Civil society wants tough action against BBC over revisionist film

The Rwandan Civil Society Platform, yesterday, petitioned the Ministry of Local Government to consider tough action against the BBC over what they describe as a revisionist documentary; ‘Rwanda’s Untold Story’ which was aired on October 1. The petition came a day after the civil society issued another petition to BBC management expressing grave concern about the content of the documentary. The Rwanda Civil Society Platform condemned the documentary and demanded the BBC to “stop its dissemination, refute allegations therein and apologise for the pain and despair caused by the film.” Members of the Civil Society platform are “dismayed and disappointed” by BBC’s recent documentary as it rewrites and undermines the facts of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the petition reads in part. On Friday morning, they handed a copy of the petition to officials at the Ministry of Local Government, requesting the government to take action against BBC. They argue that by denying the causes and scale of the Genocide, the BBC film undermined the government’s efforts to unite the country following the Genocide. Edouard Munyamaliza, the president of the Civil Society Platform, said the film was incredibly hurtful to survivors of the Genocide and had caused much anguish. “The values of impartiality, balanced reporting and fact checking, which the BBC says it stands for were put aside in the making of the film,” Munyamaliza told Fred Mufulukye, the Director General territorial, administration and good governance at the ministry, who received the petition. “They, instead, decided to focus on promoting a fabricated and revisionist version of what happened in Rwanda 20 years ago,” he added. The civil society platform also wants all involved parties to be held responsible, including Tony Hall, the Director General of BBC, the film director, John Conroy, and the presenter, Jane Corbin. Munyamaliza stressed that government, should among other things, demand BBC to stop all its campaigns for Genocide denial and end any cooperation with the broadcaster because the latter “has for long served as a platform for Genocide revisionists.” Officials of the ex-Rwandan genocidal regime who are fugitives are often hosted on various BBC programmes, a situation that has always angered activists in Kigali. The civil society faults the BBC for misleading and downplaying the true nature of the Hutu Power militia in carrying out the Genocide, revisionism by minimising the number of Tutsi killed, and propagating Genocide negationism by hiding facts that the Genocide was planned. Mufulukye assured the group that their concerns would be duly passed on to the minister who was not present at the time. Many other people, including renowned world scholars, researchers and academics have already taken the lead in demanding that the BBC management retracts and apologises for the documentary that revises and distorts the truth about the 1994 Genocide. Canadian senator Gen. (Rtd) RomeÌo Dallaire, who was the whistle-blowing commander of the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda, is among the 38 eminent persons that have officially protested against the BBC documentary.

News

Civil society wants tough action against BBC over revisionist film