Citation
UNCLAS WED V2,-- IL
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ir
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May 3, 1994
CONFIDENTIAL
DECL: OADR
RELEASED IN FULL
TO:
AF - Ms. Render
FROM:
INR/AA - Janean Mann
SUBJECT: Rwandan Radios
Stations. There have been three major radio broadcast
outlets operating in Rwanda:
--Kigali Radio Diffusion National de la Republique is the
government's radio station broadcasting from Kigali.
--Radio Muhabura is the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) radio
station, which broadcasts clandestinely, possibly from
Mulindi where the RPF was headquartered before the current
fighting.
--Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines--known as RTLM
Radio or Radio Mille Collines--is a private Rwandan radio
station that has broadcast from Kigali hard-line Hutu and
anti-Tutsi invective linked to the Coalition for the Defense
of the Republic (CDR).
Monitoring. FBIS has been using BBC facilities in Nairobi
to monitor Rwandan radio broadcasts. From that distance, they
can monitor only shortwave transmissions, not the AM or FM
broadcasts that most Rwandans would hear It also means that
they have not been monitoring Radio Mille Collines, which unlike
Kigali Radio and Radio Muhabura, apparently has not been
broadcast on shortwave. Reports of Radio Mille Collines
transmissions have been second-hand, from other media reporting
what Mille Collines Radio reportedly has said.
Radio Mille Collines since April 6. Radio Mille Collines
was the first to report that the president's aircraft was shot
down. It had long assaulted as "cockroaches" the RPF and those
Hutu moderates who were seen to be cooperating too closely with
the RPF and had threatened them, by name, with death. These
broadcasts continued after Habyarimana's death. In addition,
Radio Mille Collines asserted that Belgian troops affiliated
with UNAMIR had downed Habyarimana's plane, reasoning that they
were the only forces in the country with the weapons to do the
job. It also claimed that the Belgians were actively assisting
the RPF. Embassy Brussels reported April 20 that the Belgian
CONFIDENTIAL
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE/CASE ID: 10 NOV 2004 199500454
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Minister of Justice had begun legal proceedings against a
Belgian citizen who ran Mille Collines for spreading false
stories that endangered Belgian lives.
Radio Mille Collines was reportedly shelled by the RPF and
put out of commission on April 17. We have heard only one
reference to Radio Mille Collines since it reportedly went off
the air. An human rights NGO claims that Mille Collines has
said that the extermination of Tutsis and Hutu opponents in
Rwanda would end on May 5, the day of Habyarimana's burial. We
cannot confirm the accuracy of the assertion.
Kigali Radio since April 6. Kigali Radio, the government's
radio station, was active in the first days after Habyarimana's
aircraft was shot down. It mainly broadcast communiques from
the newly established interim government which did not seem to
be particularly provocative. It called for a ceasefire and a
return to a political settlement based on the Arusha Accord. It
also called for unity and vigilance against the RPF and warned
against RPF efforts to split the military and government from
the people. To our knowledge, it did not incite anti-Tutsi
massacres, but neither did it condemn them.
The ongoing fighting in Kigali may have forced Kigali Radio
to shut down by mid-April. An April 13 press report from Kigali
indicated that Radio Mille Collines was the only radio station
broadcasting from Kigali at that time, suggesting that Kigali
Radio had gone off the air. On April 29, FBIS reported that it
had been unable to locate any Kigali Radio short-wave
transmissions for at least several days.
Radio Muhabura since April 6. Radio Muhabura has been
steadily broadcasting RPF propaganda since the crisis began.
Its programming has transmitted the RPF line, but has not been
bloodthirsty. Instead, it has mainly attempted to sow divisions
between the Rwandan military and the interim government. It has
strongly criticized the killings in Rwanda--mainly of Tutsis and
others thought to be pro-RPF--and asserts that an end to the
killings must precede any RPF ceasefire. FBIS reports that
Radio Muhabura has also broadcast an appeal for an end to the
bloodshed by President Clinton and a Voice of America interview
on the Rwanda crisis with former Assistant Secretary Herman
Cohen.
Other Radios. Rwandan government officials and the RPF have
been given a radio stage by the national radios of other
countries, including Belgium, Kenya and Zaire. Zairien Radio
has been generally supportive of the interim government,
reflecting President Mobutu's close personal and political
relationship with the late President Habyarimana. Zairien radio
carried on April 20 an interview with the Rwandan ambassador in
which he accused Belgian UNAMIR troops of shooting down
Habyarimana's aircraft; it--along with other news agencies-CONFIDENTIAL
UNCLASSIFIED
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later replayed the same accusations by the Belgian negotiating
team attending the non-peace talks in Gbadolite on April 24.
Zairien radio also reported that Zaire "bitterly deplores the
indescribable horrors and massacres perpetrated with impunity by
armed political and military factions" and "deplores" the
"unexplainable indifference shown by the international
community" to the killing in Rwanda.
Drafter: INR/AA:FEhrenreich, 647-7148
Approved: INR/AA:JMann
CONFIDENTIAL
UNCLASSIFIED
