Rwanda Invasion Isn't About Refugees
To the Editor:
Contrary to your Nov. 15 report from Nairobi, Kenya, the cause of the Oct. 1 invasion of the Central African country of Rwanda by a rebel force of the Tutsi people is not the return of Tutsi refugees living in exile in neighboring countries. The solution to this problem was being worked out when the invasion took place. A Rwanda-Ugandan ministerial committee that has studied the problem since 1987 formed a committee of independent experts, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Organization for African Unity, to implement voluntary repatriation, naturalization or freedom to settle in the host country.
The invasion therefore has nothing to do with refugee problems. As the former King Kigeri Ndahindurwa explained in your Nov. 5 article, the goal of the invasion was to restore the monarchy. La Libre Belgique of Oct. 24 explains that the King -- still unmarried because Tutsi tradition forbids him to marry while in exile -- planned to marry in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, on Oct. 6.
Contrary to your Nov. 15 report from Nairobi, Kenya, the cause of the Oct. 1 invasion of the Central African country of Rwanda by a rebel force of the Tutsi people is not the return of Tutsi refugees living in exile in neighboring countries. The solution to this problem was being worked out when the invasion took place. A Rwanda-Ugandan ministerial committee that has studied the problem since 1987 formed a committee of independent experts, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Organization for African Unity, to implement voluntary repatriation, naturalization or freedom to settle in the host country.
The invasion therefore has nothing to do with refugee problems. As the former King Kigeri Ndahindurwa explained in your Nov. 5 article, the goal of the invasion was to restore the monarchy. La Libre Belgique of Oct. 24 explains that the King -- still unmarried because Tutsi tradition forbids him to marry while in exile -- planned to marry in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, on Oct. 6.
The invasion leaders, in reaction to proposals by Belgium and the Organization of African Unity to resolve the refugee problem in order to end hostilities, declared that the refugee problem did not interest them, and that their goal was to overthrow President Juvenal Habyarimana and take over the Government.
Also, contrary to your report, President Habyarimana did again raise the issue of refugees in his speech to Parliament. He asked that the committee of independent experts be allowed to work despite the invasion, and he endorsed the proposal for a regional summit convened by Tanzania to find a lasting solution.
The system of Rwandese identification cards indicating the bearer's tribe was not introduced in 1973 by President Habyarimana, but under the short-lived domination of the Germans (1892-1916). The Belgians who administered Rwanda 1916-62 maintained it, and after independence, successive Rwandese Governments felt no need to change the system, until last month, when the leaders of the invasion forces made an issue of it. ALOYS UWIMANA Ambassador, Republic of Rwanda Washington, Nov. 29, 1990
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/15/opinion/l-rwanda-invasion-isn-t-about-refugees-076090.html
Also, contrary to your report, President Habyarimana did again raise the issue of refugees in his speech to Parliament. He asked that the committee of independent experts be allowed to work despite the invasion, and he endorsed the proposal for a regional summit convened by Tanzania to find a lasting solution.
The system of Rwandese identification cards indicating the bearer's tribe was not introduced in 1973 by President Habyarimana, but under the short-lived domination of the Germans (1892-1916). The Belgians who administered Rwanda 1916-62 maintained it, and after independence, successive Rwandese Governments felt no need to change the system, until last month, when the leaders of the invasion forces made an issue of it. ALOYS UWIMANA Ambassador, Republic of Rwanda Washington, Nov. 29, 1990
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/15/opinion/l-rwanda-invasion-isn-t-about-refugees-076090.html
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