Nun Jailed For Part In Rwandan Genocide

Sentenced To 30 Years For Helping Militias Kill Hundreds Hiding In Hospital

(AP)  A Catholic nun has been sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping militias kill hundreds of people hiding in a hospital during Rwanda's 1994 genocide, an official said Friday.

Theophister Mukakibibi was sentenced by a traditional gacaca court for helping Hutu militiamen to kill ethnic Tutsis seeking refuge from the slaughter in Butare Hospital, where she worked.

"She was responsible for selecting Tutsis and would throw them out of the hospital and the militia would then kill them," said Jean Baptiste Ndahumba, president of the local gacaca court in Butare town. "This nun was organizing people to be killed." She was jailed Thursday.

She would also hold regular meetings with Hutu extremist groups and denied food to Tutsis hiding in the hospital, he said by telephone. About 20 people testified against her, he added.

In the massacre, 100,000 people were killed in the southeastern prefecture of Butare.

A number of Hutu Catholic and Protestant church leaders are alleged to have played significant roles in the east African nation's 100-day massacre. More than a half-million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by the militia, orchestrated by the extremist Hutu government then in power. The genocide ended when Tutsi rebels toppled the government.

The gacaca courts are intended to speed up the genocide trials and are separate from the conventional judicial system. With nine judges from the local community, the traditional courts were also established to help heal divisions but can impose life sentences.

Some 63,000 genocide suspects are detained in Rwanda, and justice authorities say that at least 761,000 people should stand trial for their role in the slaughter and chaos that came with it. The suspects represent 9.2 percent of Rwanda's estimated 8.2 million people.

A U.N. tribunal based in neighboring Tanzania is trying those accused of masterminding the genocide in Rwanda. Three members of the clergy have appeared at the tribunal.

In 2001, two Rwandan Catholic nuns were convicted by a Belgian court for aiding and abetting the mass murders. A Roman Catholic priest is on trial before the Tanzania-based U.N. tribunal, accused of ordering the slaughter of 2,000 people who sought refuge in his church.

Rwanda's genocide began hours after a plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana was mysteriously shot down as it approached the capital, Kigali, on the evening of April 6, 1994. The leader was returning from power-sharing talks with Tutsi-led rebels.

The genocide ended after rebels, led by current President Paul Kagame, ousted the extremist Hutu government that had orchestrated the slaughter.

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The unfortunate comparison in this situaation, where the allegience of a Catholic nun was stronger to her tribe than to her religion, is the same reason a democracy will never work in Iraq.. and I would venture to say anyone who thinks a lasting democracy is possible there is only deluding themselves.

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Janey-
"webdepot-really, do you believe everything democrat is above reproach?? "

Not at all... republicans hold no exclusive on idiocy or corruption.. and the fact that the kennedy's had skeletons is somethying we can agree on.. JFK probably had more bimbos in the white house than any other president since reconstruction. but a Nazi sympathyzer was not one of their faults... I wouldn't even say Prescott Bush was a nazi sympathyzer, but he did help Nazi Germany build their war machine in the name of the almighty buck, and years later it was used to kill American soldiers..

[kailumego1]

Joe Kennedy also had an inside connection to the Irish/Italian Mob, in which many reported it was the mob's influence that got JFK elected.

These people are not infallible or exempted from moral/political corruption, put your faith in yourself and not others, as it doesn%u2019t matter what partisan affiliation.

Charles Lindberg also supported the Nazis, and petitioned against the U.S.%u2019s involvement in WWI.

The point here the U.S. had first hand knowledge of the Rwandan genocide and did absolutely nothing to intervene.

Members of our government sat idly by and watch this slaughter and did nothing, however, now we are protectors of freedom and democracy, and that%u2019s why we sought to depose Saddam Hussein.

Pick your battles!!!!!!

[kailumego1]

Eight hundred thousand Tutsis lost their lives by the hands of barbarians [Belgium government], for it was the Belgium government, through its racists policies of segregation and discrimination, differentiating between the two groups, placing one above the other based on physiological differences, and then turning the reign over to the oppressed.

The Belgium government was responsible for this genocide the same as if they pulled the trigger or swung the machete themselves.

Human nature, the same identical incident is occurring in Iraq, a Sunni majority had oppressed a Shiite minority for years, in which, now that that majority no longer yields the power, a civil war has ensued, its not too difficult to understand why.

And religious groups are not exempted from committing irreprehensible acts of violence, the Catholics through their inquisitions, the Protestants through their %u201Cwitch hunts%u201D, etc, etc, there are fanatic fundamentalist groups throughout every religious spectrum.

I%u2019m just amazed at the U.S.%u2019s hypocrisy, to profess, their intention is to rid the world of terrorism and bring about freedom and democracy to those oppressed.

Pick your battles!!!!

janem4 wrote:

"Oh so now it's all Catholic's that do this? That's it make blanket statements, that's always helpful.
The only Catholic I've ever heard of being sympathetic to the nazis was JFK's dad..."

The Kennedy Family has so many ghosts in it's closet that it's not funny.

Kennedy Snr was most definitely an anti-semite and while I have never seen definitive proof that he admired Hitler, he certainly believed in Chamberlain's policy of appeasement to Hitler. This was why he resigned in 1940.

As for Catholics supporting the Nazis, there were many that did. In fact, many of those in the Nazi party, including some who committed horrible crimes, were raised in Catholic homes - even Hitler.

A group called the "Intermarium" had close ties to the Vatican, before and after the war, and helped many Nazis escape prosecution by re-locating them.

The US Government also helped many Nazis "re-settle" to the US or other parts of the world, and even employed many in intelligence roles against the Soviet Union.

Many known war criminals survived punishment because they could help the US against the Soviets.

People like Reinhard Gehlen (raised in a Catholic home), Emil Augsburg, Alois Brunner, Eugen Dollmann, Wilhelm Hoettl and many, many others, were all protected by the US at some time after the war.

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Once again Janey.... half truths and word substitution turn fact into a slam... Why...? Because Joe P. Kennedy was a Democrat??? Is that why??? or because he was a Catholic??? which one do you hate more??

Joe P. had an isolationist attitude which means he wanted the United States to stay the hell out of other peoples wars...
kinda like I wish Conservatives would stay the hell out of other peoples lives..

From that you come up with he was a Nazi sympathyzer.. that's a pretty dam-n big stretch..

[pakaal]

janem4, thanks for the bit of history about JFKs dad, I'm checking on it now.

Until now I only knew about George Bush's grandfather Prescott and his support for the Nazi regime.

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mjlewis6 noted that "It is not unusual for African religious clergy to be recruited from the local population."

Well, where else are local clergy going to be recruited from? This isn't a slam on Catholics worldwide, but it does serve as one more example (like Haggert last week) of the fact that religious people have no claim to moral superiority - they're as human as the rest of us.