous and he told Vincent that Vénantie and her children were in his house.
Vincent sent him to get them. His house wasn’t far from the roadblock. She and her two
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
children were brought to the roadblock. Vincent instructed us to kill them whilst he was there.
We did. There were about fifteen of us there. Those who played a direct role in this murder,
were myself, Birimbu, who is now dead, and Gérard Munyandinda, who helped me deal with
the three children. We used clubs. Evariste Ndindabahizi took a spear and struck the mother.
It was Vincent who told him to use a spear.
The death of the mother and children seemed to please Nzigiyimfura, according to Gaspard.
After we had done this awful thing, Vincent smiled at us and encouraged us to keep going.
Before he left, he told us to take turns at the roadblock. After that day I didn’t go to the
roadblock as much. I was terrified of the curse of those children. Vincent, however, continued
to turn up with his militia. They would bring Tutsis from Nyanza who were tied up. They
handed them over to people who would kill them.
Bernard lived in Nyagatovu, and though he is a Tutsi, he started working at a roadblock, not
knowing at first that all Tutsis were targeted for death. After the genocide, Bernard was
imprisoned for killing fellow Tutsis. Bernard recalled that around 23 April, local civilians
were called to help with roadblocks.
At Vincent’s insistence, every man had to come to the roadblock. I helped to set one up on
some land that belonged to my family. It was just in front of the one by the football field.
Vincent had told us to erect it, saying that the local population would then use it to monitor
the movements of the inkotanyi and their accomplices. He was with four policemen when he
said this. I didn’t know whom he meant when he talked of accomplices, but I felt obliged to
go with everyone else to the roadblock. Even though I was Tutsi, I didn’t think it was the
Tutsis who would be seen as the enemy. I guarded that roadblock with:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kanyemera, at liberty;
Eugène; he has died;
Gérard, at liberty;
Abdulkarim Cocoli, in prison in Mpanga;
Athanase’s brother, whose case is currently under review in the gacaca court in his
sector;
Nzaramba, in prison;
Adrien Nyangezi, at liberty.
There were a lot of others, though many have since died.
The next day Nzigiyimfura returned to check the progress at the roadblock.
He was accompanied by two policemen. They were in Vincent’s car. They asked us if we had
begun searching for the enemy. We weren’t sure who the enemy was supposed to be, so we
asked for guidance. Vincent went mad. He asked us if we were blind. He told us there was no
difference between inkotanyi and Tutsis, or between inyenzi and accomplices. He said that
being in either category meant death because Tutsis were, by their identity, the enemy of the
Hutus. My blood ran cold with fear, but I kept this hidden to avoid being killed immediately.
Before Vincent and his men left, my colleagues searched for Tutsis. We came across some
people. Vincent and the policemen made everyone show their identity cards; they were Tutsis.
Vincent ordered us to kill them right there. I did this just to try and keep my real identity
under wraps.
Bernard continued to participate in the killings, which were spurred on by Nzigiyimfura’s
zeal.
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
Vincent left our roadblock satisfied, but still shouting at us to increase the tempo and to seek
out more Tutsis. The following day, my colleagues made me kill a small child from Ruganda.
That was when they began to have suspicions about me. It was at about 11:00 a.m.
The next day, Vincent came back around midday. We had just caught five of Annonciata
Mukanzaramba’s children and we were using traditional weapons, mostly clubs and spears.
Vincent was pleased with what we were doing. He then told us to look for Tutsis in all the
houses in that quartier. We were told to use ID cards to find out people’s ethnic group.
Bernard realized the danger that now awaited him.
I couldn’t escape now, nor could my family. One of my colleagues was Célestin Nkaka. He
told me that his nephew, Augustine Mundanikure, had told him that I was a Tutsi. I ran. They
tried to catch me, but failed. I hid with a family friend.
Valentine, who, as noted earlier, had been woken up by militiamen on Friday night, is related
to one of the victims murdered at Nzigiyimfura’s roadblocks, Lambert Mudahunga.
On the 23rd, the same militiamen as before came to our home and took us all back to the same
roadblock. This time, a man called Nyumvira was also there. One of the men said: ‘Let’s just
leave them.’ But they took my uncle, Mudahunga, aside. Mudahunga begged them to not kill
him cruelly. We returned back home.
But the interahamwe came back the next night. When they entered the house, Valentine stood
behind a door while they marched inside. She then snuck out quietly and hid in a sorghum
field. But the men did not leave empty-handed.
They took my grandmother and she was later assassinated.
Elphaz, the leader of the roadblock, kept saying that Nzigiyimfura was their leader and that
they were going to report back to him about their activities.
Having made sure that his message had been understood and acted upon during the first two
days of the genocide in Nyanza and Kigoma, Nzigiyimfura also made sure that there was no
let up. Roadblocks continued to serve their purpose well into May.
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3
THE GENOCIDE CONTINUES UNABATED
Throughout the period of the genocide, Nzigiyimfura kept a careful eye on the men he had
selected to stand guard at roadblocks. According to these men, it was Nzigiyimfura who gave
them directions, to whom they reported back and who threatened them if they did not
participate in the violence.
