Gersony Report to the UNHCR
Rwanda
[2010 March] The Rwanda Hit List: Revisionism, Denial, and the Genocide Conspiracy by Keith Harmon Snow U.N. High Commission for Refugees investigator Robert Gersony reported in September 1994 on the RPA/F's killing of more than 30,000 ethnic Hutus--in a period of two months--and gave a detailed account of locations, dates and nature of crimes, as well as the methods used to kill and to make the bodies disappear. Gersony also identified RPF leaders responsible for the killings. The classified U.N. "Gersony Report" has never been released. Sections of the 'Gersony Report' were referenced in other documents, and the conclusions were similar in a declassified Refugees International Situation Report of 1994 (begging questions about why refugees Inetrenationals SITREP are classified by the U.S. State Department...).
[2010 Oct] Paul Kagame: “Our Kind of Guy” by Edward S. Herman and David Peterson Robert Gersony's oral presentation at the UN in October 1994 reports "systematic and sustained killing and persecution of the Hutu civilian populations by the [RPF]" in southern Rwanda from April through August of that year, and "Large-scale indiscriminate killings of men, women, [and] children, including the sick and the elderly…." The Gersony report estimated between 5,000 and 10,000 Hutu deaths each month from April on. "It appeared that the vast majority of men, women, and children killed in those actions were targeted through the pure chance of being caught by the [RPF]." ("Summary of UNHCR Presentation Before Commission of Experts," October 11, 1994.) Importantly, the members of this UN Commission agreed at this time to treat Gersony's testimony and evidence as "confidential," and ordered that it should "only be made available to members of the Commission"—who promptly suppressed its findings.[8] (See the letter written on UN High Commissioner for Refugees stationary by Francois Fouinat, addressed to Ms. B. Molina-Abram of the Commission of Experts on Rwanda, October 11, 1994.)
[2009] Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of
Congo in the Propaganda System by Edward S. Herman and David Peterson So
does a body of important but suppressed research. An investigation in July and
August 1994, sponsored by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to
document Hutu massacres of Tutsis, found instead massacres of Hutu civilians in
RPF-controlled areas of Rwanda on the order of 25,000-45,000. This finding led
the UNHCR to take the extraordinary step of blocking Hutu refugees from
returning to Rwanda in order to protect them. Prepared by Robert Gersony, the
report, covered in the New York Times, “concluded that there was ‘an
unmistakable pattern of killings and persecutions’ by soldiers of the [RPF]…‘aimed
at Hutu populations.’” But the Gersony report “set off a bitter dispute within
the world organization and led the Secretary General to demand that the United
Nations officials refrain from discussing it,” in an effort to placate the RPF
and, more importantly, its Western sponsors. Officially, the report “does not
exist” at the United Nations, and Gersony was instructed never to discuss his
findings (a ban he has largely respected).
A memorandum drafted in September 1994 for the eyes of
Secretary of State Warren Christopher reported that the UNHCR team “concluded
that a pattern of killing had emerged” in Rwanda, the “[RPF] and Tutsi civilian
surrogates [killing] 10,000 or more Hutu civilians per month, with the [RPF]
accounting for 95% of the killing.” This memorandum added that “the UNHR team
speculated that the purpose of the killing was a campaign of ethnic cleansing
intended to clear certain areas in the south of Rwanda for Tutsi habitation. The
killings also served to reduce the population of Hutu males and discouraged
refugees from returning to claim their lands.” The added significance of this
campaign was that the south of Rwanda shares a border with northern Burundi,
where a majority Tutsi population long has dwelled.
[2007] The Gersony Report: It's Findings and
more. In his findings, Mr. Gersony states he believes that the
RPA committed genocide against Hutu in Kibungo, Butare, and parts of Kigali and
between early April to mid-September 1994, the RPF killed between 25,000-45,000
Rwandans, both Hutu and Tutsi.....The report was so damaging to the UNHCR, RPF
and UNAMIR that UN officials covered it up in October 1994, despite the fact
UNHCR officials on the ground (on the order of UNHCR head Ms. Sagato Ogata)
stopped encouraging Rwandan Hutu refugees to return to Rwanda because of the
killings, as reported in the New York Times at the end of September. Mr. Gersony
was instructed never to talk about it publicly.......The report was also
potentially damaging to the United States, a strong supporter of the new Rwandan
government. As described by Mr. Prunier in his book, then Undersecretary of
State for Global Affairs Timothy Wirth was given orders by the State Department
to discredit the report. Mr. Wirth travelled to Kigali and several places in New
York, spreading disinformation by attacking Gersony's methodology and claiming
it was a "Hutu conspiracy." He also delivered carefully crafted propagandic
press statements.
......"By not publishing the Gersony report and other information about RPF´s
massacres, a blank cheque was issued to continue the murders," said academic
Rwandan expert Dr. Filip Reyntjens of the University of Antwerp to Denmark
newspaper "Information" writer Gunnar Willum. Dr. Reyntjens went on to say in
the article of 28 June 1999, "Publication of the report would have prevented the
RPF to commit the massacre of over 200,000 Hutu refugees in Zaire," says
Reyntjens. "The RPF has used the genocide to legitimate massacres on this
civilian population.
......In his recent book on the Congo, Mr. Gerard Prunier said Kofi Annan
told then VP Kagame, the late Seth Sendashonga (then Interior Minister), PM
Faustin Twagiramungu, and President Pasteur Bizimungu the UN would withhold the
report to allow the RPF government time to consolidate after providing them with
a copy of the report.