‘Let’s accord dignity to 1994 Rwanda genocide victims’
The Rwanda High Commissioner to Ghana, Mrs Rosemary Mbabazi, has urged international organisations and the entire world to put history in its right context, and accord due dignity to those who lost their lives in the 1994 genocide in his country.
She said that hate speech, divisive language, and names or labels that discriminate against or dehumanise people were the cause of most genocides, including the Rwanda 1994 killing that could have wiped out the Tutsi people in Rwanda.
Mrs Mbabazi made the call at an event held to commemorate 30 years of the 1994 genocide, in Accra last Friday.
The infamous Rwanda genocide is a 100-day violence against minority Tutsi and moderate Hutus by the Hutu majority.
She urged African governments to include genocide as a topic in their syllabus, to teach the effects of such atrocities, to help make progress in the global promise of ‘genocide never again’ campaign.
Mrs Mbabazi said there was the need to teach about the effects of genocide, particularly the one that occurred in 1994 that claimed at least 800,000 lives in Rwanda.
She said the event dubbed ‘Kwibuka’ to wit “to remember” in Kinyarwanda language, was remarkable as it helped honour the memory of the victims, and to reflect on the past in order to chart a path for the future.
Mrs Mbabazi stressed that the annual event was to help individuals reflect on the genocide against the Tutsi and the preservation of their memories.
Describing the act as a heinous sin, Rwanda High Commissioner said the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi was not a reactive mass-killing, but a deliberately planned extermination.
“Thirty years ago, the world abandoned Rwandans to their bitter end as it has been said time and again but what is more heartbreaking is that for the past three decades, the world has continued to abandon Rwandans by not ensuring that justice gets served. Fugitives incriminated in the Genocide against the Tutsi still roam freely. The world can and should do better,” she stressed.
“I wish to reaffirm Rwanda’s commitment to continue sensitising the international community to put in place laws that criminalise genocide and genocide ideology and is collaborating with national and foreign partners in the fight against denial and revisionism of the genocide against the Tutsi,” Mrs Mbabazi said.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Mrs Mavis Nkansah Boadu, said Government of Ghana was committed to supporting Rwanda as well as all Rwandans worldwide in their efforts to uphold the values of peace, unity and humanity in honour of the memory of those who lost their lives.
“Thirty years on, the scars remain fresh in the hearts of those who lived through the horror. As we stand in solidarity with our Rwandan brothers and sisters, we reflect on the unimaginable pain they endured and the immense courage it took to rebuild their lives and the nation,” she stated.
BY CECILIA LAGBA YADA