by proldic » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:42 am
Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne) October 18, 2005 <br> <br>ICTR/Military II - the US, Belgium, Britain Accused of Conspiring to Overthrow Habyarimana<br><br>A defence lawyer accused the Belgian government of working with the US and Britain to overthrow former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) heard on Monday.<br><br>Canadian lawyer Christopher Black also told the court that Habyarimana had hinted of an assassination plot to the former President of former Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) Mobutu Sese Seko two days before he met his death.<br> <br>Black made the claims during the cross examination of Belgian soldier Franck Claeys, who had been part of the UN mission in Kigali in 1994.<br><br>Habyarimana had sought help from Mobutu on April 4th 1994 at a meeting held in former Zaïre, according to Black. The former President accused the British, American and Belgian governments of working with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to oust him from power and make Paul Kagame (former rebel leader) the president.<br><br>The plane carrying Habyarimana was downed as it approached Kigali on the evening of April 6th 1994.<br><br>Black is defending General Ndindiliyimana, former chief of gendarmerie (Paramilitary police), one of the accused.<br><br>"The Americans, the British and Belgians have concentrated all their pressure on me in order to oblige me to sign the evil Arusha Accords," the lawyer quoted Habyarimana as having said.<br><br>Habyarimana further accused the former American Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Herman Cohen of having threatened that his body would be dragged to the streets of Kigali if he did not hand over power...<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.hirondelle.org/">www.hirondelle.org/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