Before taking leave of Lucien and his companions at their checkpoint in Gihisi,
Nzigiyimfura, commented Lucien, left them with two soldiers.
The soldiers showed us what to do by shooting three Tutsis who were seated on the ground
nearby. They did this as an example to the others.
The question of who was an inyenzi was then settled.
We didn’t realize that when they said inyenzi, they meant all Tutsis. We went into the nearby
bushes and told them we didn’t find inyenzi there. The soldiers explained that we have to
track down all Tutsis and kill them.
The soldiers then proceeded to check the background of the local residents who were there at
the time.
They asked for our ID cards. There were two Tutsis. One of them was an old man called
Bucyana, and the other was a young man, Kabanyana’s son. The soldiers became very
aggressive towards us, and insisted that we had to tell them where Tutsis were hiding. A
young man by the name of Assouman said he knew a place where we could find Tutsis.
According to Lucien, Assouman, Jean Damascène Gatunzi, the responsable of cellule Gihisi,
a soldier and a group of civilians went to the home of a man by the name of Gakiga where
they discovered more than five Tutsis.
Jean-Baptiste Habimana mentioned another place where we could find other Tutsis. They
went there too and brought back some people. They said they were not going to waste their
bullets and so were leaving them to us. Some of the men grabbed their machetes and clubs
and went ahead. Afterwards, we were given permission to eat the cows of the Tutsis and to
loot their goods.
A failure to follow his instructions to the letter was interpreted by Nzigiyimfura as an act of
provocation, said Lucien.
One day our colleague, Patrice, indicated a place where a woman called Pétronille
Gahongayire, the wife of Cyprien Kananura, and her two children were in hiding. They
brought them to the roadblock. When I got there, I found them sitting down on the ground. I
asked my colleagues to forgive them and let them go. They accepted and we forgave them.
Nzigiyimfura, however, did not appreciate this gesture of “forgiveness.”
Vincent arrived in his car and saw them. He became very angry at us and wanted to know
why they were still alive? ‘Don’t you know that her husband is a great inkotanyi?’ he asked
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us. ‘I’m going to the football field of Gihisi, and I want to find them dead when I come back
in a few minutes!’ So we killed them. After a few minutes he came back and demanded to see
their bodies. We produced the bodies, and he was satisfied.
Nzigiyimfura visited each roadblock frequently to exhort the militia, to reinforce the central
message of the genocide and also to spell out the price of disobedience, as Lucien reported.
“Vincent collaborated with officials in Nyanza to create
a killing machine for the Tutsis.”
This became apparent to me when he came to our roadblock with Captain Birikunzira, two
days after the start of the massacres in our sector. The two of them told us that anyone who
led Hutus astray would be killed, just like the bourgmestre, Gisagara, had been killed.
Charles was stationed at one of the roadblocks in Kavumu. He said Nzigiyimfura kept in
close contact with Captain Birikunzira.
Birikunzira visited Vincent at least every two days. It was Vincent who showed him a list of
the Tutsis who had perished and those who were still unaccounted for. It was Vincent who
named Assiel as our boss at that roadblock. My other companions there were:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ntagozera; I don’t know his whereabouts;
Rutwika;
Rusebeya, Rutwika’s younger brother;
Fidèle, a businessman in Nyamata;
Ryamugema.; he died after he was repatriated from the Congo;
There were many others.
Nzigiyimfura and his companions, he argued, worked hard to keep the morale high among
the militiamen at the roadblocks, and demanded regular reports on the pace of the genocide.
Birikunzira, Vincent and Tubirimo often passed by our roadblock to get an update about
Tutsis. Whenever we told them that we had killed more than three, they were very happy, at
the same time urging us to sustain our work. We killed more than ten people there, but I only
remember the faces of three victims, all from Aloys Gakumba’s family.
In case the renewed war with the RPF created doubts and fears, Charles said Nzigiyimfura
offered them assurances that the interim government would protect them.
Vincent carried a gun which was given to him by Birikunzira. Each time he came by our
roadblock, he told us not to be afraid of the inkotanyi. He said the Abatabazi government had
sufficient weapons with which to expel the inyenzi.
Jules also mentioned Nzigiyimfura’s willingness to take action against Hutus who gave
sanctuary to Tutsis. Phéneas, he said, had to kill the children who had been staying in his
home. Jules admits that he was one of the men who cut short these children’s lives while
Nzigiyimfura watched.
We killed two children from Gikongoro about two days before Nyanza fell to the RPF. They
were staying with their brother in law, Phéneas. Vincent had been harassing Phéneas, telling
him he knew that he was hiding inyenzi from his wife’s family. We also pressured him, to
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make him scared of what Vincent might do. I helped in the murder of these children. Vincent
was present while we killed them. Others who took part included:
•
•
•
•
•
Phéneas;
Enock Misago;
Mbiri, Phéneas’s son;
Kamanayo;
Nyumvira.
Léonidas, imprisoned in connection with the genocide, said he knew Nzigiyimfura well. A
farmer in Nyagatovu, sector Remera, he too believes that Nzigiyimfura was one of the
architects of the genocide in that region.
