International Viewpoint Archive

The Fourth International’s English-language review, from 1982

Africa: Fourth International Declaration

· International Viewpoint No. 286, March 1997 · p 17 · 754 words

Fourth International France

resolution of the Fourth International*

"No mercenaries for Mobutu!"

1. The genocide to which a million Tutsis fell victim in Rwanda in 1994 must be punished on an international level as a crime against humanity. This genocide was prepared and carried out by the dictatorial regime of general Habyarimana, who also eliminated thousands of his Hutu opponents.

2. Those responsible for this genocide must be tried in Rwanda

3. The Interhamwe militias and the remainder of the Rwandan army responsible for the genocide who are on Zairian soil must be disarmed and brought to stand trial before Rwandan courts

4. The neo-colonial system of imperialist domination, based on inextricable links between dictatorial African regimes and the economic and political interests of European governments, has led European governments to cover up for the criminal course of the Habyarimana regime that prepared the carrying out of this genocide. European governments have thereby made themselves accomplices to this genocide. The French government in particular armed, advised, financed those who carried out the genocide The French government protected them after their crimes were committed. The French government in particular armed, advised, financed and protected those who carried out the genocide after their crimes were committed

The Belgian government supported the Habyarimana regime up until the genocide began. Multinational corporations (weapons factories, the Banque de Paris, the Dresner Bank and others) armed and financed the killers in full awareness of what they were doing: They continued to do this after the UN declared an arms embargo on 11 May 1994, They supported the illers when they retreated to Zaire ginning in July 1994. Operation arquoise, carried out in late Juneearly July 1994 by the French army under the cover of humanitarian aid aimed in reality at protecting the genocidal army against the Rwandan Patriotic Front's final offensive. It was the French army that established the remainder of the Rwandan army and the Interhamwe militias in Zaire, transforming hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees who had fled to Zaire into their hostages. Their goa was to prepare with Mobutu's aid an Invasion of Rwanda by those responsible for the genocide.

5. Rwanda's foreign debt (US$ 1 billion) is odious, since it was contracted by a genocidal regime which used the loans to buy weapons and multiply the size of armed forces by

Rwanda/Zaire * eight between 1990 and 1994. This debt must be cancelled. The victims should not be forced to pay for the weapons that were used to carry out the genocide.

6. In addition, a vast programme of reparations and reconstruction of Rwanda must be paid for by the World Bank, IMF and imperialist governments complicit in the genocide. The reparations programme must be entirely paid for by these institutions and governments: they should pay back the damage inflicted with interest.

7. The role of women, who, since the genocide, constitute more than two-thirds of the population and often support their families on their own, is decisive in Rwanda's reconstruction. We support all the Rwandan women's organisations that are struggling for equal economic and political rights for women, necessary in order to contribute in full independence to rebuilding

8. Stop the structural adjustment programme imposed by the World Bank and IMF on Rwanda. These SAPs constitute an obstacle to rebuilding Rwanda and exacerbate its dependence on imperialist countries.

9. The assets held abroad by the family of the dictator Habyarimana and his cronies (AKAZU) must be confiscated and returned to the Rwandan

10. Those allegedly responsible for the genocide residing abroad must be

11. We oppose any imperialist military intervention in the region. No arms, no troops, no mercenaries for

12. Down with Mobutu's dictatorship Expropriate the assets held abroad by Mobutu and the dignitaries of his regime. Return these assets to the Zairian people, plundered by the Mobutu regime for more than thirty years.

13. We declare our solidarity with the anti-Mobutu, anti-imperialist opposition in its struggle to put an end to the dictatorship. Hands off the armed rebellion in the east of Zaire!

14. We call for the defeat of Mobutu's troops, aided by the mercenaries in their attempt to reconquer Kivu. Hands off the armed resistance in eastern Zaire

15. Refuse visas to Mobutu, his clan, the dignitaries of his regime and the chiefs of his killer army. * This resolution was read out by Eric Toussaint at a meeting of the Zairian opposition held in Brussels on February 1st. More than 150 Zairians participated, including supporters of 12 opposition groups.

March 1997 #286 17

← Africa: Zaire Unravels, West Panics · Africa: Zaire: CRAP in Action →

Something wrong on this page?