Mucyo welcomes report by US taskforce on Genocide

KIGALI - The Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the Fight Against the Genocide, Jean de Dieu Mucyo, has welcomed a report recently released by the US Taskforce for the Prevention of Genocide, calling it a crucial initiative. The report that was compiled by a taskforce that includes former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of Defence William Cohen, provides a blueprint for the U.S. Government to Prevent Genocide and Mass Atrocities. “The US task force on genocide is very important because it will ensure that they government will be prepared to deal with the crime whenever it happens,” said Jean Mucyo during an interview at his office yesterday. He said that as a world Super Power, the US has a responsibility to stop crimes against humanity wherever they maybe before the crimes explode into full blown atrocities. “Had they been prepared to react, the massive destruction of life and property should never have happened here in1994,” he said. In 2007, the US set up a task force to draw up a list of practical recommendations for responding to threats of genocide and mass killings anywhere in the world. The report titled “Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for US Policy-makers,” will be presented to the next U.S administration under Barack Obama in January 2009 to be used in dealing with genocide issues in the world. Both Albright and Cohen served under former president Bill Clinton’s administration that failed to react with the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans in the mid 1990s. Rwanda lost over one million in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi while over 10,000 ethnic Albanians were murdered in the Balkans in a single day for being Moslem. Mucyo said that the report should not only focus on preventing genocide in, future but must help victims who have suffered past genocides in the world. In Rwanda’s case, the UN has passed several resolutions calling for assistance of the victims of 1994, especially children and widows, but till now, most of these resolutions are just on paper. Mucyo also praised the US task force saying that it will help speed up UN action in areas where atrocities are believed to be happening like Darfur. “The UN delays, procedures are very frustrating. The US can help speed up UN initiatives because of its huge influence there,” he noted. Mucyo added that the US needed more partners in the developed world to show responsibility in leadership to help end genocide crimes. The UN has been accused of failing to stop the Rwandan Genocide because it was saddled by definitional issues, deferring a robust response to genocide to quibbling over the intricacies of its meaning. In 2000 Albright was accused by African leaders for failing to act to stop the Genocide in Rwanda in 1994 as US ambassador to the UN, she was also accused of employing stalling tactics at the Security Council to prevent deployment of peacekeeping forces in the country. Ends