Continued from Part 8. These days, Reyntjens’ daily social media posts consist of attacks, insults, lies, slander and diatribes of all kinds against the Rwandan government as a whole. I am among the officials he attacks at will, along with my colleague Olivier Nduhungirehe. He does not accuse us of criminal acts but attacks us solely for doing our jobs. In February 2025, I participated in a conference in Nyagatare organised for young people from the Eastern Province. The conference focused on Rwandan unity in preparation for the 31st commemoration of the genocide. The following day, The New Times published a front-page photograph showing me with the young participants. Reyntjens shared the photograph, comparing me to the génocidaire Léon Mugesera. As a reminder, Mugesera, a political adviser to the presidential party, MRND, travelled to Kabaya in Ngororero District on 22 November 1992, where he delivered a public speech directly inciting the extermination of the Tutsi. How can the so-called “expert” Filip Reyntjens compare a Rwandan official addressing young people to honour the memory of genocide victims and promote national unity, reconciliation and resilience to a criminal like Mugesera? To make matters worse, Reyntjens made this comparison without ever having listened to my speech and without understanding Kinyarwanda, the language in which it was delivered. 5.5. Reasons for Reyntjens’ hostility towards the RPF What explains Reyntjens’ undisguised and unrelenting hatred? Servilien Sebasoni’s analysis offers an illuminating answer that I find convincing: “When the Rwandan Patriotic Front appeared on the horizon,” Sebasoni points out, “there was a brief attempt at mutual seduction. It soon became clear that the RPF was resistant to any foreign intellectual influence, especially from the former colonial power. There was never any cordiality between Filip Reyntjens and the RPF. The RPF’s patriotism sought to rebuild the new Rwandan society on its secular cultural foundations, including national unity above ‘ethnicity’. This was a casus belli between the RPF and Filip Reyntjens. “The important thing for Rwandans was not to deny Filip Reyntjens intellectual leadership of their country. It was urgent to remove a man who promoted an ethnicism that had divided Rwandans and led them to genocide. And if Rwanda decided at one point to no longer grant a visa to Filip Reyntjens, it was because you do not invite a leper when leprosy has just taken away members of your family. Filip Reyntjens developed a lasting grudge. From then on, he devoted all his considerable resources and tireless determination to undermining the new Rwanda.” VI. International challenges to Reyntjens’ status as an expert Several international institutions, states and academic colleagues of Reyntjens have rejected his status as an expert, denouncing his lack of integrity. To be continued in Part 10. The writer is Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement. This article was first published in Dialogue magazine, Special Edition No. 211, “The Prolonged Genocide”.
