He was born from humble stock but rose to be a brilliant student. A socialite marriage thrust him into the dizzy heights of Rwandan society. Yet the rapid ascension of his early years came to an abrupt end in 1984 after his banishment from Kigali. Alfred Musema was appointed director of the Gisovu tea factory, an isolated post he had no choice but to grudgingly endure.

The story of Alfred Musema's rise from the son of a peasant to a respected member of the social élite reads like a modern day fairy-tale. At least, this was the version heard by the court on May 10th. Born in Byumba, Musema grew up in the commune of Rutare, where his father provided for his large family with the proceeds from his mobile shop and the sale of vegetables and cattle. Although his father was of Anglican confession, from the age of six his son was brought up as a Catholic. In 1955, the young Alfred Musema was sent to primary school, then later to the secondary school at the collège St-André in Kigali, where he left with a « certificate in humanities, science and Latin ». The peasant's son was a brilliant student: « I was top of the class » he told the chamber proudly. Despite his natural talent for maths and physics, the advisor on Belgian grants advised him to study economics instead. The young student took his advice and won a place at the Faculty of Agronomic Science in Gembloux, a town in the former colonial kingdom of Belgium.

Glorious return from Belgium

In 1974, the twenty-five-year-old Alfred Musema returned home clutching the first degree ever earned by his family. A fully-fledged engineer in agronomy, his speciality was agricultural engineering. He also returned with his future wife, Claire Kayuku, whom he met in Belgium, and after their marriage in 1975, the couple had three children. The expert witness for the prosecution, André Guichaoua, pointed out that Claire's family had been weel known, as her father, assassinated in 1962, had been one of the heroes of the « 1959 Revolution ». Alfred Musema chose not to talk about this, preferring to tell the court that his father-in-law had been an agronomer at the Institut des sciences agronomiques du Rwanda (Isar) and that after « his unexpected death, the wife and children had been authorised to stay in a house owned by the Isar ». This was the famous house in Rubona, fifteen or so kilometres north of Butare, on the road to Kigali. The marriage was one of the two ambitions achieved by the young graduate on returning to his country. The second was to « be authorised to return to Belgium and complete his training with a diploma in economy and development. But things did not quite go to plan. »The Rwandan government asked me to start working immediately as a public servant« explained the witness, who did little to hide his bitterness over this refusal to allow him to return. Alfred Musema subsequently took up a post as »engineer in the department of agricultural engineering« . He pointed out that at the time, the job usually went to French expatriates. Of all the colleagues he was to work with, only two were from Rwanda, one who had been trained in the USSR and the other, like him, at Gembloux. In 1976, he was given a post at the department of agricultural engineering and soil conservation in a newly-restructured super-ministry, which combined agriculture, farming and forests. Replying to the expert witness Guichaoua, Musema explained that »contrary to what certain people have said, this was not the most important department. There was no international funding and we worked with national budgets only.«

The 1984 sanction

Then came the rift of 1984. »Along with two other Director Generals from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Rearing, we were suspended in May 1984. No-one told us why. In October 1984, I received an official presidential appointment to the OCIR-Thé. I didn't ask for it« , explained the witness. He was appointed Director of Gisovu tea factory. »If I'd been asked, I wouldn't have gone« , he said, even though »I had the scientific, economic, technical and industrial expertise to run the factory« . Judge Kama recalled André Guichaoua's testimony. »You said you asked for nothing. Was this a punishment, or how do you explain it?« he asked. »I realised it was a punishment. I don't know why I was suspended, then sent 250 kilometres west, into a region I'd never been to before. I lost all the perks, not just the ones linked to my job, but also with my family in Byumba« , stated Musema. Mr. Kay resumed: »Was it more important to be in Kigali than a préfecture like Kibuye?« »Yes it was. Technically speaking, it was easier to make contacts in Kigali. Civil service wages aren't high enough. In Kigali, there's a chance of getting credit from the bank, and doing other work to make your future secure. That's for sure. A job in Kigali had more perks« .

»Physically tied«

One other distinguishing feature marks Musema's story. His appointment as Director of the tea factory was issued directly by the President. The witness stated that only two directors were ever appointed in that way: himself and the director of the Rubaya factory, both in the same year. The others were appointed by the Board of the OCIR-Thé. Judge Aspegren sought to find out more about this unusual procedure. »If I knew I'd tell you, honestly. I've got no explanation« , answered Alfred Musema. He said there were some advantages, such as his relationship with the Director of the OCIR, and some disadvantages, in as far as if he » wanted to leave, he would need the same decree to be able to do so« . The high-ranking civil servant thus found himself »almost physically tied to the factory in Gisovu« . The man banished by the ministry then described the context in which he had taken over the factory in Kibuye préfecture. The Gisovu factory, built between 1977 and 1983, was the newest in the country. It had been open for barely a year when Alfred Musema arrived. He told the court that its output »was very low, around 200 tons, for a company that should be producing 1,200 tons per year« . The plantations were also new, having been planted in 1977. The new director said he had to cope with two main problems. The first was a personal one, related to his family life. After a year, he and his wife had to be separated from their children. The second hitch was technical. Musema the engineer referred to a factory with »technical teething troubles« for which it was necessary to »practically install an entire production formula (?) A great deal of personal effort and energy had to be expended by the technicians and myself to get the machinery running« . Musema the agronomist emphasised the quality of the tea produced. »The tea was generally assigned to buyers in London. The sales were fixed according to stock market quotations. In 1993, Gisovu was among the top factories in Rwanda and one of the highest quality factories in the world« . In terms of output, Musema stressed that »the plantations set up there were in no way capable of producing 1,200 tons of tea« .