Vincent played a highly visible role in the genocide of Tutsis in the sectors of Kavumu and
Remera. He was central to the preparation and planning. Many meetings were held in Nyanza
where the organisers of the genocide met up with businessmen and those responsible for
security, especially the gendarmes led by Birikunzira.
Nzigiyimfura was constantly present at the roadblocks, which Léonidas said existed in every
cellule.
Vincent made sure that each roadblock was guarded every day. He divided people into two
groups, and they would alternate. I was in the second group at the roadblock near the football
field. Vincent’s older brother, Michel, was also there. He’s in prison, but has pleaded not
guilty despite the crimes he perpetrated while his brother was present. Aside from Michel,
Innocent Kanyamibwa and Déo Twagirayezu were also at the roadblock with me. Most of the
crimes I committed, I did so together with these three other men and under the influence of
Vincent.
He spoke of incentives from Nzigiyimfura for killing Tutsis, and threats for giving them
sanctuary.
The aim of Vincent and the gendarmes was the elimination of all the Tutsis in our area,
without sparing their houses and property. They patrolled our sector every day, supervising
the killings and encouraging people to loot their goods. They warned us that if a Hutu tried to
save a Tutsi by offering them a place to hide or finding a way for them to escape, that Hutu
would also be killed.
Léonidas also blames Nzigiyimfura for transporting some of the victims to their death.
Many of the victims were driven to the places where they were tortured and died in Vincent
Nzigiyimfura’s vehicles. He and the gendarmes were responsible for this operation. Our team
killed more than ten of the Tutsis who came in Vincent’s vehicles. Most of the Tutsis were
brought to Nyanza. We didn’t know most of them personally because they came from
Kavumu or Remera.
Léonidas mentioned the name of one victim that he did know, a man by the name of
Fungaroho.
I’m one of the people who killed him, with spears and clubs, because Vincent and his
policemen told us to do just that. Three others helped me: Adrien Nyangezi, who is free;
Gasituri, who has died and Ntaganda, who’s in hiding.
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Afterwards, Vincent put Fungaroho’s corpse in his car. I know others who died at our
roadblock, but I didn’t take part in their murders. These victims included :
•
•
Humure’s wife;
Perpétue, a nurse.
The responsibility for their deaths, commented Léonidas, lies with Nzigiyimfura and
Birikunzira’s gendarmes.
All these people were caught because Vincent, supported by the gendarmes, laid down the
law. They relied on well-known militiamen who had worked with them since they started the
killings in Nyanza. They collected the bodies and brought them to Nyanza.
These events took place after the roadblocks were put up, from around 23 April, and
continued until the fall of Nyanza.
One of the places where Tutsis “were tortured and died” is Nyanza stadium. People captured
in different locations in Nyabisindu and Kigoma were brought to the stadium where they
were executed. But it also served as a mass grave. The bodies of those killed in the vicinity,
and from the surrounding areas, were dumped at the stadium. The vehicles which were used
included those of the dairy in Nyabisindu; Nzigiyimfura also made his cars available.
Nyanza Stadium, 2008.
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The restaurant where André worked was not far from the stadium, which gave him many
opportunities to follow the activities around the stadium.
The cars would bring bodies from massacre sites and roadblocks all around the area. Some
people were taken captive at the roadblock at the stadium itself, and then taken inside the
stadium to be killed.
The sites from where the bodies of victims were collected were:
•
•
•
•
•
Nyamagana lake;
The roadblock in Mugonzi cellule;
The roadblock at the hospital;
Gihisi cellule, in Kavumu sector;
And many other places around Nyanza town.
Most of the victims were thrown in bushes behind the stadium, where the memorial site has
now been built.
Nzigiyimfura gave a truck to transport the dead to the stadium. And his truck would often also
go to dump bodies in Kibaga.
The fact that he drove Birikunzira’s gendarmes “while they supervised the checkpoints and
encouraged Hutus to hunt down Tutsis” enabled him, said Charles, “to know more about the
collaboration between Vincent and the leaders of the genocide in Nyanza, men like
Birikunzira and Mirasano.”
Vincent put his truck at the disposal of the interahamwe to transport the bodies of Tutsis to
Nyanza stadium. Some Tutsis were driven there alive and were executed there. Many vehicles
were used to do this dirty work, including those of the dairy. Tubirimo’s son drove the vehicle
of the iron foundry for the same purpose.
Paul, working at the checkpoint near Nyampundu’s house, recalled Nzigiyimfura’s attitude to
those who did not fulfil their duties at roadblocks.
Vincent always came to find out what was happening. When someone didn’t show up for
work, even on just two occasions, the person in charge reported it to Vincent so the culprit
could be disciplined.
He referred to a specific case.
One day, they told Vincent that a certain Straton Habineza wasn’t turning up on a regular
basis. Vincent made him lie flat on the ground and gave him a severe beating with his stick.
Vincent did the same thing at all the roadblocks, even in Remera, because he controlled
everything there as well.
