The United Nations, as it is known to do every April, is admitting it’s failure to act with any great resolve during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. To quote the UN Resident Coordinator to Rwanda, Lamin Manneh, “it gives me comfort to note that after the initial mistakes and errors of judgment the UN made in the run up to, and during the Genocide, it has been a faithful partner for Rwanda’s remarkable recovery and reconstruction”. Unfortunately, those words, while kind, are not totally factual. While certain UN bodies have played a positive role such as UNICEF, other UN organs have continued to play a negative role in not only Rwanda, but also the Great Lakes region. For example, the previous UN Group of Experts led by Steve Hege wrote a grossly flawed report that led to unwarranted aid cuts. A few years back, another group of so-called experts wrote a Mapping Report on the DR Congo, which had the temerity to accuse Rwanda of having engaged in genocide in the Congo. As a nation that had undergone the horrors of 1994, our outrage was to be expected.This unfortunate double-speak must end. The UN cannot, on one hand, say that they are a ‘faithful partner’, while on the other, proving to be nothing of the sort. Time for mere rhetoric is over. Talk the talk and walk the walk.