The role and influence of the factory director

The position, role and influence of the Director of the tea factory were then examined in turn. Alfred Musema challenged the idea that the tea factory was the biggest employer in the region. According to him, this title went to the 'Crête Zaïre Nil' project, which undertook road upgrading and forestry projects, and into which the largest funding from Swiss overseas aid was channelled. Musema then added: » The post of factory director is identical to that of the director of the 'Crête Zaïre Nil' project, or of the Isar, or the Karongi centrale. But in some of these projects, the local authorities are involved, like those where the préfet is a member of the management committee. On these grounds, relations with the authorities are far closer, whereas the tea business is technical. Neither the préfet nor the bourgmestre are involved in any way in running our project. So it's just a technical relationship« . The influence of these local authorities was in Musema's terms, »to perhaps try to become involved in running the factory or develop relationships with certain parts of the project, or get someone hired. In the case of the Gisovu factory, there was no relationship, and no influence exerted by the préfet or the bourgmestre in the management. But the préfet and the bourgmestre were still representatives of the authorities. They weren't involved in management but that doesn't mean they had no power over people, and that depends on what period you're talking about« . Witness BB had referred to the influence of a factory in terms of the amenities it could bring and make available to the local community, like a school, or a health centre. Alfred Musema said that the new factory in Gisovu »had abandoned the type of activity« that a factory like the one in Gisakura engaged in, according to the witness.

Internal Rivalries

However, relations with the Director-General of OCIR-Thé »weren't always the best« . Musema encountered »problems resetting the industrial machinery« . At this point, another response was fished out of André Guichaoua's testimony. »When I heard that [I] was about to be sacked in 1986 because of my absences, I thought it was completely wrong. At that point we were struggling to get funds that OCIR-Thé didn't want to give us. Were relations as strained as all that? We had to fight for the money. I wasn't the most senior employee. There was no form of favouritism, and I wasn't even looking for any« . The defence lawyer suggested that there was jealousy, and that dirty tricks being played on his client hatched in Kigali. »Of course. Some people wanted someone from the local area to be appointed. I had to put up with lots of slanderous gossip on that score« , replied the witness, who stressed that rivalry was not unusual. »I wasn't an exception. There was rivalry at every level« . Between Factory directors for example? suggested the defence. Obviously referring to the testimony of a protected witness, Kay lifted a veil on the issue by referring to the audits carried out by factory directors on their own colleagues twice a year. Alfred Musema also spoke of »a very harsh report« he had produced along with another director, about the factory in Gisakura, in 1992 or 1993. Musema recalled an »utterly abysmal management structure« , »proposals to enable the company to be put back on its feet« , and lastly, »the oldest director in the OCIR-Thé« , who »wasn't happy at all« . Yet this report, which Judge Kama wanted a copy of, was not among the documents filed in the case. »My lawyers took unheard of risks by going to Rwanda to look for documents. They brought back what they could. We've run out of time. There's no shortage of evidence, just of time to find it« .

Political Pressure and Inter-ethnic Relations

Was politics mixed up in this affair? Was there a political line that had to be followed to satisfy Musema's superiors? »When there was a one-party state, everyone was constrained by the situation. I couldn't avoid that. But no-one ever asked me to adhere to any particular line. There was no line to follow, no imposed position, and personally I had no such pressure on me« , explained Musema. What about ideology, ethnic relations, and quotas? »I was rather disobedient as regards that practice. There was a kind of policy by the single party to limit the number of Tutsis to 10%. At the tea factory, the figure was almost 20%, so there was no discrimination« , asserted Musema, who added later that he wasn't the only one not adhering to the quota policy. Wasn't ethnic identity a selection criterion anyway? »Honestly, I didn't know what ethnic group the people working with me belonged to« . »How would you describe your relations with the minority ethnic group, the Tutsis?« Asked Mr. Kay. »They were always very good, because of several things. Within my family I never saw any discrimination. Throughout my primary education, all my teachers were Tutsis. There was never any friction. I always had the good marks I deserved. I had no reason to be sceptical, suspicious or aggressive towards this minority« .

Hopeless Future and Family Constraints

Still in Gisovu, and Musema felt the irrepressible desire to get away, break his infinite isolation and see light at the end of the tunnel again. He applied several times for work at the African Development Bank, the World Bank, and the Technical Co-Operation Agency. Why? »To ensure a future for myself because I didn't see how I was going to change my family situation by staying in Gisovu. There was no future in being separated from my children. I thought that by getting into one of the international agencies I could accomplish that objective« . This would obviously include the accumulation of financial resources. In the months before the outbreak of war in April, Musema's family arrangements did change. »From February 1994, we decided that considering the situation in the country and with our family, we had to agree to a difficult separation. My wife left Gisovu and settled in Kigali with the children. Two of our three sons had already been sent to Kigali in 1986. We had already been separated from our children for eight years« . The situation in the Rwandan capital had a part to play in the decision. »What with the terrible strikes, and the grenades, we felt we had to split up so that my wife could be closer to the children« . Due to an assignment in Gisenyi, the funeral of the director of the Rubaya factory in Kigali, and another assignment at the head office of the OCIR-thé, Alfred Musema delegated the management of his factory to his head accountant, Canisius from March 12th, then, when the latter was on holiday, the responsibility was assumed by the head of plantations, Rwagapfizi: two of Musema's deputies, for whose competence he was full of praise, and whom he counted as friends. When Musema returned to Gisovu, on April 14th, he would learn that both men, Tutsis, had been murdered along with their families. »