Rwandan Women Await Judgement

involved, killing with machetes and gunts, said Rakiya Omaar, an Africa Rights investigator. Others acted in support roles--allowing murder squads access to hospitals and homes, cheering on male killers, stripping the dead and looking their houses.

Africa Rights has provided accounts by witness and survivors who point accusing fingers at women-especially the educated Hutuelite. For the latter, the motive was often to secure a covered job or property. Oussar said.

"I think one can safely say that educated women who took a leadership role did so voluntarily," Omaar said in an Interview. "They been a greater responsibility then the peasantry. They were role models."

Among the prominent Hutu women who not used:

*Valeri Bemeriki, a ratio broadcaster called upon Hutus to fill up" Tusti graves and urged listeners to phone in the locations of Tutsi hideouts.

* Nuns Gertrude Mukangano and Justine Kizito, now sheltered by the Benedictine order in Belgium, called Tutsis who sought refuse "dirt" and allegedly supplied to burn some alive, including the immediate families of Tutsi nuns.

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

involved, killing with machetes and gunts, said Rakiya Omaar, an Africa Rights investigator. Others acted in support roles--allowing murder squads access to hospitals and homes, cheering on male killers, stripping the dead and looking their houses.

Africa Rights has provided accounts by witness and survivors who point accusing fingers at women-especially the educated Hutuelite. For the latter, the motive was often to secure a covered job or property. Oussar said.

"I think one can safely say that educated women who took a leadership role did so voluntarily," Omaar said in an Interview. "They been a greater responsibility then the peasantry. They were role models."

Among the prominent Hutu women who not used:

*Valeri Bemeriki, a ratio broadcaster called upon Hutus to fill up" Tusti graves and urged listeners to phone in the locations of Tutsi hideouts.

* Nuns Gertrude Mukangano and Justine Kizito, now sheltered by the Benedictine order in Belgium, called Tutsis who sought refuse "dirt" and allegedly supplied to burn some alive, including the immediate families of Tutsi nuns.

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

involved, killing with machetes and gunts, said Rakiya Omaar, an Africa Rights investigator. Others acted in support roles--allowing murder squads access to hospitals and homes, cheering on male killers, stripping the dead and looking their houses.

Africa Rights has provided accounts by witness and survivors who point accusing fingers at women-especially the educated Hutuelite. For the latter, the motive was often to secure a covered job or property. Oussar said.

"I think one can safely say that educated women who took a leadership role did so voluntarily," Omaar said in an Interview. "They been a greater responsibility then the peasantry. They were role models."

Among the prominent Hutu women who not used:

*Valeri Bemeriki, a ratio broadcaster called upon Hutus to fill up" Tusti graves and urged listeners to phone in the locations of Tutsi hideouts.

* Nuns Gertrude Mukangano and Justine Kizito, now sheltered by the Benedictine order in Belgium, called Tutsis who sought refuse "dirt" and allegedly supplied to burn some alive, including the immediate families of Tutsi nuns.

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

involved, killing with machetes and gunts, said Rakiya Omaar, an Africa Rights investigator. Others acted in support roles--allowing murder squads access to hospitals and homes, cheering on male killers, stripping the dead and looking their houses.

Africa Rights has provided accounts by witness and survivors who point accusing fingers at women-especially the educated Hutuelite. For the latter, the motive was often to secure a covered job or property. Oussar said.

"I think one can safely say that educated women who took a leadership role did so voluntarily," Omaar said in an Interview. "They been a greater responsibility then the peasantry. They were role models."

Among the prominent Hutu women who not used:

*Valeri Bemeriki, a ratio broadcaster called upon Hutus to fill up" Tusti graves and urged listeners to phone in the locations of Tutsi hideouts.

* Nuns Gertrude Mukangano and Justine Kizito, now sheltered by the Benedictine order in Belgium, called Tutsis who sought refuse "dirt" and allegedly supplied to burn some alive, including the immediate families of Tutsi nuns.

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

involved, killing with machetes and gunts, said Rakiya Omaar, an Africa Rights investigator. Others acted in support roles--allowing murder squads access to hospitals and homes, cheering on male killers, stripping the dead and looking their houses.

Africa Rights has provided accounts by witness and survivors who point accusing fingers at women-especially the educated Hutuelite. For the latter, the motive was often to secure a covered job or property. Oussar said.

"I think one can safely say that educated women who took a leadership role did so voluntarily," Omaar said in an Interview. "They been a greater responsibility then the peasantry. They were role models."

Among the prominent Hutu women who not used:

*Valeri Bemeriki, a ratio broadcaster called upon Hutus to fill up" Tusti graves and urged listeners to phone in the locations of Tutsi hideouts.

