posted on Mar, 12 2004 @ 09:08 AM
The United Nations has �found� the black box data recorder from a 1994
plane crash that killed Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana. After it was apparent that the plane had been shot down, rival ethnic groups began
accusing each other of foul play and started a 100 day genocide war that claimed the lives of more that 500,000 people. The box was found locked in a
filing cabinet in the Air Safety Unit across the street from U.N. headquarters in New York. The recent discovery of the box came after a French
investigation of the crash accused the U.N. of obstruction of justice.
Newsday.com
UNITED NATIONS -- In what Secretary-General
Kofi Annan called a "first-class foul-up," the United Nations said Thursday it has discovered a black box sent from Rwanda after a 1994 plane crash
that unleashed a genocide in the east African nation.
The device was found Wednesday in a locked filing cabinet in the U.N. Peacekeeping Department's Air Safety Unit. Aviation experts put it there
apparently in the belief its "pristine condition" ruled out the possibility that it came from the downed Falcon 50 jet, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard
said.
The question of the black box came up during a French investigation of the crash, which also killed the French flight crew. Although the French have
not released the results of their recently concluded probe, a newspaper familiar with the findings said it accuses the United Nations of obstruction
of justice for failing to inspect the downed aircraft's black box.
The U.N. claims that none of the officials in charge at the time knew of the black box existence. Their theory is that the official who received the
data recorder thought the box was in such good shape, that he did not want to spend the money to have the data analyzed. So the box ended up in a
locked filing cabinet in his office.
The U.N. did little at the time to stop the massacre, which some say lead to the deaths of nearly 1,000,000. The United States used its position in
the Security Council to discourage any U.N. response to the genocide killings. Instead, they sent instructions to the U.N. saying "we will oppose any
effort at this time to preserve a UNAMIR presence in Rwanda.� The French eventually sent in troops and set up a safe zone for people fleeing the
massacre.
Related Articles:
The U.S. and The Genocide In Rwanda 1994
[Edited on 12-3-2004 by dbates]
[Edited on 12-3-2004 by dbates]