France’s selective amnesia will not work

The world yesterday commemorated the 60th Anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Repression of the Crime of Genocide. In this regard a commemorative plaque will be unveiled in France in honour of Polish Jurist, Raphael Lemkin and the Convention is to be affixed in the Palais de Chaillot, in the French capital Paris. This plaque, is expected to be unveiled by Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Hundreds of invited guests, including the media will apparently witness the unveiling of the plaque. Good as it may sound, for Rwanda as a country that suffered another Genocide decades following the endorsement of the convention, this cannot go unnoticed. The text of the plaque partly reads, “Springing from the refusal of mass crimes perpetrated during World War II, particularly against the Jews, it was inspired by the Polish jurist, Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) “in order to liberate mankind from such an odious scourge.” The strange irony is that the commemorations are to take place in Paris, the same town where Rose Kabuye, a person who stopped the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi is being held. Even more ironic is the blind eye that has been given to the horrific events of 1994. Not that we would expect any French officials to acknowledge the genocide or apologise for their role in it. It is the duplicity of the French authorities in the very noble UN commemorations that we wish to expose. Their crocodile tears must never be celebrated or taken seriously. Kabuye waits to prove her innocence following the politically motivated indictments that were issued against her and her colleagues. What is even more shameful is the fact the very hand dripping with the blood of millions of Rwandans, is the one today that masquerades as a ‘liberator of mankind’. For Rwandans the whole truth of the Tutsi genocide still has to be made public, and the selective amnesia by French authorities will not work. What a shame! Ends

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France’s selective amnesia will not work