Jean-Damascène Bizimana

Jean-Damascène Bizimana (born 1950s) is a Rwandan diplomat and the former ambassador of Rwanda to the United Nations.

Not to be confused with Augustin Bizimana.

At the time of the assassination of president Habyarimana of Rwanda, Bizimana held a non permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. He knew many of the leaders of the Hutu Power movement, and has therefore been wrongly accused by some, such as General Roméo Dallaire, of aiding the Rwandan genocide by publicizing Hutu Power propaganda to the West, and passing confidential Security Council intelligence to his government. Bizimana has accused Dallaire of partiality for siding with RPF and incompetency as corroborated by Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in his book "Le Patron de Dallaire Parle". In that context, Bizimana had asked the UN Secretary General to end Dallaire assignment before the genocide and subsequently, Dallaire would use any forum to make unsubstantiated claim against Bizimana. During the Rwandan genocide, Bizimana had also charged that the United States didn't accede to his request to intervene and stop the genocide while the Clinton Administration had the information but opted for inaction as long as it was helping its ally, the RPF, to take power no matter the subsequent collateral human tragedy that cost lives to many thousands of innocent people.

In an interview several years later, Michael Barnett, a diplomat with the United States mission spoke of the level of frustration at Bizimana's statements by those who were aware of what was happening in Rwanda but like the United States, didn't want to assist and stop the genocide."Nobody said, 'Why don't you get out of the room?' There was never a real moment in which they dressed him down, because if you did, you would be breaking the rules of the club." [1]

In 2010 researcher David L. Bosco maliciously claimed that he discovered that Bizimana and his family had settled in Opelika, Alabama while he already knew Bizimana's whereabouts since he had contacted his family when he was seeking his inputs while he was writing a book about the UN Security Council. The Bizimana never changed the address nor the phone number the same David used when he called them years before the malicious discovery claim and they can only see this claim as a retaliatory and revengeful act because Bizimana didn't sponsor David's book. [2]

References
  1. Off, Carol (2000). The Lion, the Fox, and the Eagle: A story of generals and justice in Rwanda and Yugoslavia. Random House. ISBN 0-679-31138-6.
  2. Bosco, David (4 April 2010). "Rwanda's ex-U.N. ambassador, who vanished after genocide, resurfaces in Alabama". The Washington Post.
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