As the saying goes; ‘Truth is stubborn”. No matter the amount of time taken to sweep it under the carpet, it will in the long run peek out. After France’s 20-year intransigence on what it did or failed to do during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, history is suddenly catching up with it. Recently declassified French documents reveal that their government has more skeletons stuffed in the cupboard that they have gone to great lengths to conceal. They have always maintained that they were unaware that the infamous massacres in Bisesero, Kibuye in the current Western Province, were unfolding. Yet it now appears that their soldiers on the ground had warned their hierarchy that killings were about to begin but were warned to keep their hands off and let matters take their course. The rest is history. This saga can be replicated in what is happening in Syria today; a conflict that pits Russian interests on one side and a Western alliance on the other. Perpetuating war for selfish “strategic reasons” is the name of the game. As long as it serves their interests, those embroiled in the conflict will disregard “collateral damage”. ISIS fighters live among the population and bombs will not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Now, as in the French case in Rwanda, the killings going on in Syria and Iraq have a more sinister motivation than humanitarian intentions; cheap ISIS oil. Otherwise, why are those now pulling out all the stops in the name of fighting ISIS not stopping the insurgent’s main source of funding and curb the flow of arms? The truth will in the long run seep out.
