The general who is slated to lead the joint UN/AU peacekeeping forces in Sudan has recently come under scrutiny for his alleged involvement in the Rwandan genocide. General Karenzi Karake was approved by the African Union to become the deputy commander of the African forces.
A Belgium-based Rwandan exile group has accused General Karake of supervising the killings of civilians during the genocide in Rwanda and the DR Congo.
“We are taking the allegations very seriously and we have invited the groups to forward them so that we can do an independent background check,” Mr Sorokobi told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.
Rwanda’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed the claims as a mere fabrication and an attempt to tarnish Rwanda’s image.
“Major-General Karake is a well-trained and experienced senior officer who has ably served in various senior command staff roles in the Rwanda Defence Forces and rightly deserves the post,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the government of Khartoum is claiming that this is a smear campaign to give the participating members of the African Union a black eye. According to a spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Karake has yet to be placed under contract with the peacekeeping forces.
People shouting at the nomination of General Karake are diverting from what they did and put it on him. This General is one of the most desplined soldiers Africa have today. If You check properly the Inkingi group is composed of the people that committed genocide in Rwanda and are the same people fighting to come back and rule the country. Let them shout when the General is doing his good job serving the needy people of Darfur. Long live UN/ AU chiefs for nominating General Karake. Not far you will see that you made a good choice.
I am disgusted at this reader’s comment. The RPF committed multiple massacres in its attempts to take back Rwanda which contributed to the climate which created the genocide. Their further actions in the DRC, where they committed even more massacres and massively pillaged – resulting in the deaths of over 4million more people ( more than 4 times the amount of people killed in the Rwandan Genocide and Darfur combined) shows what a twisted world we live in where an active participant in these atrocities can be sent as Deputy Commander to a UN peacekeeping force. This is even worse than when former Nazi Kurt Wldheim was made Secretary General of the UN.