Rwandan genocide: compare these two different testimonies of Alain Patrick Ndengera (the one of 23/07/2010 with the one of 13/04/2018 after joining the RPF which murdered his little brother Rene-Claude)

Rémy RUGIRA

Alain Patrick Ndengera: MY TESTIMONY ON THE GENOCIDE AND OTHER MASSACRES IN 1994 (DHR forum, Friday, July 23, 2010 4:55 p.m.)

Netters,

I am surprised by this writing by Olivier Nduhungirehe because I can in no way exploit the death of his little brother, not only because I knew Janvier but also because Olivier’s family is very friendly with my family. Far be it from me to have this idea of exploiting his death. What for? I answered Sharangabo‘s question asking me the name of Olivier’s brother, that’s all.If this has been interpreted as the exploitation of January’s death, I apologize very much.

On the other hand, although Olivier’s family is friends of my family, I do not agree with Olivier’s choice to support the dictatorial regime in Kigali. The fact that Olivier always wants to minimize the killings, massacres, arrests and imprisonment of the Rwandan people by the RPF makes him a potential target of the anger and annoyance of the neters on the forum so much that some still want to remind him that even his brother was killed by the RPF he defends.

Speaking about the circumstance of Janvier’s death (as Olivier related it), I can affirm that my little brother Claude was killed under the same circumstances at Kacyiru on the 13th of April at 6 a.m. The nyumbakumi of the neighborhood where we lived in the houses of the Social Fund in Kacyiru had forced everyone to participate in night rounds and it was in these circumstances that we found ourselves outside with the others.

It was a neighborhood of intellectuals (social funds and Minitrape) and in the rounds there were Tutsis and Hutu together. Unfortunately, long before the nyumbakumi ordered us to participate in the night rounds(patrol) there were three families killed by the interahamwe (Michel and Charlotte’s family, the Sano family, and another family whose name I can’t remember).They also wanted to murder Mugabowindekwe’s family and his wife Catherine, but fortunately they hid at the neighbours’ house before the interahamwe arrived.

On April 13, 1994, we were finishing our rounds and getting ready to go to sleep when suddenly we saw a lot of RPF soldiers running to attack the gendarmerie of Kacyiru. Their commander stayed behind and approached us and asked us not to move. He repeated that he was going to shoot whoever was going to move. And quietly he started shooting, aiming for the head at point-blank range at each of us. The bullet whistled over my head and I fell into the corpses. Out of 12 people present, only me and Safari Nyandwi were saved.

I was with the people who lived in the neighborhood like Mohamoud Rahamatar, Karangwa, Iréné Kayibanda, Safari Eugène (nicknamed Kisedeki), Claude my little brother, Kagina the volleyball player and others. Fortunately, others had already left, and the toll would have been very heavy. Among those who had already left, I would like to mention the former ambassador of Holland, Bizimana Jean Pierre, prosecutor Mutashya, Ngenzi, Pierre Ntivunwa, etc. In the night round, there were Hutu and Tutsis.

The soldier who shot us could not have confused us with the interahamwe since we had no weapons, no interahamwe uniforms or interahamwe cards. RPF soldiers killed anyone they met indiscriminately. I imagine that it was in these circumstances that young Janvier Nduhungirehe died. This is the case for many people as well.

Meanwhile, my older brother (adoptive) Felix, who lived in Nyamirambo was killed by the interahamwe. What I saw during that time was worse and I had nightmares for 15 years. Despite the assassination of my brother, I could not bring myself to follow the Kambanda and Sindikubwabo government to Gitarama, given the atrocities and killings of the Interahamwe who hunted the Tutsi everywhere, and my personal involvement also in the opposition party PL which I represented at the University campus of Nyakinama as vice-president in the AGEUNR student association in 1992-1993.

Afterwards, I took refuge with my family in the King Faisal Hospital and later we went to Byumba in the RPF zone. On the way to the RPF zones, we came across many corpses, some killed by the interahamwe and others killed by the inkotanyi.

In the RPF-controlled area of Byumba, all it took was for someone to point at you and say that you are an interahamwe and you would be executed on the spot. Many died because they were from the north or because they were members of MRND or MDR POWER. This is the case of Muhaturukundo and his family, Kayinamura and her daughter Oda, Baliyanga Alfred, Alphonse Jacqueline Sebukangaga’s husband, etc.

Since the youths were forcibly conscripted into the ranks of the RPF in this area, I swore that I would never become a soldier if to be a soldier is equivalent to murdering people. Luckily I was able to get the famous KIBALI (autorisation)to leave Byumba, with the help of a young friend we grew up together in Nyamirambo, to go to Kampala around mid-May 1994.

In view of the atrocities and genocide committed by the Interahamwe by killing Tutsis and Hutus from the opposition or from mixed families, and in view of the atrocities of the RPF who killed indiscriminately on the population, I resolved at that moment to fight all criminals of all stripes.

The people of Rwanda deserve justice.

ALAIN PATRICK NDENGERA

Montréal,

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Second testimony of 13/04/2018 Alain Patrick Ndengera: MY TESTIMONY ON THE GENOCIDE AND OTHER MASSACRES IN 1994 ( facebook, 13/04/2018)

Kacyiru: April 13, 1994 Fateful Date

The genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda was an atrocity unimaginable and inconceivable to human intelligence. Men, women, children, babies and old people were all killed indiscriminately because they were born Tutsi. Surviving during this period was not at all easy for a Tutsi or for a Hutu opponent of the Habyarimana regime.