Called Out of Hiding
The knowledge that some Hutus were prepared to give shelter to Tutsis—usually relatives,
friends and neighbours, and sometimes strangers—posed a challenge for men like
Nzigiyimfura. One of the responses to this predicament was to reassure Hutus that the
massacres had been brought to an end and, therefore, there was no longer a need for Tutsis to
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remain out of sight. An alternative strategy was intimidation: if Hutus insisted on hiding
Tutsis, they must bear the consequences for themselves and their families.
Many witnesses spoke of meetings where Nzigiyimfura, Ugirashebuja and a number of local
officials told the militia and the local population to spread the word that the killings had
stopped, and if the Tutsis who were still alive were reported, they would be spared.
Lucien said he first heard this announcement at the commune office.
On 25 April I attended a meeting at the commune office led by Célestin Ugirashebuja, the
bourgmestre of Kigoma. He told us about the war situation. He added that the inkotanyi were
going to be defeated very soon if we continued to be vigilant by going to the roadblocks on a
regular basis and hunting the inyenzi.
The bourgmestre, said Lucien, then emphasized the need to calm the fears of Tutsis.
He said the killings were going to be halted. We should therefore publicize this and urge those
protecting Tutsis to identify them and inform the authorities.
“But this was a ruse”, said Lucien, as those at the commune office that day saw for
themselves.
As Ugirashebuja spoke, the commune car arrived. It was full of Tutsis and they were killed
while we were in the meeting. Célestin added: ‘If we find someone who is hiding Tutsis they
have not revealed to us, we will kill him and the Tutsis.’
The following day, Lucien was at home in cellule Gihisi, sector Kavumu, and listened to
Nzigiyimfura as he spread the bourgmestre’s message among the militiamen guarding
various roadblocks.
Vincent and Gatunzi, head of the cellule, called us together. It was Vincent who gave the
instructions because he was more authoritative than Gatunzi, the responsable, or the
councillor of sector Kavumu, Narcisse Simuhuga. There were many of us there because we
had come from all four roadblocks of Gihisi. The responsable asked me to stand up and read
aloud the report of Ugirashebuja’s meeting. I read it, and Vincent then took the floor. He said:
‘I think everything is clear. You heard what will happen to both of them if we find a Hutu
with a Tutsi he has failed to report.’
Nzigiyimfura’s words frightened people to such an extent, according to Lucien, that they
started naming the Tutsis they had concealed in their homes then and there.
My uncle, for example, identified five Tutsi children who were at his house. Emmanuel
Gakwaya spoke about Elvanie, the wife of Daniel Munyankindi, and her five children. Many
others exposed the people in their homes. After this, Vincent and Gatunzi had a list of all the
remaining Tutsis and knew their whereabouts.
Dieudonné, who heard the same speech in Gihisi, initially believed what he was told.
One day, Vincent and Gatunzi, the responsable of cellule Gihisi, told us the killings were
going to stop. They told people to provide information about any Tutsis they knew about,
saying that a Tutsi who had been registered would not be killed. But if they found a Hutu
hiding a Tutsi secretly, they would be killed together. This was just a trap, but at the time we
didn’t know that. So many people started to report the Tutsis in their houses or who they
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knew to be somewhere else. Soon the identity of all the Tutsis who were still alive was
known.
Tatien, like many other witnesses in this report, said he continued to kill on Nzigiyimfura’s
instructions.
My group was always in touch with Vincent, because all Tutsis at the roadblock had to first
be presented to him. I cannot count all the victims I helped to murder, but I remember certain
cases.
“Between 22 April and 6 May, we executed many Tutsis under Vincent’s command.
We could not pass a day without killing a Tutsi.”
We killed Baziga after we had shown him to Vincent. Emmanuel Ntawuhiganayo, Mapengu
and Iyumve got rid of him during the night. They didn’t want to wait for daytime for fear that
Vincent would punish them if they allowed him to survive the night. They buried him not far
from our roadblock. They used a hoe that I had borrowed from Nyangezi.
Tatien referred to two women who were taken to Nzigiyimfura so he could decide their fate.
The militiamen from Nyanza gave us two girls to take to Vincent. They were the sisters-inlaw of Bosco. Vincent was extremely happy when he was given these two girls. He told us to
kill them at Hanika school. The site had become a huge cemetery for many Tutsis from
Kavumu and the surrounding area, mostly the Tutsis who had tried to leave Nyanza via the
tarmac road. We later exhumed many bones there.
The hunt for Tutsis intensified in early May in Nyanza, added Tatien.
From the beginning of May, Vincent never left the militiamen who were circulating
throughout Nyanza scouring the town for Tutsis. A vehicle from the iron foundry owned by
the government, and given to them by Tubirimo, transported some of these militiamen.
Captain Birikunzira drove another group in a vehicle he had seized. It had been owned by
Germans who worked for a project called PAP, whose offices and homes were not far from
Vincent’s house.
The purpose of making the Tutsis who were still alive, and their Hutu protectors, believe that
calm had been restored, of recording their names and identifying their precise whereabouts
became clear on 7 May.
Saturday, 7 May: A Systematic Massacre
Nzigiyimfura’s neighbours in Gihisi speak of the arrival of a truck, full of militiamen, which
pulled up in the early hours of the morning of 7 May at Nzigiyimfura’s house.
