Canadian authors release book on fight against Genocide denial

A book depicting the consequences of Genocide denial was yesterday launched in Kigali, with the authors calling on the world to join hands a and fight Genocide deniers.The book, titled Faire face au negationnisme du genocide des Tutsi (Fight Genocide Denial), was co-authored by Prof. Josias Semujanga, a Rwandan Language lecturer at Montreal University, Canada, and Jeans Luc-Galabert, a French psychologist.The launch, that attracted different government officials, diplomats and other academicians, was in Kigali.The book, written in French, also highlights the role of the media in promoting genocide not only in Rwanda but in other parts of the world as well.Semujanga said many people within and outside Rwanda continue to deny the genocide that happened in the country, noting that unless collective efforts are made to brawl them it will impact the new generation. “We wanted to have collective ideas on the Genocide and outline the mechanisms that can be established to prevent those denying the Genocide,” he said. “Somebody might deny participating in killings, but he cannot deny that the Genocide took place in Rwanda.”He said for Rwandans and the world to avoid another genocide, it is imperative to comprehend the way it was organised, perpetrated and its consequences to the country.How denial is doneScholars universally refer to denial as the final stage in the process of carrying out of a genocide. The perpetrators destroy or hide relevant evidence, burn bodies, leave unmarked graves, or invent rationale for the mass murder.Despite the massive slaughter of innocent people in 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, some people, especially those who participated in it, have continued to deny its occurrence.The 1994 Genocide, that claimed more than one million people, is considered the most vicious massacre executed in the shortest period of time–100 days.“We want more people, especially Rwandans, to write about the Genocide so that the world can understand the truth. This is the only way to fight those who are denying it,” Jean de Dieu Mucyo, the executive secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide, said.The media within and outside Rwanda fuelled the Genocide, Mucyo said, adding that some journalists used their trade and influence in society to urge the intarahamwe militia to kill the Tutsi, while the international media either ignored or mis-reported what was taking place in the country.