Oscar Kimanuka
31 March 2008
column
Nairobi — No one can talk about Rwanda's recent history and fail to acknowledge that 1994 was the bleakest moment in the country's life.
The evidence of the mass killings and its devastating effects are not a matter of debate.
And in a sense, this dark episode in the country's history was a defining moment. The country's reconstruction is unprecedented.
Despite these efforts, however, there are disturbing activities by people who are living comfortably in the developed world's capitals and elsewhere in the world, denying that such an atrocity ever took place.
Take the example of a planned conference in Montreal, Canada, which is scheduled to be addressed by people who are known for denying the 1994 genocide. The conference is attracting increased criticism from not only the survivors of the genocide but also from all those who know what Rwanda went through in 1994. Some of the protests have been taken online, with about 1,500 petitions registered so far.
This conference can only be seen to do one thing: Rub salt into the wounds of the survivors and the Rwandan people in general. What is curious about the said conference is that it is coming at a time when Rwandans are preparing to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the genocide on April 7. It is not uncommon at this time of the year to find a lot of writings, many of them online, that deliberately distort what happened in 1994.
For instance a French author-cum-journalist Pierre Pean, Spanish lawyer Jordi Palon-Loverdos, Belgian journalist Peter Verlinden and Canadian author Robin Philpo have publicly stated that there was no genocide in Rwanda in 1994 against the Batutsi.
One of the petitioners against the conference, Sam Chalton, son of a Holocaust survivor expressed "shock and grief" that Canada could play host to such a revisionist meeting whose aim was to distort Rwanda's history.
In Kigali, a team of Canadian and Rwandan activists have denounced the Montreal conference and has gone a step further to propose that the revisionists be taken to court.
But for a start, let those who host conferences that deny the existence of the Rwandan genocide reconsider their actions, at least for the sake of the memory of those who died.
Oscar Kimanuka is a commentator on social and economic issues based in Kigali.
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Again I will state how upset I am that anyone can say that it was anything else but a genocide. 800,000 people were murdered because of thier ethnicity and still these people have the nerve to hold a conference to say differently. I would like to know if these people were there to take first hand accounts of what happened. Or maybe these people need a reality check. What right do they have to put together a conference about how 800,000 lives were taken and then say 'it's not a big deal?' It saddens me that there are people in this world that are actually ok with the atrocities caused by what people call war crimes. To the people of Rwanda: you have every right to have a remeberance of what happened in 1994 and I am glad that you as a people have come together enough to do such a good thing. I hope that this continues and you are able to teach your children that murder never solves anything.