Senate President Augustine Iyamuremye has said that the Parliament of Rwanda wrote to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives expressing disapproval of the appointment of Genocide denier Laure Uwase, ‘not because of jealous of her success.’ He as on Saturday, October 31, commenting on Rwandan Laure Uwase who was named on a team by Belgian parliament to assess the impact of the Belgian colonial rule in the Great Lakes Region – Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. On August 10, 2020, the Parliament condemned Uwase’s selection explaining that she is a known genocide denier who belongs to an organisation whose mission is denial of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Uwase is a member of the Jambo Asbl – a Belgium-based association mainly comprising young people criticized for denying the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. During the Unity Club forum held at parliament, Iyamuremye concurred with Senator Emmanuel Havugimana that the root cause of the Genocide against Tutsi is colonialism which divided Rwandans in alignment with the colonisers’ interests. The Senate President said that they told Belgian parliament that it was a good idea to put in place a commission to look into the consequences of the colonialism by Belgium and that they wished that there be reconciliation between Rwandans and Belgians based on the assessment outcome. But, he indicated that they were surprised to see that the Belgian parliament added on the commission a person who has no expertise that is helpful to it. He added that Uwase would not have objectivity in the commission because she is affiliated to organisation that denies the Genocide. “We never said that we disapprove of her because of her mother or father. But, you might have read it through the media, and even there are politicians living in Rwanda who said that the Parliament [of Rwanda] is too daring to object to a Rwandan who had an opportunity to be elevated, based on her parents,” he told participants in the Unity Club forum. “As representatives of Rwandans, the results of the commission will not be of concern to us. They should not tell us that there was a Rwandan on the commission and therefore her views would be representative of Rwandans,” he reiterated. Meanwhile, Iyamuremye said that the Belgian Parliament has not yet provided a clear reply to their letter. “The president of the Belgian Parliament replied that he received our letter, but that he took it to the commission. Only that! He said, adding that they have not heard from the commission.
