The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, left Rwanda yesterday after a fact-finding visit which she said left her discouraged at attitudes to human rights and national reconciliation. "Political power and decision-making have become more and more concentrated," she said, in a statement issued as she departed for Uganda.
Mrs Robinson shunned the usual diplomatic niceties to attack the government for failing to make a determined effort to bring Tutsis and Hutus together again.
Both the minority Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and the Hutu rebels were responsible for increasing violence, the former president of Ireland said.
Between 500,000 and 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were believed to have been killed at the worst of the fighting three years ago. "There appears to be an absence of a committed policy of reconciliation and there are a number of very serious human rights violations," Mrs Robinson said.
Mrs Robinson's statement came as a "great surprise", a senior cabinet adviser, Mr Emmanuel Gasana, said yesterday, despite the tensions apparent during the visit. Her statement "does not reflect the truth", he said.
But a diplomat in Kigali welcomed the comments as they drew attention to serious problems which he said required action by the international community.
Mrs Robinson said that efforts by the UN human rights mission in Rwanda (HRFOR) and the international community as a whole had been "wholly insufficient to facilitate improvement."
Abuses included arbitrary arrests, prolonged arbitrary detentions and serious overcrowding resulting in inhumane conditions, she said in the statement.
"The scale of violence by Hutu extremists resulting in a large number of killings in certain prefectures is increasing dramatically. Further arbitrary killings linked to the RPA have risen substantially in recent months," she added.
On Friday, Mrs Robinson was visibly tense as she emerged from lengthy talks with President Pasteur Bizimungu and Vice-President and Defence Minister, Mr Paul Kagame.
A second meeting the following day seemed to go a little better, but Mrs Robinson yesterday said that Rwanda had questioned the presence of the UN human rights mission in Rwanda. Mr Gasana echoed those reservations, saying: "It is high time that we, as Rwandese, have our own human rights commission that would actually do what these people (in HRFOR) are doing."
The UN group should, he said, devote more time to education and less to denouncing violence and rights abuses.
"Some of the things in this (Mrs Robinson's) statement are definitely not pleasing the government," Mr Gasana said, because they failed to recognise efforts made by the government to meet such concerns.
He also disputed Mrs Robinson's version of her talks. "She has not spent two lengthy meetings to persuade the government to do anything. We analysed how the mission works and the necessity to review its work," he said.
Before Mrs Robinson arrived, there were rumours the HRFOR mission would be withdrawn.
"Mary Robinson saved the mission. She could have been even harsher in her criticism. Serious things are happening in this country and the international community should react," a diplomat commented.