Let the ICTR archives come to Kenya

Editor, I have an inordinate interest in all recording, writings, discussion pertaining to the events in Rwanda of 1994, even though I am not Rwandan but Kenyan because I have some very personal emotional and spiritual investment in this sordid chapter of your Country’s history. And whereas I have sympathy for the expressed dismay of Tom Gahima and others at reports that Documentation of Witness Testimonies at the ICTR Hearings & Investigations will be transferred to Kenya for safekeeping, I wish to plead with Tom and the others to see these events prior to, including and after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, not within the narrow but very poignant confines of it being an exclusive Rwandan Experience, though I know this might seem impossible to contemplate for some, with good reasons too, but also a treasured lesson for ALL HUMANKIND. Possibly the ICTR hearings are the very first ever such documentation of the brutality and demonic savagery mankind has visited upon mankind, in our common history. Consider too that for this History to remain relevant and as a vibrant lesson for all Humankind, it must remain untainted with allegations of tampering and alterations by invested interests. Revisionists and deniers of the Jewish Holocaust draw strength from fact that the custodial powers of the Documentation of this Genocide History are the very same people who suffered in the Jews Genocide. What a terrible disaster for all of us should one day revisionists and genocide deniers spout accusations that this documentation was somehow doctored in Rwanda. Let this precious history be for the moment stored in Kenya, or any other country that might serve a custodial purpose. Tom MarrinkaNairobi, East Africasomoinaa@yahoo.com

Opinions

Let the ICTR archives come to Kenya