At the time, Dieudonné said he was working at the roadblock in front of Nzigiyimfura’s
residence.
A big group of killers, in camouflage, stopped at Vincent’s house. They had come in the red
car of the Kavumu foundry. As Vincent knew where all the remaining Tutsis were, he went
ahead of the group as they entered each house. They found many Tutsis and they killed them.
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Dieudonné cited the names of the victims he could remember.
Elvanie and her five children were found at Emmanuel Gakwaya’s house; the wife of
Gisuguri was discovered at the home of Niyonteze and Christine at Sekimonyo’s house.
Many other Tutsis died that day.
He attributed the high number of casualties to what, in retrospect, was a well-laid plan.
The meeting on 26 April had been a trick and cost the lives of many Tutsis because they felt
safe. Also, the fact that there were not as many killings as before made them believe they had
been forgiven. They didn’t know what Nzigiyimfura was planning for 7 May.
Since the primary target of the genocide was men, most of the Tutsis left to kill were women
and children.
Lucien also spoke of the visit to Nzigiyimfura’s house.
On 7 May, very early in the morning, a huge number of militiamen, wearing camouflage,
came from the direction of Nyanza town. They first stopped at Vincent’s house. He went
ahead of the group and they started to kill Tutsis.
He mentioned the names of some of the victims, including the family that Lucien’s uncle had
mentioned at the public meeting on 26 April.
Elvanie, the wife of Daniel Munyankindi, and her 5 children died, as well as Julienne
Mukangarambe, married to François Mukurarinda. That day is considered a disaster in our
sector, and it was the outcome of plans put in place by Célestin Ugirashebuja and executed by
Vincent Nzigiyimfura.
Paul has little doubt where the blame lies.
The events of 7 May are regarded as the most terrible killings this region, and it was Vincent
who led them.
“I accept we did very bad things to Tutsis. But if Vincent wasn’t there, or if he had
acted like a good man, the massacres wouldn’t have happened as they did.”
Those who lost their loved ones on 7 May agree with Paul’s conclusion. It is a day Julienne
will never forget. In her front yard are buried her husband, who she said “was considered an
important Tutsi”, one of her daughters and her aunt. After the mass return of refugees from
the DRC in late 1996, Julienne said she asked former neighbours where her husband had been
killed, how and at whose hands.
One man showed me where he had buried my husband. People told me that Nzigiyimfura
ordered the militia to search for my husband. I also learned that three pastors were present
when Nzigiyimfura gave the green light to the militiamen to deal with my husband. He was
shot. Emmanuel Nkurunziza, nicknamed Gafoni because he used a small hoe to kill people,
murdered my husband.
One of her daughters had already given Julienne an idea of how he had met his death.
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One of my daughters was in the area where my husband was killed and heard the militia
discussing how they had killed him. They were bragging, happy and proud of what they had
done. They even came to tell her that they had killed him.
But it was the returnees from exile who led her to his corpse and who provided her with the
background to his death.
One of them also told her about how he had taken her daughter’s life.
My oldest daughter was in sector Remera. I had entrusted her to a Hutu friend. I found out
that a militiaman directed by Nzigiyimfura and Kayisire killed her on 7 May.
Marcel also blames Nzigiyimfura for the loss of his mother and sisters on 7 May. The family
lived in Nyanza town, but had gone to the home of a relative in Kavumu.
I discovered, during the testimonies given at gacaca, that Nzigiyimfura was behind the death
of my mother and sister. I even found out that they were buried close to Nzigiyimfura’s
house.
Tatien had earlier spoken of the increased activity on the part of two groups of militiamen at
the beginning of May, and the fact that Nzigiyimfura never left their side. He understood the
significance of this on 7 May.
After co-ordination between Birikunzira and Vincent, using the mobile group composed
largely of militiamen from the north, the two men murdered nearly all the Tutsis that the
residents of Kavumu had not wanted to hand over. It was this same group who killed Bosco
and his wife Jeanne Kamagaju, as well as their six children, on Vincent’s orders, as well as
Julienne, Mukurarinda’s wife.
“Maybe They Will Find Nothing Showing That Tutsis Used to Exist”
By mid-May, most Tutsis in Nyanza and Kigoma had been eliminated, as in the rest of the
country. The focus shifted to hiding the evidence and getting rid of all traces that spoke of the
existence of Tutsis in Rwanda.
Dieudonné said Nzigiyimfura summoned him and his neighbours to a meeting a few days
after the 7 May massacre.
Vincent said he was satisfied, and that only one problem remained. He asked us: ‘Why are
you looting the goods of Tutsis and not destroying their houses? I want to see all the houses
of Tutsis demolished. Maybe if the satellites take pictures, they will find nothing showing that
Tutsis used to exist.’ We started to knock down all the remaining houses of Tutsis.
Special attention was paid to the stadium in Nyanza, which had served as a large receptacle
for the corpses of Tutsis killed across the region. There were many foreign journalists in
Rwanda at the time asking awkward questions.
André was working in a restaurant near the stadium. He said the guards there did not want
foreigners to know what was happening behind the stadium walls.
