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Rwanda: Time to Uproot Regional Genocide Ideology, Says Burundi Scholar
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The New Times (Kigali)
9 February 2008
Posted to the web 11 February 2008
Innocent Gahigana
Kigali
A Burundian scholar has said that despite a decade-long campaign against genocide, the Great Lakes region still faced a major challenge in uprooting ethnic discrimination.
Diomede Rutamucero, the author of a book entitled 'Democracy Based on Numbers' said that the genocide ideology was still rampant in the regional countries of Rwanda, Burundi and DRC. He made these remarks this week during a public lecture at Kigali Independent University (ULK) in Gisozi, Kigali.
"I believe the ethnic killings in DRC and Burundi are linked to genocide ideology in the region plotted by extremists with demented brains," charged Rutamucero. He said that the people harbouring such an inhuman ideology were clandestinely working against attempts to uproot it. Rutamucero allegedly linked the 2004 massacre of Banyamulenge refugees from DRC in Gatumba camp in Burundi to the spread of genocide ideology among extremists in the Great Lakes region. He said that there has been much rhetoric on such conduct by rebel factions in DRC but there was little regional action against them.
Rwandan Senator Antoine Mugesera who was also present at the lecture echoed the Burundian's position. "The complexity of the racial extremism within the Great Lakes human societies, suggests a need for a harmonised regional approach to tackle it," said the senator. Mugesera added that militias like Interahamwe in DRC do not necessarily act in racially prejudiced manners, but on demented killing ideologies still deeply embedded in their minds.
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The two speakers noted that while regional countries have arguably made tracks in finding a solution for the genocide ideology, they still needed a joint effort to deal with ingrained prejudices
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