MAKERERE - Rwandan ambassador to Uganda, Ignatius Kamali Karegesa has condemned the International community for abandoning Rwandans during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that left over a million Rwandans dead.

The envoy was on Wednesday afternoon speaking at a well attended Genocide memorial public lecture at Makerere University in Kampala.

"The genocide was cruel, criminal, disgusting and continuous for one hundred days, under the eyes of the international community.”

"The International Community was cruel because they did not care at all about Rwandans as to them Rwandans meant nothing, because Rwanda does not represent strategic interest to anybody,” he said.

Karegesa also noted that while thousands of troops and billions of dollars were being shipped off to former Yugoslavia, the super powers were withdrawing the troops that had been in Rwanda and those who were left had no mandate to intervene in the genocide.

"It has been a tale of courage under fire. Thanks to the resilience and determination of the Rwandan people not to be a failed state,” he said underlining Rwanda’s achievements in reconstruction and reconciliation process 15 years after the genocide.

Presenting a research   paper under the topic "Post Genocide Rwanda; Rebuilding a polarised society” at the event, Dr. Charlotte Karungi Mafumbo urged the public mainly composed of renowned scholars and university students to reflect on achievements by the Rwandan government 15 years since the genocide. 

"We should reflect on the steps Rwanda has taken to reintegrate the perpetrators of the genocide and achieve a unified Rwanda with no intra-ethnic conflict but rather one united Rwanda,” she said.

She argued that while the causes of the genocide have been given immense coverage and footage, the critical question that emerges is "How is Rwanda rebuilding its society in the post genocide era?”

"Rwanda is on a very strong path to ensure that the Rwandans become one.”

Karungi also lauded the Gacaca semi-traditional judicial system which has been instrumental in reintegrating the offenders into the society, referring to them as reconciliation channels.

She pointed out that the International justice system through the ICTR has been characterised by multiple problems that had delayed justice of so many owing to the way in which it conducts its business.   

The ICTR is the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda which was established by the United Nations to try masterminds of the Genocide.

The Public Lecture was organized by the Masters of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies Programme at Makerere University in Conjunction with Rwanda Embassy in Commemoration of the 15th Anniversary of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda.

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