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The génocidaires had erected a roadblock just outside the entrance to the stadium. The
purpose of the roadblock was to stop outsiders from entering the area and seeing the reality
for themselves. Educated people stood guard so they could act as translators for any foreigner
who attempted to get too near.
The desire to ensure that satellites “would find nothing” was closely linked to the major
challenge that Nzigiyimfura, Birikunzira and their allies faced by mid-May, namely the
impending fall of Nyanza to the RPF. What he noticed most after the 7 May massacre, said
Charles, was Nzigiyimfura’s involvement in the large-scale distribution of arms to the militia
in Nyanza.
Towards 15 May, Birikunzira, Gaëtan, Vincent, Tubirimo and their colleagues received two
trucks full of arms to distribute among the militiamen who had come for military training.
The trucks off-loaded their cargo at the gendarmerie. I was there. I was driving the gendarmes
in one of the vehicles which Birikunzira had confiscated from the Germans who worked with
PAP.
The purpose of these weapons, said Charles, was to fight the RPF.
At that moment, Nyanza was swarming with young militiamen who had come for military
training so they could be part of a civil defence force against the inkotanyi. They were going
to fight in what we called the ‘operational zone of Nyanza.’ All the militiamen who were part
of the Dragons were incorporated into the heart of this force which would confront the
inkotanyi.
The fighting began on Friday 20 May and lasted until Wednesday the 25th, when Nyanza was
taken by the RPF. Over the next few days, military and civilian officials in Gikongoro, which
borders Nyanza, made preparations to retake Nyanza, using a large number of militiamen
who had been given hasty training. They failed, and in the process most of them were killed
in battle.
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4
EVACUATED TO MALAWI BY VINCENT NZIGIYIMFURA
Like many other key genocide leaders, commonly referred to as “big fish”, Vincent
Nzigiyimfura has used his residence abroad, and his contacts in Malawi and in Rwanda, to
help close relatives, imprisoned as genocide suspects in Rwanda, to evade justice and escape
to Malawi. Gacaca officials and survivors identified a niece of Nzigiyimfura, living in
Kigali, as the go-between who makes the necessary arrangements.
17
According to many, one of the first people Nzigiyimfura helped is his younger brother,
Gabriel Rusatsi. Due to the fact that Rusatsi was a category one prisoner, local people,
including gacaca officials, were surprised by his release. Anaclet, a gacaca official, spoke for
many of his colleagues when he commented, “We couldn’t understand how someone like
Rusatsi could be free.”
All the information we had pointed to the serious crimes he had committed. So we decided to
call him to gacaca, and that’s when he ran away. Many people went to the parquet
[prosecutor’s office] and to other justice institutions to complain about the dubious
circumstances in which he had been released, which everyone attributed to corruption. So we
made a special session of gacaca for the whole district about that case. Then we held another
meeting for the population of Nyanza on Rusatsi. We got a lot of information from different
people saying that Rusatsi was already in Malawi with his brother, Vincent. They also told us
that he was helped by a woman who lives in Kigali. Shortly afterwards, Rusatsi’s wife and
children followed him to Malawi, in 2005.
Anaclet’s colleague, Christophe, described Rusatsi as “a planner and executor of the genocide
in Gihisi.” He said he had asked questions about how Rusatsi could have been released from
prison during a session of gacaca at Nyanza stadium. He was told that the matter would be
discussed “during the next gacaca”, by which time Rusatsi was no longer in Rwanda.
Fabien, also of gacaca, saw a link between the visit to Rwanda of Nzigiyimfura’s son, Bosco,
and Rusatsi’s departure from prison.
A few days before Rusatsi got out of prison, Bosco, Vincent’s son, came to Rwanda to
resolve some conflict over properties in their family. He also got an ID card and passport and
then he went back. Shortly afterwards, Rusatsi left prison and also left the country, with the
assistance, we are sure, of Nzigiyimfura’s niece who spent some days at Rusatsi’s house just
after he came out of prison.
The second member of Nzigiyimfura’s family to make it to Malawi was Célestin
Munyangabe, his nephew. He left prison in 2006. It is difficult to comprehend how his name
appeared on the list of people who had confessed and were subsequently released.
Munyangabe was not eligible for the confession process because he was in the first category,
accused, among other serious charges, of rape.
When prisoners are released, local officials ask their neighbours to help them integrate into
the community by welcoming them. It was in that context, said Basile who works in gacaca,
17
See report published in December 2008 by African Rights & REDRESS, Survivors and Post-Genocide Justice
in Rwanda, Their Experiences, Perspectives and Hopes.
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that he talked to Munyangabe one day when he was cutting trees in a forest that had belonged
to Nzigiyimfura. Basile’s warning against cutting down trees without official permission
provoked an angry response, and made Munyangabe’s intentions clear.
Célestin threatened to kill me with the machete in his hand, saying I didn’t have the right to
try to stop him. He added that if his family had another forest, he would cut it all down to get
money for a trip. He said he had spent years in jail and he was sure that if he stayed, gacaca
was likely to give him 30 years which is why he didn’t intend to stay.
Basile said he immediately went to alert other officials, at the same time gathering
intelligence that Munyangabe’s sister was working hard to find papers for him which would
enable him to leave Rwanda. One of the first people Basile contacted is Anaclet.
