As Rwanda is set to commemorate, for the 25th time, the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Gen. James Kabarebe has appealed to a youth international audience to fight the hate speech being spread by Genocide perpetrators and deniers.

Rwanda, the Senior Presidential Advisor on Security said, faces a challenge of people who deny the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi or spread falsehoods of a double genocide.

"If we keep quiet, the genocide can happen again,” Kabarebe told more than 350 youths who are participating in the Association of National Olympic Committee for Africa (ANOCA) Zone V youth games in Huye.

Some 11 African countries and France are participating in the games.

Kabarebe narrated to the youth how the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi unfolded, right from the precolonial period.  

"Genocide started in the precolonial period. The youth engaged in the process of symbolisation, persecution, organisation and segregation which resulted into the genocide,” he said.

Kabarere explained to the youth from foreign countries how the perpetrators dehumanized the victims by calling them insects and animals.

"The perpetrators believed that those who were being killed were not humans, they believed that they are doing the right things” he said

He said it’s was difficult to comprehend and explain why the 1994 genocide happened.

"If anybody asks you why Genocide took place, none in this world will give you a satisfactory answer,” he said, adding, "It is very difficult to give an answer to that one,

"Nobody has ever explained to me why the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda happened, the very last explanation I got is that ‘It’s a Kind of Madness’…”

Speaking on behalf of the youth from 11 African countries that participated in the games, William Blick, the president of ANOCA Zone V, promised to rally the youth to become good ambassadors to fight genocide denial. 

The African youth games started April 2 and running up to April 6, 2019 – a day before the commemoration week begins.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com