A team of leaders from various Rwandan Diaspora committees have requested the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG) to visit them in their foreign territories to sensitize diaspora members unaware of genocide history or the country’s progress after the 1994 Tutsi genocide.
Jean De Dieu Mucyo the CNLG executive secretary hailed the idea saying it would complement the commission’s efforts of sensitizing the world about the Rwanda’s history.
He added that they want to cooperate more with the Diaspora particularly during the genocide commemoration period that lasts for 100 days starting from April.
Activities will include exhibitions and dialogue about the war, its causes and how to avoid similar killings in the future.
“We want to change the belief that genocide survivors are favoured a fact that makes others afraid to return. This is a common belief by those who have relatives implicated in the genocide cases while some are misinformed about Rwanda’s progress,” he remarked.
Sylvester Matata the vice president of Rwanda Diaspora Global Network (RDGN) in Canada’s Ontario state noted that Rwandans living abroad have shown the will to fight those trying to defame the ethnic killings.
“We know that some of the deniers are dangerous people and are connected to militias but be assured we won’t be intimidated, the truth will always be told. We can’t fear forever and we will advocate for formation of laws that prevent genocide ideologies in our respective territories,” he remarked.
Aimable Ndayambaje a Diaspora leader in Belgium noted that telling about the country’s progress has helped change the mindset of his two friends who fled the country during the genocide.
“As we speak the two are in Rwanda where they also enjoyed the festive season with their families they hadn’t met for long,” he remarked.
Mucyo adds that the Diaspora will help spread the truth and weaken genocide deniers. “We not only want the genocide never to happen in Rwanda but also to the rest of the world. That’s why we need to stand up as one and show the effects of the war,” he advised.
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