Nairobi — Kenya's Assistant minister for Foreign Affairs Richard Onyonka has lashed out at people who deny the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, saying that their views are null and void because the Genocide is a fact in history.
"There is empirical evidence. I don't think anybody should doubt that this took place," he told The New Times shortly after attending a Genocide commemoration church service at the All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi yesterday.
Onyonka said that unless Africa puts in place institutions that can hinder causes of Genocide, a replica of what happened in Rwanda could occur on other parts of the continent.
The church service, attended by hundreds of mourners who included senior Kenyan government officials, heads of diplomatic missions and the Rwandan Diaspora was marked by sermons and hymns that preached love and forgiveness in society.
Rwanda's Ambassador to Kenya George William Kayonga told the congregation that of late, it has become the business of different groups to deny, the occurrence of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that claimed over a million lives as the world watched.
He attributed the negation and denial to the fact that there are genocide perpetrators spread across the world and were spreading this propaganda to win sympathy.
He added that some Genocide defence lawyers and authors are today earning their living through negating the Genocide that left behind thousands of traumatised survivors.
"These are some of the challenges that we face today and like a Canadian professor (Gerald Caplan) said, "Denial is like another cut with a matchete," the envoy said in reference to the pain negation causes to the sufferers of the Genocide.
He called for collective responsibility in denouncing Genocide deniers and negationists adding that by meeting this challenge, the world will match the resolve of the survivors and truly honour those who died during the Genocide.
The chairman of the Kenya Rwanda Business Association, Wachira Mahihi, commended the Rwandan government for exhibiting what he described as a sense of political maturity and purpose in the region.
Recalling the deeds of the former Rwandan regime in promoting divisionism among societies, Mahihi lashed out at politicians whom he said can manipulate an illiterate population to do whatever they want.
"Rwanda has become a beacon of hope because of the political maturity that they have shown. All of us in the region should emulate this," he said.
Before the church service, a remembrance event had been held at the United Nations in Nairobi (UNON) where UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in a speech read for him by UNON acting Director General Aneneas Chuma, called for collective efforts in preventing Genocide from happening again anywhere in the world.
The commemoration event climaxed in a candle lighting function at the Serena Hotel Nairobi that passed a message saying, 'Even after darkness, there is light in Rwanda".
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Were Tutsis the only tribe that were murdered during 1994 Rwandan Genocide in which 800.000 people perished or were there any Hutu among them who were also butchered in this psychotic genocidal terror.
Unless Rwandans are willing to admit that there were Hutus who also paid the ultimate price for this psychotic behaviour, there will never be peace in Rwanda or anywhere else in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Killing another human being is horrific, But those who covertly or overty engaged in the murder of 800,000 or more and still behave as if they had done nothing are the most evil human species on planet earth!!!!
You are obviously not well versed with this issue sir. The issue here is GENOCIDE and the ethnic group that was targeted - TUTSI. We are commemorating the TUTSI genocide and murder of moderate HUTU.Ofcourse Rwandans accept and remember HUTUS that were killed too but we are talking about revisionists and genocide deniers who are trying to rewrite history by claiming double genocide. I hope you have been enlightened and please make it your mission to educate others of what you have just learnt in order for this type of thing NEVER TO HAPPEN AGAIN
As long as African elites are willing to resort to violence against poor and helpless African men , women and children on the basis of their ethnicity, what happened in Rwanda in 1994 is bound to happen again.
As long as African elites in power are in the business of not sitting down with their colleagues in other tribes and iron out their differences in order to protect Africans from violence, events like 1994 Rwandan Genocide will happen again.
The furry of the genocide was unblievable. This is the fury that did not spare the unborn infant inside the mother's womb. It was an ultimate hatred of a human being.
Similar hatred is being doled out to Congolese by Laurent Nkunda. 1.5 millions Congolese have died, and the world is quiet as if nothing is happening!
If African elites cannot protect poor Africans, nobody will!
Akech continues to show poor understanding of Central African politics and appears to lay the blame for the deaths of 1.5 million Congolese at Nkunda's feet. The same militia who were largely responsible for the deaths of around a million Tutsis in Rwanda continued their attacks on Tutsis in the Congo and in Rwanda after the genocide ended. The warfare which ensued, disease and malnutrition and continued murder by militia have compounded in the Congolese catastrophe. The Congolese army have been responsible for more abuses than Nkunda's forces and the United Nations have been complicit in joining against Nkunda. This is fuelled by greed, by controlling illegal mining trade in the Congo. Thankfully a change of heart by President Kabila saw positive progress in overcoming the militia in conjunction with Rwandan forces. May the two countries continue to co-operate for the sake of future peace.