The Rwanda Catastrophe: Its root-cause and remedies to pre-empt a similar situation in Rwanda

By Prof. Agola Auma-Osolo
President
The International Centre for Peace and Conflict Reconciliation Initiative for Africa (ICPCRIA)
P.O. Box 47288, Tel. No.565366, Fax No. 214127, Nairobi-Kenya.

March 25, 1995

As Prof René Lemarchand pointed it out in his article Scholarly Review: Rwanda: The State of Research , “few events in history are more subject to controversy than the mass killings commonly designated as genocide. This is hardly surprising considering the lack of anything like a consensus of scholarly opinion about the precise meaning of the term, the different interpretations of the phenomenon offered by social scientists, and the enormous emotional charge it carries. Rwanda is no exception. There are few parallels for the sheer depth of the discords and disagreements the 1994 genocide has generated among observers, survivors and perpetrators”.

I am left to wonder why is it that we do the ‘musical chairs’ whenever the issue of tribalism arises. Even after seeing its devastating effects in full colour for weeks through various media we still can’t seem to put our ‘finger’ on the button.

I have read my brain full, scoured documents and articles from media and the web. Still, I puzzle over us. The above article about the ‘Mutual genocide’ in Rwanda in the 90’s is insightful.

It is a memorandum submitted (14 years ago) to:

H.E. DR. BOUTROS BOUTROS - GHALI
SECRETARY-GENERAL
THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION
NEW YORK

H.E. DR. SALIM A. SALIM
SECRETARY-GENERAL T
HE ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY
ADDIS ABABA

H.E. CHIEF EMEKA ANYAOKU
SECRETARY-GENERAL
THE COM MONWEALTH SECRETARIAT
LONDON

And

Other World Leaders:
HEADS OF STATE

And HEADS OF INTERNATIONAL NON-GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS WITH INTEREST IN PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS FOR
NATIONAL RECONCILIATION AND RECOVERY IN RWANDA

BY

The International Centre for Peace and Conflict Reconciliation Initiative for Africa (ICPCRIA),
P.O. Box 47288, Tel. No.565366, Fax No. 214127
Nairobi.
Prof. Agola Auma-Osolo
PRESIDENT/ICPCRIA

The article seeks to explore the root cause of the Rwandan tragedy and its possible remedies. This is a must read by anyone who loves peace and justice and who is interested in bringing about true national reconciliation in Rwanda.

Some important findings:

With substantiated evidence, the article states THAT the Rwanda Catastrophe is not only Genocide but FIRST DEGREE MUTUAL GENOCIDE! AND THAT it is mutual genocide in that both Hutus and Tutsis killed each other on the basis their ethnic and political party affiliation.

Who Was the Real Victim in the Rwanda Mutual Genocide?

The article contradicts the widely spread version from the Press and other sources of reports to date, a version that asserts that the real victims were the Tutsis.

With irrefutable evidence, the article concludes that it is self-explanatory that the HUTUS must have been the REAL victims of the Rwanda Catastrophe with a total casualty of over 1,000,000. The number of Tutsis dead must have not exceeded 200,000!...

For more informatiion, please here.