Editor

I just read Sam Rwego’s Letter to the Editor concerning the article on Victoire Ingabire written by Geoffrey York and recently published in Canada’s newspaper The Globe and Mail. 

Bravo Sam!  As a Canadian who is passionate about Rwanda and its people, I have to say how offended I am by Mr. York’s apparent support of Mme. Ingabire and her followers. 

He described her in quite a positive light.  It appears that he is only reporting her version of the issues and doesn’t seem to have a good grasp of what this woman is actually implying in her speeches and interviews. 

In his own words, "But she is backed by many of the Hutus who fled to Europe and North America during the Rwandan wars of the 1990s. She clearly has money and resources,” he has admitted that she is being supported by the suspects/perpetrators of the genocide and therefore has a "not so well hidden” agenda. 

Mr. York’s article worries me because Canada and the rest of the world still have an awful lot to learn about Rwanda, her history and why your people and government are so defensive when it comes to people like Mme. Ingabire and her supporters. 

I don’t understand why people are so upset by a country and its government defending themselves against those who would resurrect the ideology and chaos of the past. 

Perhaps they should look at the Canadian case of Ernst Zundel, holocaust denier and pamphleteer, who was jailed several times in Canada for publishing literature which "is likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group” and for being a threat to national security.”

He was deported to Germany to face charges there where denying the holocaust is a crime (he was convicted and sentenced to five years). 

I took the time to read the many comments that accompanied Mr. York’s article and it was very obvious that there are still a lot of uneducated people out there voicing their opinions when they don’t know all the facts.  

I will be adding my own comments to Mr. York’s article with the hope that I can educate at least one person and hopefully more. 

I applaud all the Rwandans who are keeping Mme. Ingabire in the public’s eye.  Perhaps with constant exposure her true colors will show and the world will know what she is really up to!

Marie Collins
africanheart@shaw.ca