President Kagame addresses the media on Monday. Photos/Urugwiro Village.
The world should be able to afford Rwanda one day in 365 days that make a year, for the country to mourn and commemorate victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, which the International Community failed to stop in the first place.
That is according to President Paul Kagame, who on Monday, criticised those who use April 7, the annual day dedicated to commemorating the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, to lecture Rwanda, reminding the world that it is solemn day that should not be mixed with other issues.
Addressing international, regional and local media and foreign correspondents who covered the National Remembrance Ceremony on Sunday as Rwanda marked the 30th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, President Kagame spoke about a wide rage issues and current affairs.
In response to a question about the failure by some countries, including the United States of America, to correctly name the events that happened in Rwanda three decades ago, as they should, President Kagame said Rwanda pronounced itself on the matter back in 2014 and that position hasn’t changed.
President Kagame’s remarks came amid a social media backlash targeting U.S Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, whose Kwibuka 30 message was interpreted by many as blatant genocide denial and revisionism -an act they say he has done year in, year out.
President Kagame said the world should be able to afford Rwanda just one day in a year to commemorate.
“The United States stands with the people of Rwanda during Kwibuka 30 in remembering the victims of genocide,” tweeted Secretary Blinken, yet again omitting the words “against the Tutsi”, something that angered many.
That wasn’t all. He added “We mourn the many thousands of Tutsis, Hutus, Twas, and others whose lives were lost during 100 days of unspeakable violence.” The last part of the tweet is what angered even more social media users.
It is not the first time the U.S has been accused of deliberately omitting the words “against the Tutsi”, which are part of the official name adopted by the United Nation General Assembly in January 2018.
Additional, the General Assembly designating 7 April as “the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.”
The U.S however remains stuck on the 2003 establishment of International Day of Reflection of the same day, but refers to it as “the Rwandan Genocide”, – wording which observers and academics said left a lot of room for vagueness and ambiguity in regard to who was target during the Genocide in Rwanda.
Rwanda and many other countries across the globe argued that adding the words “against the Tutsi” would remove all the ambiguity, vagueness and any doubts on the fact that the Tutsi were the target.
The press conference was attended by local, regional and international journalists.
The UN resolution further recalled that Hutus and others who opposed the Genocide against the Tutsi were killed also killed, but explicitly, the genocide targeted the Tutsi.
Former U.S President Bill Clinton, who happened to be the U.S President when the Genocide against the Tutsi unfolded, led a delegation designated by President Joe Biden to represent the North American country, was among the world leaders, present and past, who joined Rwandans to remember for the 30th time.
Asked whether he discussed the issue with Clinton, President Kagame said that the matter came up among the many topics they discussed but Rwanda made her position known back in 2014 in a letter he personally penned to the U.S.
In the letter, he said that Rwanda requested the world to afford her at least one day in a year to mourn instead of using the annual commemoration as an occasion to bring up other issues that are unrelated to the grief and mourn.
“We had broad discussions with former President Bill Clinton and his delegation. The United States sent a delegation to be with us here on this 30th Kwibuka. They decided to designate Honourable Bill Clinton to lead the delegation,” President Kagame said.
“We had broad discussions over our bilateral relations and the status of that. That one [the issue] was an element of our discussion but among many other more important things,”
Journalists had the opportunity to ask President Kagame questions.
“For me that concern was answered long ago, by making our position clear, not so long ago,” he said, adding that around 2014, Rwanda pronounced itself on the matter of commemoration, reminding those who use the day to give lessons to the country to consider a different day, other than that when the country is remembering its own.
“We used we get messages from all over the world, joining us in the commemoration and that time we received a message that talked about, on one part, Kwibuka and sympathising with us, and so on and so forth, which was correct,”
“Then another part was all kinds of things about democracy, human rights, freedoms, everything that we are thought not to have at all in our country.
“Our country actually wrote a letter back to the U.S, I am the one who authored that, and what I asked them is two-fold,” he revealed.
He said that the letter indicated that the U.S or any other government of any country, for that matter, has the freedom to tell Rwanda whatever they want to, whether it is something Rwanda would like to hear or not.
President Kagame said he believes Rwanda is able to absorb whatever is thrown at her but not on the day the country is remember the more than one million people who were killed in the Genocide against the Tutsi.
President Kagame spoke about a wide range of issues.
The Head of State said that while Rwanda is grateful that countries can join Rwanda during that difficult period, it would be better if it stopped there.
“We are grateful when you commemorate with us, but for these other points you’re trying to make to us, we have one ask that is important to us. In the letter we told feel free to commemorate with us, if you want,”
“….and feel free also to tell us whatever you don’t like about us but our ask is one. On this day of commemoration, which is 7th of April, can you be kind enough to commemorate with us and stop there?” President Kagame said.
“We said, there are 365 days in a year, give us that day, of 7th of April, is available and then you can have the rest, 364 days, blaming us every day for everything you don’t like about us,” President Kagame said.
President Kagame said that they urged the U.S to separate the two- commemoration and lecturing Rwanda, something he said would be a fair deal if respected.
In his speech on Sunday, at the begging of the commemoration week, President Kagame spoke in much more clear terms to those who struggle to name the Genocide against the Tutsi as they should.
President Kagame said on Sunday that those who continue to be ambigous and vague about what happened in Rwanda engage in genocide denial.
“Rwandans will never understand why any country would remain intentionally vague about who was targeted in the genocide. I don’t understand that,” he said.
“Such ambiguity is, in fact, a form of denial, which is a crime in and of itself, and Rwanda will always challenge it,” President Kagame said.
To remove any doubt, he said that when the genocidal forces fled to Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in July 1994, with the support of their external backers, they vowed to reorganize and return to complete the genocide.
“They conducted hundreds of cross-border terrorist attacks inside Rwanda over the next five years, targeting not only survivors, but also other Rwandans who had refused to go into exile, claiming thousands more lives,” President Kagame said on Sunday.
“The remnants of those forces are still in eastern Congo today, where they enjoy state support, in full view of the United Nations peacekeepers,”
“Their objectives have not changed, and the only reason this group, today known as FDLR, has not been disbanded, is because their continued existence serves some unspoken interest.” President Kagame reminded the world.
