Ismail Mbonigaba,
We have just debated, on Twitter, on the qualification of the genocide in Rwanda. You were arguing that the crime was a "Rwandan genocide", because Burundian and Congolese Tutsi were not targeted! Strange argument! Surprised, I asked you to tell me if we shall now qualify the Shoah as "European genocide" because American jews were not targeted. I also observed that the UN qualification for the genocide in Rwanda was "genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda". Therefore, it would difficult to confuse the group that was targeted with other Tutsi from neighboring countries. No response from your side.
Beside this, I asked you a question to which you didn't answer. The Tanzanian Embassy in Kigali released today a statement denying that Faustin Twagiramungu, your boss at RDI Rwanda Nziza, ever entered the Tanzanian border, as their immigration records show. However, last Sunday in Lyon, Twagiramungu claimed that he indeed was in Tanzania but refused to tell more, as the mission was secret.
Questions: Who is lying? The Tanzanian Government or Faustin Twagiramungu? Has Twagiramungu claimed a visit that didn't happen, just to impress his colleagues in the opposition or has he unveiled an info that was meant to be secret? Last option, was Faustin Twagiramungu travelling on a fake passport?
I think many netters need clarification on this.
Thanks in advance.
Rwemalika Théoneste
Dear Olivier, I think the UN language is constantly and rapidly changing. Fisrt, Rwandan Genocide (1994), then Genocide against Tutsi (2014), and next Genocide against Hutu (Awaiting a ruling by a tribunal according to the Mapping Repport on DRC 2010). Don't you think your 2002 email could be a strong evidence? I support the language of "Rwandan Genocide". Have a nice evening!
Ismaïl
Dear netters,
Sixteen years after the ICTR Akayesu case, which has established that a genocide against the Tutsi, "as a group", was committed in Rwanda in 1994, the UN Security Council has today, in its resolution 2136 on DRC sanctions, also recognized that the genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994 was a "genocide against the Tutsi". This is a major shift for the usual "Rwandan genocide" language.
The Security Council further noted that Hutu and others who opposed the genocide against the Tutsi were also killed. This language was included in a paragraph condemning the collaboration between the FARDC and the FDLR, and recalling the genocidaire nature of the FDLR.
Here is the full paragraph:
"Noting with deep concern reports indicating FARDC collaboration with the FDLR at a local level, recalling that the FDLR is a group under United Nations sanctions whose leaders and members include perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, during which Hutu and others who opposed the genocide were also killed, and have continued to promote and commit ethnically based and other killings in Rwanda and in the DRC, and stressing the importance of permanently addressing this threat",
The consequence of this shift, initiated by Rwanda, is that the language "1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda" has now become an "agreed language", in the UN jargon, which will be used in future resolutions of both the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as in other official documents of the United Nations.
Best regards,
Rwemalika Théoneste