The story of our neighborhood of Kacyiru (Kigali) is out of the ordinary, which is why it is worth telling it as a historical testimony. The Interahamwe were rampant throughout the country and hunted down Tutsis throughout Rwanda. Kacyiru was no exception.

For our neighborhood of Kacyiru (houses of the Social Fund), the decision to thwart the interahamwe has been a double-edged sword, although many people have been saved thanks to this strategy.

On the one hand, the fact of regrouping in solidarity together, all outside (Hutu and Tutsi) allowed us to prevent the Interahamwe from entering each house to massacre especially the families of the Tutsi targeted. Indeed, from April 9 to April 13, 1994 there were no assassinations in our neighborhood despite the incessant and daily attacks of Interahamwe.

Some will mistakenly characterize our desperate gathering at a fence, but in reality it was a gathering of terrified people who are afraid of being targeted by the Interahamwe and who have regrouped to survive together between Hutu and Tutsi against Interahamwe attacks. Our neighborhood was mostly made up of intellectuals. Our neighbours at the MRND didn’t dare come and kill you in person.

For a reminder: Do you know of a fence in April 94 in Rwanda that had no weapons, no arrests, no deaths, no demand for identity?? In Kacyiru (in the houses of the Social Fund) Let’s say that it was rather a group of terrified people who got together to try to survive.

Every time the Interahamwe attacked, they would see us all Hutu and Tutsi together outside and they never managed to separate us. This solidarity was able to save many lives during this short and difficult period.

I remember when the Interahamwe came to attack Mohamoud Rahamatali on April 8. We all defended him and after an hour of negotiation under threat, the Interahamwe finally agreed that we would choose a team of 5 wise men in our group to accompany the 5 chiefs of Interahamwe to go and search his house.

They went to search his house accompanied by our 5 wise men and we all held our breath. After 30 minutes, they came back with Mohamoud saying they found nothing. Mohamoud and his family had just escaped with a vengeance.

We continued to regroup together, Hutu and Tutsi, until the fateful morning of April 13, 1994, when the RPF army coming from the CND targeted us. Our strategy to thwart the Interahamwe came to a tragic end.

We were about twenty Hutu and Tutsi people together (fortunately 8 people had just left to go to sleep) and the soldier who shot us didn’t ask us any questions. He just said don’t move!! I’m going to shoot the one that’s moving!! Then he started shooting each of us at point-blank range. He aimed for the head. He shot me too, but the bullet whistled over my head and I fell into the corpses. My little brother René-Claude did not survive as did other people who were there. Only me and Safari were able to miraculously escape the fateful 13th of April 1994.

Daily nightmares running away from someone who shoots me has been my daily routine for several years. Waking up in the middle of the night panting, out of breath and sweating didn’t convince me to go see a psychologist until today.Luckily I once attended a healing prayer. It helped me a lot to get through it.

R.I.P. Rene-Claude, Mohamoud Rahamatali, Kagina Valens, Karangwa, Eugene (nicknamed Kisedeki), Irenee Kayibanda, and others whose names I have not remembered. May God welcome you all to heaven.

Post Scriptum: By the way, why did we decide to get together outside?

Not only was it Nyumbakumi’s orders that forced all adult males to go outside, but also the murder committed by the Interahamwe on the two families in our neighborhood greatly influenced our decision. The family of Michel and Charlotte (killed by Thomas umuzamu wo muri Sports Center) as well as the family of Sano (he survived because he was able to hide at the neighbors’ house).

Horrified by the murder of our 2 neighbors, we decided to quickly regroup all together outside, Hutu and Tutsi. Of course, the MRND dignitaries were taking it easy in their homes.

Among other families targeted in our neighborhood, there were also Mugabowindekwe and Catherine who were able to hide and were spared but their children who were on vacation in Gitarama did not survive.

A few days later, we went to the Faycal hospital and then we continued to Byumba in the RPF zone until the end of the genocide of the Tutsi after the capture of Kigali on July 4, 1994.

I salute the courage of the Hutu and Tutsi people who agreed to confront the Interahamwe in difficult times. I will mention Mutashya the prosecutor, Ngenzi, Jean Pierre Bizimana ex-minister, Nsengimana Etienne former President of the Scouts, Ntivunwa Pierre, executive of the Social Fund of Rwanda, Mohamoud Rahamatali, Twagirumukiza Joseph, executive of the Social Fund of Rwanda, Kayibanda Irenee, Nzaramba René-Claude, Safari Kisedeki, Kagina Valens, Karangwa, Safari Nyandwi, Ndengera Patrick, etc.

Sadly, it was a tragic end for most on this team, although they were the shield for many others. We are the survivors of this adventure and it is our duty to immortalize this unusual process in the episode of the genocide against the Tutsi.

And what about the RPF soldier who opened fire on us? I’d like to meet him and talk to him. And eventually forgive him because that’s what God asks us to do.

What can we say about Simon de Kacyiru (the younger brother of François Habiyakare ex-Minister and Bralirwa Boss). He helped us a lot because all our families were crammed into his house. He gave us protection and food for free. A great man. I was told that he died recently. May God rest his soul.

ALAIN PATRICK NDENGERA

Montréal

NOTE TO READERS: Alain Patrick Ndengera has switched sides, he has become a pro-RPF Inkotanyi, he is president of the Rwandan diaspora in Canada.