Flawed and Dangerous Mapping Report Threatens Regional Stability: Rwanda

PRESS STATEMENT

Kigali, 30 September 2010

At noon today (Thursday), the Government of Rwanda provided the United Nations with comments on the draft report of the Mapping Exercise in the DRC.

“Despite the media’s focus on sensational aspects of the leaked draft, Rwanda categorically states that the document is flawed and dangerous from start to finish,” Rwandan Foreign Minister and Government Spokesperson, Hon Louise Mushikiwabo said today.

“Our comments to the UN today center around seven specific areas of objection that clearly demonstrate how the Mapping Exercise has been a moral and intellectual failure – as well as an insult to history,” Ms Mushikiwabo said.

The seven areas of objection are:

1. The manipulation of UN processes by organizations and individuals—both inside and outside the UN—for purposes of rewriting history, improperly apportioning blame for the genocide that occurred in Rwanda, and reigniting conflict in Rwanda and the region.
2. The omission of the historical context, especially the immediate and serious threat posed by armed and ideologically charged refugees positioned right at the border of Rwanda and Zaire, as well as the nature of the conflict within Zaire at the time. This is despite the UN’s knowledge of the situation and its blatant inaction.
3. The contradiction between the report and contemporaneous accounts of the situation from the UN Security Council, NGOs and many other eyewitnesses in the region who confirmed that genocidal forces, often posing as civilian refugees, were operating under the cover of UN refugee camps.
4. The flawed methodology and application of the lowest imaginable evidentiary standard.
5. The overreliance on the use of anonymous sources, hearsay assertions, unnamed, un-vetted and unidentified investigators and witnesses, who lack credibility; and allegation of the existence of victims with uncertain identity.
6. Failure to address the glaring inconsistency that claims of genocide are directly contradicted by Rwanda’s extensive and coordinated efforts to repatriate, resettle and reintegrate 3.2 million Hutu refugees; efforts that were supported by the UN.
7. The dangerous and irresponsible attempt by the Report to undermine the peace and stability attained in the Great Lakes region, which directly contradicts the very mission of the United Nations.

“Given these objections, it seems clear that no amount of tinkering can resuscitate the credibility of this fundamentally misguided process,” Ms. Mushikiwabo said.