We were certain Célestin would go if he was freed. So when I heard he was in the solidarity
camp, I spoke with the representative of gacaca in the district, and also pointed out that his
release was illegal. He passed this on to the police. When I saw that the police weren’t doing
anything, I myself went to the police station, and they promised to follow up the matter. But
nothing was done.
Gacaca then took the matter into its own hands, commented Basile.
We decided to put him on trial ourselves and scheduled it for 27 December 2006. But when I
took the convocation to his house, he wasn’t there anymore.
His disappearance led gacaca to make inquiries. Basile gave details of what he and other
gacaca officials learned.
We found out that a niece of Nzigiyimfura’s had made all the arrangements. She’s the link
between Vincent Nzigiyimfura and his relatives. She has been to Malawi herself several times
and then returns to Kigali from where she visits Nyanza. We are certain that she’s the one
who does everything. We believe that she first takes his relatives to Uganda where
Nzigiyimfura’s sister lives. From Uganda they go to Malawi. But of course she has some
people who are helping her to get all the necessary documents in Nyanza and passports in
Kigali. There’s another man we suspect as her ally, a brother-in-law of Nzigiyimfura’s. He’s
always searching everywhere for news to send to those men in Malawi.
Christophe was determined not to be thwarted a second time.
Because we had so much information that he would definitely leave if they let him out of
prison, we spread the news everywhere, in gacaca, at the prosecutor’s and at the police
station, but to no avail.
The day after Célestin Munyangabe walked out of prison, Fabien found out that
Nzigiyimfura’s niece, Munyangabe’s sister, had spent the night in Nyanza. He subsequently
learned that she had returned to Nyanza, this time “accompanied by others.” Local residents
told him they were meeting at night at Munyangabe’s house and that they believed the
purpose was to help Munyangabe escape.
I informed the people of our local gacaca, who alerted the representative of gacaca in the
district, who in turn told the police.
He is critical of police inaction.
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
The police did not act on our warnings. The inspector of police told us that he needed more
evidence that Célestin was planning to escape, and that rumours alone were not sufficient.
Aware of her visits to Malawi, and of her constant presence in Nyanza, Christophe also
pointed the finger at Nzigiyimfura’s niece.
She’s always in Nyanza when one of Nzigiyimfura’s relatives is preparing to leave the
country.
He also believes that a nephew of Nzigiyimfura, a businessman, is involved in procuring fake
documents and in corrupting relevant officials.
Given the freedom they enjoyed while still in prison, Fabien said he was not surprised that
“Vincent’s relatives got away.”
We used to see them quite often coming to their home to visit their wives and children. It was
pretty obvious to everyone that they must have paid people off to be allowed out so much.
Like all the other interviewees, he could not understand how Nzigiyimfura’s relatives gained
their freedom since they were category one prisoners.
All I can say is that the whole thing was illegal.
Gacaca officials are not the only people who are looking for answers from Vincent
Nzigiyimfura.
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
5
SEEKING JUSTICE AS WELL AS ANSWERS
It is now fifteen years since the events detailed in this report took place. Vincent
Nzigiyimfura has never been called to account for his actions which cost hundreds of lives
and left many more wounded, widowed, orphaned, troubled and impoverished. He is not only
living a tranquil life as a free man in Malawi. He is a prosperous trader who is using his
resources to undermine justice in Rwanda by helping his relatives escape the country.
Justice, in post-genocide Rwanda, has been, and continues to be, a complex and difficult
process, and for survivors in particular, a source of anguish, incomprehension and anger. A
major contributing factor to their evident distress is the fact that the overwhelming majority
of the architects and planners, as well as the men and women who incited, encouraged and
led the killings at the level of the communes, left Rwanda en masse in 1994. Beyond the
small fraction who have been arrested at the request of the ICTR, and the handful who have
been detained or prosecuted in a number of European countries, the US, Canada and New
Zealand, these genocide leaders have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, impunity.
Their absence has had a profound impact on the struggle for justice in Rwanda. Because they
themselves have not been held accountable for their substantial contribution to the genocide,
the peasants they armed, intimidated and rewarded for killing their neighbours feel free to
deny responsibility by blaming those who are abroad. As a result, the genocide has become
what one survivor called “a genocide without anyone to blame.”
Prisoners who have been convicted of genocide and who have spent years in jail, on the other
hand, are understandably bitter that they have been punished when those who galvanized
them into action are living privileged lives in foreign countries.
Survivors like Julienne, who lost her husband and daughter, are seeking justice, as well as
answers.
I’m not happy with the fact that Nzigiyimfura is outside the country. Justice needs to be done.
He needs to say what he did and be punished.
It is disturbing for us to see the simple participants punished, while those who orchestrated
the genocide, like Nzigiyimfura, have left the country.
Marcel, whose mother and sisters died during the massacre of 7 May in Kavumu “wants
Nzigiyimfura to come and explain what happened in Nyanza and Kavumu during the
genocide.”
