Rwandan Diaspora in Canada protest UN mapping report

The Rwandan community from four Canadian cities met in Ottawa, on Friday, and held a big demonstration against the controversial UN report.

Monday, October 11, 2010
Rwandans in Canada during the demonstrations against the UN report (Courtesy photo)

The Rwandan community from four Canadian cities met in Ottawa, on Friday, and held a big demonstration against the controversial UN report.

This came a week after members of the same community briefed the media there 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.

Aimable Rwamucyo, an official of the Rwanda Diaspora Global Network (RDGN) in Canada, told The New Times that Rwandans from Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Québec city marched through the capital of Canada condemning in strongest terms the UN and distributing fliers "explaining the lies in the UN report.”

"We held a remarkable demonstration in Ottawa. We planned well and even the foreigners got the message through the fliers that we gave them,” Rwamucyo said.

"We marched along the busiest road downtown, starting from the City Hall of Ottawa to Parliament Hill.”

Rwamucyo added that: "We also used that evening as an opportunity to accept an invitation for a dinner to celebrate President Paul Kagame’s re-election victory.”

On October 1, when the "flawed” UN report was published, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Canada, Edda Mukabagwiza, joined representatives of the Rwandan community in a press conference aired on Canada’s Canal Vox television network and rebroadcast twice, later that week.

The Diaspora in Canada, like elsewhere, has been protesting what they say is a dangerous and irresponsible attempt by the report to undermine the peace and stability in the region.

The Government has also 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.

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