Franceville Hutu Refugee Massacre

Dr. William A. Twayigize

DR. WILLIAM

THE ALI BONGO INTERNATIONAL AIRPOTY RWANDAN REFUGEES MASSACRE

MVENGE AIRPORT REFUGEE MASSACRE

In May 1997, I found myself among a large group of Rwandan refugees seeking refuge in Congo Brazzaville. Our desperate quest for safety led us to a land teeming with other refugees souls from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Chad, and the DR Congo. Despite our hopes for a peaceful existence, the country’s political turmoil and impending conflict threatened to shatter our dreams. As tensions escalated between Congolese politicians backed by Western oil companies from both France and the USA, who vied for control over the oil-rich territory, our future grew increasingly uncertain.

Day and night, we, the Rwandan refugees, bore the weight of unspeakable suffering, yearning for a chance to rebuild our lives in a haven of tranquility. My singular aspiration was to find solace in a safe place where education could become my path to a fear-free life—a fervent plea to God echoing within me.

When conflict erupted in Congo Brazzaville, seeking asylum in Gabon seemed like a viable option for us. Given the historical friendship between our late President Habyarimana Juvenal and Gabon’s President Omar Bongo (who led Gabon from 1967 to 2009), we hoped for a warm reception. Our entry point was the Bateke region, specifically Lekoni town, which bordered Congo Brazzaville and was also President Bongo’s ancestral home. However, our optimism waned when we realized that the ties between Habyarimana and Bongo had deteriorated after Habyarimana’s death, shifting the political landscape. To our dismay, we found that the USA Ambassador to Gabon, Elizabeth Raspolic, in coordination with the UNHCR and influenced by wider geopolitical interests, were uncomfortable with the Rwandan refugees — survivors of the DR Congo massacres — having access to the Gabonese media. This would have provided a platform for us to narrate the horrors we’d faced. As a result, measures were taken to ensure Rwandan Hutu refugees, in particular, were discouraged from staying in Gabon, with the UNHCR even advocating for our immediate return to Rwanda.

On July 2nd, 2008, in Paris, France, President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba. During the time when Rwandan refugees were forcefully deported from Gabon under the auspices of the UNHCR, Omar Bongo was the nation’s leader. After his passing, leadership was taken over by his son, Ali Bongo Ondimba. Omar Bongo’s tenure as president spanned over 42 years. (Photo: Getty Images)

This is the Leconi (Lekoni) Health Center in Franceville, Gabon. I was admitted to the Leconi Healthcare Center upon my arrival in Gabon, following an arduous journey through the desert. The extensive walking on the sandy terrain led to the loss of all my toenails, which were bleeding by the time I reached Lekoni.

The UNHCR had liaised with the new RPF regime in Kigali with a proposal: to have all Rwandan refugees, primarily Hutus, returned to Rwanda. This was a concerning development, especially since there were strong indications that the new Tutsi-led regime had malevolent intentions for the returnees. When Kigali was informed of UNHCR’s intentions, and with the knowledge that major international players, particularly the USA and the UK, supported such an action, they promptly sent General Charles Kayonga. His mission was to ensure the complicity of the UNHCR and Gabonese leadership, using bribery as a means, to streamline our forced repatriation.

In the midst of these political machinations, we encountered a UNHCR representative in Lekoni, who identified herself as being from Cameroon. At first, her demeanor was compassionate, and she spoke of potential resettlement in third countries, even hinting at opportunities for us to continue our education. This brought a brief respite and hope to our dire circumstances, but it wasn’t long before we realized these were mere empty words, devoid of any genuine intention to help.

Regrettably, in their pursuit of forcibly repatriating Rwandan refugees to Rwanda—despite the imminent threats we faced—the UNHCR, in collaboration with Gabonese authorities, deployed police forces. These forces proceeded to indiscriminately detain refugees, paying no heed to their country of origin or their refugee status. In a blatant violation of international human rights and refugee protection norms, we were forcefully relocated to Mvenge International Airport. There, a plane awaited, prearranged by the UNHCR, to execute the distressing task of returning us to Rwanda, the very nation from which we had sought refuge to escape persecution.

Raping Refugees

At the airport, the UNHCR’s cruelty escalated further as they involved police officers who subjected us to unimaginable torture. In a deeply disturbing and heartbreaking turn of events, women and girls among us were subjected to unspeakable acts of rape, with their loved ones helplessly witnessing these heinous atrocities. The UNHCR, an organization entrusted with safeguarding refugees, shockingly sanctioned these abhorrent actions.

The memory of that nightmarish experience of being beaten by the police remains etched in my mind. One officer mercilessly struck me with the butt of his gun, causing blood to flow freely down my face, staining my white shirt. Lying in a pool of my own blood, I desperately hoped that feigning death would shield me from further harm. While I survived, many others were not as fortunate, as the callous police officers callously remarked that some had already succumbed to the brutality they endured.

On that dreadful day, over 12 refugees lost their lives at the hands of the Gabonese police as they tried to forcefully return us to Rwanda, an outcome we fiercely resisted, knowing that returning there meant certain death, with our bodies likely to remain unburied and forgotten. Nevertheless, we were determined that if we were to die in Gabon, the survivors would tell the tale of how we were betrayed by the very organization tasked with protecting us – the UNHCR.

The events that transpired in Franceville in 1997 were a shocking testament to human rights abuses, police brutality, and the betrayal of trust by those responsible for the welfare of refugees. The UNHCR, which should have provided assistance and protection, instead became complicit in the unspeakable horrors we endured. Despite their promises of not forcibly deporting us back to Rwanda, we arrived there on the early morning of July 12, 1997, embarking on yet another nightmarish chapter of our harrowing journey, including a one-year-old boy among us, innocent yet caught in the maelstrom of cruelty and injustice of this cruel world.

In the tumultuous 1990s, Rwanda witnessed an exodus of millions of Hutu refugees desperately seeking safety beyond the borders of their homeland. The outbreak of armed conflict and political instability triggered a massive displacement, with countless families uprooted from their homes in search of a chance at survival.

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DR. WILLIAM

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Dr. William A. Twayigize

DR. WILLIAM