* Nuns Gertrude Mukangano and Justine Kizito, now sheltered by the Benedictine order in Belgium, called Tutsis who sought refuse "dirt" and allegedly supplied to burn some alive, including the immediate families of Tutsi nuns.

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

involved, killing with machetes and gunts, said Rakiya Omaar, an Africa Rights investigator. Others acted in support roles--allowing murder squads access to hospitals and homes, cheering on male killers, stripping the dead and looking their houses.

Africa Rights has provided accounts by witness and survivors who point accusing fingers at women-especially the educated Hutuelite. For the latter, the motive was often to secure a covered job or property. Oussar said.

"I think one can safely say that educated women who took a leadership role did so voluntarily," Omaar said in an Interview. "They been a greater responsibility then the peasantry. They were role models."

Among the prominent Hutu women who not used:

*Valeri Bemeriki, a ratio broadcaster called upon Hutus to fill up" Tusti graves and urged listeners to phone in the locations of Tutsi hideouts.

* Nuns Gertrude Mukangano and Justine Kizito, now sheltered by the Benedictine order in Belgium, called Tutsis who sought refuse "dirt" and allegedly supplied to burn some alive, including the immediate families of Tutsi nuns.

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

Africa Rights has provided accounts by witness and survivors who point accusing fingers at women-especially the educated Hutuelite. For the latter, the motive was often to secure a covered job or property. Oussar said.

"I think one can safely say that educated women who took a leadership role did so voluntarily," Omaar said in an Interview. "They been a greater responsibility then the peasantry. They were role models."

Among the prominent Hutu women who not used:

*Valeri Bemeriki, a ratio broadcaster called upon Hutus to fill up" Tusti graves and urged listeners to phone in the locations of Tutsi hideouts.

* Nuns Gertrude Mukangano and Justine Kizito, now sheltered by the Benedictine order in Belgium, called Tutsis who sought refuse "dirt" and allegedly supplied to burn some alive, including the immediate families of Tutsi nuns.

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

*Valeri Bemeriki, a ratio broadcaster called upon Hutus to fill up" Tusti graves and urged listeners to phone in the locations of Tutsi hideouts.

* Nuns Gertrude Mukangano and Justine Kizito, now sheltered by the Benedictine order in Belgium, called Tutsis who sought refuse "dirt" and allegedly supplied to burn some alive, including the immediate families of Tutsi nuns.

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

*Valeri Bemeriki, a ratio broadcaster called upon Hutus to fill up" Tusti graves and urged listeners to phone in the locations of Tutsi hideouts.

* Nuns Gertrude Mukangano and Justine Kizito, now sheltered by the Benedictine order in Belgium, called Tutsis who sought refuse "dirt" and allegedly supplied to burn some alive, including the immediate families of Tutsi nuns.

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

No accurate numbers tell how many women took part in the slaughter. One gauge may be Kigali prison. Of 10,000 inmates, all are men and boys except for the 342 women and their 116 children too young to be sent away."

Africa Rights says women's traditional image as peace-loving nurturers has hoped female killers escape the scrutiny of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Petriotic Front, which won last year's civil war and now runs the country.

Like everyone in the prison, the women have been accused of genocide but none has had a formal court hearing due to the shambles that mass murder and war left of Rwanda's justice system.

The Women spend their days bare-breasted in suffocating heat. They share open latrines, change the diapers of wailing babies weak with diarrhea and prepare meals of beans and crackers.

All say they are falsely accused.

Euphanasie Mukaremera, 36, is head trustee of one prison section, a former food storage area where 87 women and 16 children have barely enough room to lie down. She gave birth in prison 10 months ago to her fifth child, a boy she named Innocent.

Mukaremera, a Hutu, claims she was arbitrarily arrested on the accusations of a vengeful Tutsi neighbor when she returned from a refugee camp last year.

"You can see it's not true," she said. "I'm the mother of a family. I have children. I couldn't do such things to people."

She said that as far as she knew, none of the other women with whom she has spent the last year committed any crimes.

"I find it difficult to believe that a woman took a machete and killed a child," she said. "In my opinion, we were sent here when someone wanted our house, our property, our car, whatever."

Mukaremera asked a reporter if he really believed that a genocide of Tutsis took place. When he replied that he had seen the bodies to prove it, another chimed in.

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"

"There were massacres by the RPF in our neighborhood," said Christine Niyigena, 30. "Three people were Filled." She meant Hutus.

And before that? Did the Hutu militias kill anyone? The reporter meant Tutsis.

"Yes,"

How many?

"I don't know, Should I count?"