This article was first published in the Walk to Remember 2014 Magazine The little boys and girls born in 1994 genocide against the Tutsi are 20 years today! One thing they all have in common is that none of these children was born under conditions that befit a newly born child. In fact, for some to be alive is simply a miracle! But the lucky ones, who survived and live celebrate their 20th birthday this year, are Rwanda’s hope for the future. They are children raised in a different Rwanda- a Rwanda where every child has a right to life a right to basic needs. They are children born and raised in an environment where meritocracy has replaced favoritism, unity replaced sectarianism, harmony replaced divisions and hope replaced despair. In short this is the generation that will be the new face of this country and will define its future. Campaign continues as the genocide deniers and their supporters operate a vicious and racists propaganda to ensure that Rwanda, in academic journals, newspapers and broadcasts, is the most misreported nation on earth. The ideology of the perpetrators has never disappeared. To this day its supporters remain organized and financed and they live among us determined one day to finish their task. At the heart of this campaign is a theory that the massacres in Rwanda were not a result of planning but a result of a spontaneous uprising of a population angered by the death of their Hutu president. This monstrous lie blames the victims themselves for the moral responsibility for the genocide and this is the foundation of the campaign. The regime in 1994 premeditated, planned and executed the extermination of Tutsi people. Referring to this tragedy as “Rwandan Genocide” was and still is a mistake. It cannot be genocide when there is no group that is targeted; this has to be corrected as it is a way of denying the deliberate state sponsored killing of the Tutsi population. Most deniers engage in very dangerous hate filled propaganda while claiming to be advocating for human rights, truth and reconciliation, democracy and peace. But these democratic values are not goals they are truly striving to achieve because such ideals cannot be achieved on a bed of lies and falsehood. Rwandans hope that after the Genocide in 1994 the world would never be the same again. We should now be aware that inaction or hesitation by the international community when faced with situations like what we faced in Rwanda in 1994 can only lead to tragedy. The United Nations, the organization to which we all belong, was established principally “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and to “reaffirm faith in the fundamental human rights, dignity and worth of the human person”. Sadly, those two basic principals were betrayed. Let us dedicate ourselves to ensuring that this does not happen again. Thank you Makuza Laurent is the DIRECTOR OF CULTURE PROMOTION in the MINISTRY OF SPORTS AND CULTURE.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:33:43 +0000
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