The High Commissioner of Rwanda to the UK, Johnston Busingye, on Thursday, April 21, wrote to Prof Peter William Mathieson, the Principal of the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, in reference to comments earlier made by the Universitys Rector Debora Kayembe spreading disinformation about and denial of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The envoy explained how, among others, Kayembe is grossly abusing her position at University of Edinburgh by using the influence she possesses to cast doubt and cause confusion around the Genocide against the Tutsi, thereby denying it with no sensitivity, no reflection and no decency. His letter to the University of Edinburgh also came after thousands of Rwandans and friends of Rwanda, the world over, were especially angered after Kayembe tweeted that the genocide was orchestrated by President Paul Kagame. President Kagame led the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) which stopped the 1994 genocide as well as liberated Rwanda from the genocidal regime that planned and executed the massacre of more than one million Tutsi in three months, from April to July 1994. In his letter, the envoy noted that after the first Tweet on April 14 was deleted, Kayembe sent a second one on April 19 which reasserted the statement shared in the first. “Today an apology Tweet has been sent which neither apologises nor withdraws the comments but rather states the opinions are not that of the University but are Ms Kayembe’s own personal opinions. She realises her comments were hurtful and disrespectful without acknowledging why. Strangely she addresses all Rwandans and then adds the Tutsi community around the world,” reads part of Busingye’s letter. “We have also noted the two online responses from the University that the statements are Ms Kayembe’s personal opinion. However, on a public platform, personal opinion does not constitute a carte blanche, particularly when the opinions shared are blatantly denying Genocide and spreading misinformation. If similar views on the planning and execution of the Holocaust were expressed, personal opinion would not be a sufficient excuse, and the University would be prompted to intervene.” The envoy noted that the statements made by the Rector constitute genocide denial and revisionism and are offensive to Rwandans around the world and deeply painful to the survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi. “The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi is a fact of history. The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was systematically planned through decades of dehumanization, segregation in education and labour and pre-genocide massacres. The genocidal regime which was married to ethnic extremism, hatred and division, spread the vile Anti-Tutsi propaganda, drew up the names of Tutsi families, imported vast quantities of weapons and mobilized militia to kill in advance of the Genocide. These are all well-established facts and the Genocide against the Tutsi is recognized by the United Nations, Governments, International Law and courts.” In the letter, the envoy recalls how, in 2006, the appeals chamber of the now defunct International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) issued a decision on judicial notice in the Karemera et al case (ICTR-98-44) and stated that: “There is no reasonable basis for anyone to dispute that, during 1994, there was a campaign of mass killings intended to destroy, in whole or at least in very large part, Rwanda’s Tutsi population… the fact of the Rwandan genocide is a part of world history, a fact as certain as any other, a classic instance of a ‘fact of common knowledge.” In the Karemera at al case, Édouard Karemera, the first vice-president of MRND – a political party responsible for the planning and executing the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi – and Minister of the Interior in the 1994 genocidal interim government, Matthieu Ngirumpatse, the party president, and Joseph Nzirorera, the party’s national secretary, stood trial for their role in an alleged joint criminal enterprise whereby they used their control of the party to promote and support widespread attacks on the Tutsi across the country. They were charged with direct and superior responsibility for genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, incitement to genocide, crimes against humanity for acts of rape and extermination, and war crimes for acts of violence to life. On January 26, 2018, the United Nations officially adopted the title to mark April 7 as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Similar to the Holocaust, the envoy wrote, the victims of the genocide had to endure the many stages of genocide before 1994, such as classification, dehumanisation and polarization. “By casting doubt and intentionally lying about the planning and execution of the Genocide, she denies the existence of the many stages of genocide that the victims had to face, up to the mass extermination of the Tutsi in 1994. Ms Kayembe’s statements imply questioning of who was targeted for extermination, when this is established fact. Her statements amount to flagrant, intentional and cynical genocide denial.” “As you have observed, the statements by Ms Kayembe have been shared amongst the Rwandan community in Scotland, the UK and at home, friends of Rwanda, countless academics, politicians, and other global citizens. All are demanding that the University of Edinburgh not only disassociate but take action to ensure Ms Kayembe does not impart her repugnant ideas on the University and student community. I feel obliged to contact you in this regard. Busingye explained that the statements such as those shared by Kayembe fuel genocide deniers and the genocide perpetrators who remain at large. “The statements deny historical fact, create confusion, and permit the genocide ideology and ethnic division to live on. We are concerned that radical statements such as the ones we are impugning are emanating from an elected official who has a senior role on the decision-making body of the University and is a point of contact to the student body. Ms Kayembe is grossly abusing her position by using the influence she possesses to cast doubt and cause confusion around the Genocide against the Tutsi, thereby denying it with no sensitivity, no reflection and no decency,” the envoy wrote. “Please kindly respond to this letter with information on how the University of Edinburgh will respond to this, so that the immense trust, confidence and esteem the University commands does not suffer harm at the hands of a denier of the Genocide against the Tutsi doubling as a Lord Rector at the University.” Earlier, on Thursday, British journalist and leading author on the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, Linda Melvern, who was in Kigali to participate in activities to mark the 28th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, was appalled byKayembe’s tweet and noted that the Rector’s statement causes the gravest offence to survivors and the reputation of the University of Edinburgh is in shreds. Melvern has, on many occasions, explained how Genocide is not a sudden and an abominable aberration and does not begin with mass killings but with racism, with atrocity speech, and hate propaganda and careful planning, among others. She is among a number of UK citizens who know that, in 1994, the genocidaires had even practised how to kill large numbers of people at speed and based on early reactions to these ‘rehearsals’ they knew they would get away with the crime. Ishami Foundation, a charity organization that uses the power of sport and storytelling to build equality, tolerance and lasting peace in Rwanda and the UK, also wrote to the Principal of the University of Edinburgh regarding Kayembes genocide denialist tweets. According to Gatete Nyiringabo Ruhumuliza, a lawyer, in virtue of international law, by the tweet establishing “intent”, the University became complicit to genocide denial, which is the last phase of the commission of genocide. “In other words, they intentionally abate an individual who openly commits an International crime.” Like several other European countries, the UK is home to Rwandan and foreign deniers of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi who continue to spread genocide denial as well as embrace a genocide ideology. The UK is especially home to five genocide suspects Kigali has, for years, wanted extradited or tried in courts of law, to no avail. Kigali first notified the UK government of the presence of these suspects on its soil back in 2007 when it issued indictments. The call for bringing to justice genocide suspects residing in the UK has not only been made by Rwanda but also by some members of the British parliament including Andrew Mitchell who have reiterated that “the souls of slaughtered Tutsi cry out for justice but Britain has turned a deaf ear,” which is “a shame.”
