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Dear Mr. Secretary-General and High Commissioner for Human Rights
we write to you regarding the appalling discovery of dead bodies in Lake Rweru in Burundi and continued disappearance of people in Rwanda. The conclusive report by the Prosecutor General of Burundi that the dead bodies came from Rwanda vindicates the independent media’s earlier findings.

As you know, reports of continued disappearances of many Rwandans have not been taken seriously by different international human rights organizations. The Human Rights Organizations operating in Rwanda have either been silenced or hijacked by RPF hence they cannot freely investigate and report credible facts on disappearance of many Rwandans and take action against the Rwandan government human rights violations.

Therefore we the undertakings would like to lead other Human Rights key players in demanding the independent inquiry and identification of the dead bodies that were discovered in Lake Rweru. It was UN Watch’s intervention that led the UN mapping report and another report of experts that hold Rwanda to account on the murders in Congo.  Although the report was not released officially, it slowed down the human Rights violation of the Kagame proxy armed groups like M23.

We therefore have great interest in events in Rwanda and demanding thorough and impartial investigations in this matter. We were shocked to hear of the allegations detailed in the Burundi Prosecutor General’s investigation report on the dead bodies recovered from Lake Rweru in Burundi and corroborated by evidence gathered by the BBC Great Lakes Service and Burundi NGOs in the region that, all the dead bodies that have been discovered in Lake Rweru have been coming from Rwanda along the River Akagera.

In our advocacy, we have consistently argued for UN intervention with independent inquiry to establish the identity of these dead people so that their loved ones could know the tragedy that befell on them. Indeed, these people deserve a decent burial and human dignity. We are also deeply concerned with an increase of the Rwanda Police shoot to kill policy which is an abuse and disproportionate use of force. Just last week a hawker was shot dead in the main Tax Park called Nyabugogo by a police officer.

But unless the UN takes immediate, firm and sustained action against the reported abuses by the Rwandan government and indeed around the world we fear that today’s allegations will pose a setback to this effort.
The former Secretary-General Annan said that the World should never allow again gross human rights violations and if necessary humanitarian intervention should be invoked as a moral ground to stop murderous regimes from killing their own people.

Leading experts and NGOs such as Human Rights Watch have been reporting gross human rights violations in Rwanda but they have not been taken seriously by the UN and the International community as a whole. Despite allegations of widespread disappearances and extra judicial killings UN has not come out publicly to condemn the Rwandan Government human Rights behavior.

This shocking failure to take meaningful action against extrajudicial killings, disappearances and other human rights abuses creates a culture of impunity that cannot be tolerated any more.

We welcome the US State Department announcement by State Department Spokes Person “We firmly believe that these victims deserve to be identified. Their families deserve to know their fate, and those responsible should be brought to justice,” Jen Psaki, said in a statement.

The United States called on the two countries to conduct a “prompt, thorough, and impartial and concerted investigation” into the deaths with the assistance of “independent, international forensic experts,” she said.

Similarly the Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carina Tertsakian called on Rwandan and Burundian authorities to investigate the matter “fully, rigorously and without delay.” Unfortunately both countries have failed to seek assistance from countries that have a developed mechanism of investigating incidents of that nature but also independent and impartial institutions.

The UN must take immediate and powerful action to convince the Kigali regime that, this time, it is serious about having “zero tolerance” for human rights abuses and business would not be usual as long as Kigali continues keeping a deaf ear.

We propose the following:

• A high-level investigation led by a team of major international figures with full independent powers to collect and examine information and to prosecute  human rights abuses by the Rwandan or Burundian officials.

• Additionally, the inquiry should follow the chain of responsibility and examine both Countries officials who were obliged to but failed to take action to prevent such crimes.

• The inquiry panel should include respected Institutions like FBI (USA) Scotland Yard (UK) and authorities on international law people such as Justice Richard J. Goldstone of South Africa, and former member of the Volcker Commission on the Iraq Oil for Food program.

• Separate and additional to the above, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who is responsible for mainstreaming human rights within the UN system, should strongly condemn these abuses, and conduct his own investigation in the region to determine how his office can assist in preventing and condemning such gross human violations in the Great Lakes Region. .

We urge you to act immediately to protect the credibility of UN and Human Rights Committee as regards human rights abuses in Rwanda and in the Great Lakes Region as a whole. The victims of abuse in Rwanda, the families of the missing persons deserve no less.

Thank you

Sincerely,

Noble  Marara
Secretary, Great Lakes Human Rights Link.