Black Box Found In File Cabinet Wasn't From Rwanda Crash

A black box found in a locked United Nations filing cabinet turns out to have nothing to do with an aviation accident that sparked a genocide.

Three months ago, Africa was in an outrage over the discovery of the missing cockpit voice recorder when it was discovered. UN officials said it came from the Falcon F-50 carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was hit by missile-fire and downed in 1994.

The deaths of presidents sparked 800,000 or more murders in Africa, as Tutsi and moderate Hutu tribesman were slaughtered for revenge by radical Hutus.

When the box was discovered in that filing cabinet, even Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, was outraged. He called it a "first-class foul-up," but refused to believe there had been a cover-up in the disappearance of the voice recorder.

At the time, UN aviation officials said the box was such good condition that it couldn't have possibly been involved in a shoot-down and crash.

Turns out, they were right. The box found in the filing cabinet was never aboard the presidential flight.

Air safety experts have listened to the entire content of the voice recorder and found a 30-minute conversation in French. The conversation apparently had nothing to do with Rwanda, Burundi or SAMs.

The UN now says the case is closed.

FMI: www.un.org