NURC calls for media help as it designs new unity tools

Top officials at the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) have called on media houses in the country to lend a hand in the promotion of unity and reconciliation among Rwandans. The commission passed the message through a one-day conference it held with editors and producers from different media outlets in the country at Novotel Hotel yesterday. The media professionals contributed their ideas on how the commission can better promote unity and reconciliation among Rwandans and promised more support in the process. “We believe that you can always do more despite your respective editorial lines if you are committed,” NURC Executive Secretary, Fatuma Ndangiza, told the journalists. Ndangiza and other top officials at the commission are currently making consultations to different pressure groups in the country on how to better achieve positive results in their mission, close to ten years of its institution. “We believe that the more people are involved in a programme, the more they can achieve,” she said. Despite coming from different backgrounds of media organisations, over 40 journalists who attended pledged their support to the commission’s plans through a forum they formed. They will be meeting quarterly to exchange ideas on how to uplift the reconciliation process of Rwandans. The arrangement is seen as a step forward by the media in addressing challenges in the reconciliation process, especially by disseminating new pro-unity programmes that government introduces. “What media can help is first to sensitise the population,” says William Ntidendereza, Vice Chairman of the Task Force for Itorero, a newly introduced home grown initiative that provides a forum for Rwandans in various social groups to discuss issues of national interest. Itorero will be a decentralised institution from National to Village administrative levels of the country to help Rwandans revive their positive values. NURC estimates that continued genocide ideology in the Great Lakes region, hatred and discrimination among some Rwandans, and misconceptions on the Rwandan history are among major challenges to the reconciliation process in Rwanda. Ends