Rwanda was “very happy” that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decided to visit the country, but still “outraged” by the UN draft report he came to discuss, Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said yesterday.
“We are very happy that the secretary-general thought it was important to come here and discuss this DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo] mapping report,” said Mushikiwabo, who met Ban on Tuesday evening shortly after his arrival.
“Our expectations are that he understands why we have rejected this report, it is important that he understands why we are outraged by this report ... which is bound to cause instability in the region,” she said.
A draft of the UN report, seen by AFP, said Rwandan Tutsi commanders and their rebel allies carried out systematic attacks on Hutus in the DRC that resembled the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
“The systematic and widespread attacks described in this report ... reveal a number of damning elements that, if they were proven before a competent court, could be classified as crimes of genocide,” stated the 600-page probe.
Mushikiwabo reiterated that if the report was officially published by the UN, Rwanda would withdraw the some 3,550 troops it has deployed in two separate peacekeeping missions in Sudan.
At a press conference last week, Mushikiwabo said the UN could not have its cake and eat it and that if it persisted in accusing the Rwandan army of genocide it could not expect that same army to take part in peacekeeping missions.
Ban was expected to meet Rwandan President Paul Kagame late yesterday morning. His departure time from Kigali has not yet been confirmed, officials said.
Ban is accompanied by Roger Meece, the UN special representative for the DRC, Alain Le Roy, an under secretary-general for peacekeeping operations and Ivan Simonovic, assistant secretary general for human rights.
The UN last week delayed publication of the report until Oct. 1 to give Rwanda and other nations more time to comment on the contents.
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