EDITOR,

AS I listened to BBC radio yesterday, I thought I had temporarily lost my senses. What I heard was that a UN report accusing the Rwandan government of genocide against Hutu’s in the Democratic Republic of Congo, had been leaked. Sadly, I hadn’t taken leave of my sense…the UN had.

I could not believe that the same organisation that left Rwandans to die during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, could turn around and accuse us of the most horrendous crime known to man. A crime whose prevention is the foundation our Constitution. To accuse Rwanda of ‘acts of genocide’ is tantamount to saying that our government is a fraud.

I have read parts of the leaked document and all I can say is that it is fishy. The ‘incidents’ that are documented in the report are vague and, dare I say it, are meant to be sensationalist in nature. Rwandan troops are accused of using blunt weapons to kill Hutu refugees, hammers to be exact.

That doesn’t sound like my army; that sounds like something that the Interahamwe would do. Maybe that’s what the writers of this report want to do-to equate the members of the Rwandan army (who stopped the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi) as being no better than murderers of similar ilk, like Bagosora.

Another aspect of the entire saga that makes me suspicious is the manner in which it was leaked and to what publication. The timing is fishy because it comes after months of negative press.

It seems as if there is some kind of campaign by certain groups to keep Rwanda in the news and tar its name in all sorts of ways.

Rwanda has been accused of attempting to assassinate its own citizens (despite an ongoing investigation in South Africa), of killing journalists (despite the fact that suspects have already confessed to doing so), of killing ‘politicians’ (despite the fact that investigations are still being carried out) and of running a ‘fake’ presidential campaign (although four strong candidates battled it out). Just when the European commission congratulated the President-elect on his victory, and the news cycle is moving on, "lo and behold” a draft report is leaked.

I might be paranoid, but i must also question why the report comes out at a time when  more than 150 women in DRC were raped by the FDLR and the so called UN peace keepers who were meant to protect them,learnt about it from an NGO.

It is my hope that this leaked report is dismissed with the contempt it deserves. In fact, I wish we can sue the people who wrote this pack of lies. I apologise for the length of this letter but I felt that this shouldn’t go without comment and censure.

Sam Rwego
Kimihurura