Candidacy of Zura Karuhimbi, Pierantonio Costa and Yolande Mukagasana to "the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Rwanda's Righteous"

By Onlus Bene Rwanda
www.benerwanda.org

Dear all,

This is an invitation to join and support the 2010 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE TO RWANDA'S RIGHTEOUS.

In 1994, genocide took place against the Tutsis in Rwanda. While so many "obeyed to orders" and took part in the killings, some disobeyed and saved lives.

Amongst them, we remember Captain Mbaye Diagne of Senegal, who saved hundreds of lives and was killed at a roadblock; Marc Vaiter of France, who refused to be evacuated and protected orphans, then died in 1995; an Italian volunteer Antonia Locatelli, who was killed in 1992 as she spoke out to denounce the organization of the genocide.

But some are still alive: Zura Karuhimbi, an old Hutu lady who is today 84 and saved over 100 people in 1994; the Italian consul Pierantonio Costa, who evacuated the foreigners then came back to Rwanda to save over 2.000 lives; and Yolande Mukagasana, whose family was slaughtered, and who was saved by, and then saved, the Hutu lady Jacqueline Mukansonera, and then dedicated her life to upholding the memory of the genocide.

We are setting up a group of volunteers to support the candidacy of Zura Karuhimbi, Pierantonio Costa and Yolande Mukagasana to the 2010 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE TO RWANDA'S RIGHTEOUS.

The meaning of this initiative is to "give peace a chance" by showing that all of us have a choice, as even in the event of a genocide, every human being can choose to save and not to kill.

We wish to oppose the "banality of good" to the "banality of evil". This must be proclaimed at the global level.

Also, we wish that universal recognition be given once and for all to the genocide that took place in Rwanda, against genocide denial, revisionism and justification.

Notes:
Yolande Mukagasana was born in Rwanda in 1954. She survived the Rwandan genocide of 1994. She lost her three children as well as her husband, brothers and sisters. In memory of the genocide and with a view to assist the reconstruction of the country, she wrote three books entitled La mort ne veut pas de moi (Death does not want me), N'aie pas peur de savoir (Don't be afraid to know), and Les blessures du silence (Wounds of Silence). Today, Yolande has formed a new family by adopting three of her nieces who were orphaned in the genocide. She built a new house where she used to live in Rwanda and looks after around twenty orphans. She created the Association Nyamirambo Point d'Appui, Foundation to Remember the Genocide and Assist the Reconstruction of the Country. The head office of the Association is in Brussels while the Rwanda counterpart is an NGO called Nyamirambo Point d'Appui which aims to support the regeneration of the Rwandan social fabric. Yolande Mukagasana devotes her time and effort into informing and educating people on living together in the midst of differences, and gives conferences in schools and associations. Among the many awards she has received are the Alexander Langer Foundation Testimonial Award, in Italy (1998); Award for International Understanding Between Nations and for Human Rights conferred by the European College of the Iena University, in Germany (1999); The Peace Golden Dove Award conferred by the Archivio Disarmo Association of Rome; Woman of the 21 st Century for Resistance Award, in Brussels (2003); Honourable Mention for Peace Education by UNESCO, in Paris (2003). Yolande Mukagasana has co-authored the theatre play entitled Rwanda 94 in which she plays her own role. Publications: La mort ne veut pas de moi, éditions Fixot, 1997; N'ai pas peur de savoir, Robert Laffont, 1999; Les blessures du silence, Actes Sud, 2001.

For the profiles of Zura Karuhimbi and Pierantonio Costa, please click here and here, respectively.

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