His presence here for me would represent justice since he was the leader of the militia, the
one who was directing everything. During the sessions of gacaca, we don’t discuss people
who aren’t here. And yet they are the ones who planned it all, even if they didn’t take up arms
themselves. They are the ones who should compensate us because they are wealthy. In the
centre of Nyanza, 80% of the homes belong to those who have fled the country.
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
Valentine lamented the fact that there are so few survivors in Nyanza and in her home sector
of Kavumu, and spoke at length about the harassment they are subjected to if they pursue
justice. There are other obstacles, she added.
The knowledge that the most important perpetrators are outside the country makes it difficult
to know the truth that so many of us want to know. It would be really helpful if Vincent came
and talked about what happened here because all the militiamen took their directions from
him. I can’t express what I feel, knowing that he is free. I want so much for him to come back
to Rwanda and to tell us how the genocide was planned and carried out.
In addition to her own personal experiences during the genocide, Valentine has since learned
more about Nzigiyimfura’s involvement in the genocide from her neighbours.
The residents of our sector don’t talk about what they saw or what they did with their own
hands. But all of them testify that Vincent and his collaborators planned the genocide here. I
hope that Vincent and his companions will appear before the ordinary courts or gacaca to
explain their motive in killing Tutsis.
Camille agrees with Valentine that as long as the “big fish”, as they are known, remain
unperturbed outside the country, justice for survivors will remain a faint and distant hope.
During gacaca, people who are accused don’t tell the truth. They hide things. Survivors in
Nyanza are disappointed by the progress of gacaca there. The fact that many of the principle
conductors of the genocide are abroad has an effect on gacaca because often times, the
defendants talk about people who are not present. They do this to shift the guilt to others and
to cover up their own tracks.
The absence of adults among the survivors of Nyanza, Remera and Kavumu is striking and is
a powerful testament to the success of the genocide. Most of the survivors were children in
1994 and have had to grow up without the love and support of their parents and, for the most
part, of the grandparents, uncles and aunts they knew. What happened in Kavumu on 7 May
changed the live of Brigitte Kankindi forever.
It is the day that my mother, Elvanie Mukayiranga, my four sisters and my younger brother,
who was only two years old, died in a massacre organized and put into action by Vincent
Nzigiyimfura. He has caused so many people a lot of grief and pain. I find it impossible to
believe, and even more impossible to accept, that someone like Nzigiyimfura is living freely
and doing business in a country that should respect human rights. Because of him, we are no
longer a family of nine people, but a family of two, just me and my brother.
The murder of Brigitte’s mother and siblings is mentioned in several places in this report.
The death of Julienne Mukangarambe on 7 May is also referred to throughout the report. Her
youngest son, Gustave Mukunde Mukurarinda, described Nzigiyimfura and his brothers as
“the brains behind the genocide in Kavumu.”
They were also deeply involved in the killings in Nyanza. He and Ugirashebuja, the
bourgmestre of Kigoma, were responsible for the massacre of 7 May 1994 in which my
mother, Julienne Mukangarambe, and my aunt, Annonciata, died. It’s sad and difficult for us
to hear that he is a big businessman in Malawi. How can he be a free man when he was one of
the most important perpetrators in Nyabisindu and in Kigoma? We don’t, in fact, understand
why he wasn’t indicted by the ICTR.
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Vincent Nzigiyimfura in Malawi: A Pillar of the 1994 Genocide
The fact that he was not from the area and “did not look Tutsi”, said André, saved his life. It
also gave him opportunities to witness the genocide first-hand, and to offer his testimony at
gacaca. He expressed disappointment with gacaca.
The fact that so many of the people who incited the genocide in Nyanza have not been
brought to justice is a real problem. These leaders were the educated people and businessmen.
Their absence has had a huge impact on gacaca because the peasants here don’t feel as if they
are responsible for what happened. They argue that the blame should not be placed on their
shoulders while those who incited them have yet to be punished.
“If Vincent hadn’t been here, Tutsis would not have been killed on such a scale”, commented
Lucien. He and many other peasants believed Nzigiyimfura’s explanations and carried out his
instructions. He does not understand why it is he and his neighbours who have been left to
face the consequences.
He was the one who trained people to kill during the genocide. He always walked around with
a stick. He used that stick to punish people for not killing Tutsis.
Dieudonné blames Nzigiyimfura for his own participation in murdering Tutsis and looting
their property.
Vincent trained us to do terrible things that we regret very much. If Vincent and his brothers
weren’t there, a lot of those crimes wouldn’t have taken place.
Tatien said it took him many years in prison “to feel personally culpable for the crimes of
genocide I committed against my Tutsi neighbours.”
Until then, I told myself that justice should only go after those who forced us to kill the Tutsis
and who convinced us they were our enemies. I asked myself why it was the simple peasants
from my sector who were in prison, when everyone was giving testimonies about the
responsibility of Vincent Nzigiyimfura in the death of the Tutsis of Kavumu. This is why I
resolved to speak about the role of Vincent ever since I left prison.
Saying he “regrets the recent decision in the UK to release Ugirashebuja, Nzigiyimfura’s
close collaborator”, Gustave made this appeal to Malawi, and more broadly to African
countries.
I would like to see African countries take the lead in arresting and prosecuting important
genocide suspects.
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