Regional students take on course to fight genocide

Sixteen university students from East African countries are currently participating in a two-week genocide prevention course.The course will equip the students knowledge that they would take back to their respective communities, with the intention of preaching against the events that led to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.The Peace Building Institute (PBI) has been organised by Never Again Rwanda since 2008, and has since taken place twice a year in Kigali.The current course opened on December 28, 2013, and runs until January 11.Under the theme, “What Can Rwanda Teach the World,” the participants go through three chapters: Transitional Justice, Genocide History and Prevention, and Good Governance.The current session is being attended by students and personnel working in the domain of conflict resolution and peace building from Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, DR Congo and hosts Rwanda.Tandiwe Ngwenya, the Never Again Rwanda programme director, said the course intends to help students understand circumstances that led to the Genocide and to make never again a reality.“We do not limit ourselves to the Genocide against the Tutsi, rather, we give learners an occasion to share experiences in their countries, so that we can advise them on how to change their society for the better,” she said.For example, said Ngwenya, the Kenyans should understand that no one need be proud that they are Luo or Kikuyu or any other tribe. “They should understand that one cannot ignore their compatriots from a different tribe.”Eston Nyakiya, a Political Science student at the University of Nairobi, agreed with Ngwenya, saying: “We have been experiencing a situation whereby employees in different offices favour fellow tribesmen.”For Kenyans, with 42 tribes, a crisis like what happened in Rwanda in 1994 would be more destructive.Public officials to the taskNyakiya suggested that in his country, people heading the public institutions should have a peace building certificate to ensure transparency and neutrality in service delivery.Asha Kawala, a student of conflict resolution from Kampala International University, said: “Resolving conflict is my life ambition; the Rwandan experience gave me more confidence in my dream to fight for peace.”Once at home, Kawala said, she will teach the community about consequences of the conflicts and how to deal with them. We have learnt that wherever there are human beings, there are conflicts. “The most important challenge is how we deal with them.”The PBI Institute is supported by German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ).Ngwenya said participants of the previous sessions have been creating networks for peace building initiatives, such as web sites and clubs.Previously, participants were coming from all over the world, but PBI opted to bring it to East Africa where a crisis in Rwanda could affect a neighbouring country, and vice versa.Naftal Ahishakiye, the executive secretary of Ibuka, the umbrella organisation for the Genocide survivors’ associations, said he believed that “the training is important; our goal in Rwanda is to bring people together in the fight against genocide ideology.” “Let them create clubs against genocide and create necessary awareness when they return home,” Ahishakiye said.According to Never Again Rwanda, there are 10 stages of genocide that revolve around the classification of the targeted group. The stages are symbolisation, discrimination, dehumanisation, organisation, polarisation, preparation, persecution, extermination and denial.

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Regional students take on course to fight genocide