Rwandans in Canada spell out dangers of latest UN report

CANADA - Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Canada, Edda Mukabagwiza, and representatives of the Rwandan community briefed the media there on Friday about the dangers of the recently published but “flawed” UN report alleging that Rwandan troops could have committed genocide in the DRC during the 1990s.

Tuesday, October 05, 2010
High Commissioner, Edda Mukabagwiza and leaders of the Rwandan community in Canada during the media briefing (Courtesy photo)

CANADA - Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Canada, Edda Mukabagwiza, and representatives of the Rwandan community briefed the media there on Friday about the dangers of the recently published but "flawed” UN report alleging that Rwandan troops could have committed genocide in the DRC during the 1990s.

The press conference aired on Canada’s Canal Vox television network will be rebroadcast twice this week, said Aimable Rwamucyo, a Canada-based official of the Rwanda Diaspora Global Network (RDGN).

In a communiqué, the Rwandan community stressed that the dangerous and irresponsible attempt by the report to undermine the peace and stability in Central and East Africa contradicts the mission of the UN.

"My view about that UN report is that enemies of Rwanda don’t want the country to have peace and they are utilizing numerous means to speak bad about it, and in most instances, those behind it are the ones who committed the Genocide in 1994,” Rwamucyo told The New Times.

"They are conniving with NGOs which depend on creating problems so that they get assignments and a budget to sustain their survival”.

Among the dangers by the UN report are key facts omitted in the report such is the repatriation and reintegration of 1.5 million Hutu refugees from the former Zaire from 1994-2003. 

Another is the desire to validate the ‘double Genocide theory’ which "is a clear motive in releasing this report, which fails to address the context of the war and undermines the legitimacy of the Rwandan military campaign in the Congo.”

The Government has categorically rejected the report for various reasons, including, as stated, that its authors omit the historical context of Rwanda intervening in Zaire, rewriting history and improperly explaining the nature of the conflict in Zaire – despite the UN’s knowledge of the situation and subsequent blatant inaction.

The report, whose full content was released on October 1, has also been highly contested by the Government of Rwanda and various Rwandans in the Diaspora.

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