DATE=7/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RWANDA GENOCIDE REPORT (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-264177
BYLINE=BRECK ARDERY
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=
INTRO: A new report on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda
says reparations should be paid by nations that failed
to prevent or stop the mass killings. At the United
Nations, VOA Correspondent Breck Ardery reports on the
study conducted for the Organization of African Unity.
TEXT: The report recommends that U-N Secretary-
General Kofi Annan appoint a commission to determine
how much money should be paid for the reconstruction
of Rwanda and what countries are liable for paying the
reparations.
The report, which runs almost 300 pages, is the result
of two and one-half years of work by an international
panel appointed by the Organization of African Unity.
It focuses on the events leading up to and following
the 1994 ethnic conflict in Rwanda during which as
many as 800-thousand Tutsis and moderate Hutus were
slaughtered.
The report says there is plenty of blame for the lack
of international response to the genocide but it
contains specific criticism of Belgium, France and the
United States. Stephen Lewis, a former Canadian
diplomat and member of the panel, told reporters it is
true that the United States and other members of the
U-N Security Council were demoralized about
peacekeeping efforts since the 1993 failure of a
mission in Somalia. But, Mr. Lewis believes the
aborted mission in Somalia was no excuse for failure
to send a sufficient international force to stop the
genocide in Rwanda.
///Lewis act///
It is simply beyond belief that, because of
Somalia, hundreds of thousands of Rwandans
needlessly lost their lives. I want to say, and
I am saying this personally not on behalf of the
entire panel, I do not know how Madeleine
Albright lives with it.
///end act///
Ms. Albright, now Secretary of State, was the United
States ambassador to the United Nations in 1994.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Ms.
Albright does believes the United States should have
done more to prevent the genocide in Rwanda.
///Boucher act///
Regarding the Secretary's personal role and
personal feelings, she has talked about this a
number of times and the difficulty she felt at
being the U-S representative at the U-N and her
feeling that we should have done more. The
President (Clinton) himself has been quite clear
in saying, during his trip to Rwanda in 1998,
that the international community together with
the nations of Africa must bear its share of
responsibility for the tragedy. We did not act
quickly enough after the killings began and we
did not immediately call these crimes by their
rightful name, genocide.
///end act///
The Organization of African Unity report on Rwanda
follows a similar United Nations report released late
last year. The U-N panel, headed by former Swedish
Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson, concluded that the
genocide in Rwanda was the result of a "lack of
political will" by the U-N Security Council. However,
the U-N report was not as harsh on individual nations
as is the O-A-U report.
Commenting on the O-A-U report, U-N Secretary-General
Kofi Annan says it is "another important contribution
towards efforts to shed more light on the tragedy that
unfolded in Rwanda."(Signed)
NEB/UN/BA/LSF/PT
07-Jul-2000 15:46 PM EDT (07-Jul-2000 1946 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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