(Photo by Atwiine Allen ©Diplomatic Times) His Excellency, (HE) Ignatius Katetegirwe, former Ugandan Ambassador in Rwanda between 1991 and 1996
By Atwiine Allen DIPLOMATIC TIMES CORRESPONDENT
-ISINGIRO DISTRICT, UGANDA – (EDITOR’S NOTE: Diplomatic Times East Africa Correspondent Atwiine Allen interviewed (HE) Ignatius Katetegirwe, former Ugandan Ambassador in Rwanda between 1991 and 1996. Mr. Katetegirwe was ambassador during the peace agreement between the Rwandan government and the Rwandan Patriotic Fro nt (RPF) that was derailed on the evening of 6 April 1994. On that fateful evening, the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutu, was shot down with surface-to-air missiles as their jet prepared to land in Kigali. President Habyarimana’s death triggered the infamous Rwandan Genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, members of the Hutu ethnic majority in the east-central African nation of Rwanda murdered as many as 800,000 people, mostly of the Tutsi minority. Mr. Katetegirwe was in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on the day President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down. Mr. Katetegirwe was supposed to be on the same plane as the Rwandan president, but the ambassador declined to go because he had received a letter indicating he should stay and complete unfinished business in Dar es Salaam regarding the peace talks. The ambassador did not disclose who sent him the letter, which has led some to believe he might have been notified in advance that the plane would be shot down. In a 2010 report conducted by the Republic of Rwanda called the Committee of Experts Investigation of the April 6, 1994 Crash of Habyrarimana’s Dassault Falcon-50 Aircraft concluded that the President’s assassination was months in the making; that in the months preceding the Dar es Salaam summit, Rwanda was rife with talk of assassinating the president; that the assassination was the work of Hutu extremists who calculated that killing their own leader would torpedo a power-sharing agreement known as the ARUSHA ACCORDS. The assassins have never been positively identified. Some may be skeptical of the report as it essentially absolves Rwanda President Paul Kagame of any alleged complicity. Some have accused President Kagame and the RPF of involvement in the assassination including French anti-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguière.
In an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, Ambassador Katetegirwe shared his experience with Diplomatic Times of being in Rwanda during the Rwandan ethnic war and spoke about the role he played in peace-talks during the Rwandan civil war and how he survived the plane crash. Mr. Katetegire is 91-years-old and lives in the Isingiro District of Western Uganda near the Tanzania border. Ambassador Katetegirwe has long been retired from diplomacy and spends time on his 10-acres farm in Isingiro where he grows bananas and has about 120 cows. The ambassador is energetic and walks unassisted despite his advanced age, with the exception of when he uses his big stick to help navigate up stairs.
Habyarimana’s Private Dassault Falcon 50 Jet Plane Shot Down
A Dassault Falcon 50 similar to the one involved in the assassination of Rwanda President Juvénal Habyarimana 6 April, 1994.
The circumstances of the crash remain unclear. At the time, the Hutu Power media claimed the plane had been shot down on orders from RPF leader Paul Kagame. Others, including the RPF, accused militant Hutus from within Habyarimana’s party of orchestrating the crash to provoke anti-Tutsi outrage while simultaneously seizing power.
Habyarimana “Failed To Calm” Growing Hutu-Tutsi Tensions
President Juvenal Hayarimana of Rwanda arrives for a visit. Location: ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, MARYLAND (MD) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)
According to Ambassador Katetegirwe, at the peak of the war, peace talks were initiated by the French , Tanzanian, Germany and Belgium governments between the representatives of the Tutsi -led Rwandan Patriotic Front (Front Patriotique Rwandais; FPR) and Juvenal Habyarimana, the then President of Rwanda from the Hutu -Tribe and ruling. During that time Zaire was the mediator, Tanzania was the facilitator, and Uganda was intermediate between the two ethnic groups. The Tutsi -led Rwandan Patriotic Front (Front Patriotique Rwandais; FPR) stole some vehicles and weapons from Uganda and escalated the long-standing ethnic tensions with the Hutu-led government in Rwanda. “That entire peace meeting yielded little success until August. 4, 1993, when at peace negotiations held in Arusha Tanzania, Habyarimana signed a power-sharing agreement with the FPR,” Ambassador Katetegirwe said. He blamed Habyarimana for not listening to the demands of the Tutsi tribe to have thousands of refugees in Uganda returned to Rwanda.
“The failings of Habyarimana was his refusal to accede to the demand of the Tutsi tribe , centre around the demand for the return of tens of thousands of Tutsi refugees in Uganda back to Rwanda. He did nothing at that time to calm the growing tensions between the Hutu and the Tutsi.”
-Ignatius Katetegirwe, former Ugandan Ambassador in Rwanda
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO INTERVIEW – Ignatius Katetegirwe, former Ugandan Ambassador in Rwanda 1991-1996.
Skulls of victims from the Rwandan Genocide found at the Nyamata Memorial in Kigali Rwanda. (Wikipdia Commons)
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO INTERVIEW – Ignatius Katetegirwe, former Ugandan Ambassador in Rwanda 1991 – 1996.
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO INTERVIEW – Ignatius Katetegirwe, former Ugandan Ambassador in Rwanda 1991 – 1996.
” At that time, I also went to Rwanda to persuade him to heed my advice about accepting to move the refugees in Uganda back home. But what i noticed then was that his wife Agath Kazinga and Protais Zigiranyirazo, a former member of Habyarimana’s inner circle, were the ones discouraging him from executing the suggestions. If he had brought the Tutsi refugees back to Rwanda based on my advice, the Rwandan Genocide would not have happened.”
Many Thought The Ugandan Ambassador Supported RPF
“In 1991, in one of my missions to Rwanda , at the time when RPF was seriously fighting the Rwandan government , many Hutu thought i was supporting the RPF as the Diplomat from Uganda. It was then a very serious dilemma , but i stood my ground , by insisting that the two ethnic groups must see themselves as brothers. That position i took helped me alot. The death of the two Hutu Presidents under suspicious circumstances triggered the Hutu extremist -orchestrated genocide in Rwanda that ensued, where about a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu were massacred. While the war between the two brothers was ongoing, i returned to Rwanda , but I was suspected as the known about the crash of the flight. The only thing that I did at that time was to convince President Museveni not to join the peace talk as the Chairman because i was not sure of the outcome. In all, I knew that very soon those refugees in Uganda and other neighbouring countries would find their back to Rwanda. No matter how long it may take.”
-Ambassador Katetegirwe
DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO INTERVIEW – Ignatius Katetegirwe, former Ugandan Ambassador in Rwanda 1991 – 1996.
Africans Must Learn To Live Together irrespective of tribal , religious and political affiliations
The former Ugandan Ambassador in Rwanda, however, noted that the takeaway from the war and genocide is that “Africans must learn to live together irrespective of tribal , religious and political affiliations.” According to him, this will lead to the growth and cohesion of the continent. Meanwhile, the DR Congo is in crisis at the moment as some 100,000 refugees have fled violent clashes in the DRC which began on 28 March 2022. The M23 rebels launched their biggest offensive against government troops in a decade. Refugee camps in the south west Kisoro District of Uganda are full of thousands of migrants who have fled the DR Congo. Meanwhile, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame traveled to Uganda meeting President Museveni last April, making his first visit to the country in four years as the relationship between the two East African nations improves following long-time hostilities. Perhaps there is hope. The governments of Rwanda and Congo have blamed each other about the fighting. The current DR Congo crisis has its origins in the Rwandan genocide. History has a way of repeating itself.
