Mr. Tony Hall,
Director-General of the BBC,
Broadcasting House,
Portland Place, London, W1A 1AA
15th October 2014
Re: Thanking BBC for the documentary “Rwanda’s Untold Stories” aired on Wednesday, 1st October 2014.
Dear Sir,
As an ordinary person whose family members were massacred by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi), allow me to convey my gratitude to the BBC for the production and broadcast of the documentary ”Rwanda’s Untold Stories”. Lovers of peace and justice all over the World, Human right activists and survivors of the genocide against the Hutu in Rwanda and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have saluted the production by the BBC of this documentary which is an invaluable contribution to telling the World the truth of what really happened in Rwanda in and around 1994, although the current Government of Rwanda has always tried at all costs to intimidate everybody daring to contest the official (biased) narrative of Rwanda’s history.
I am very grateful to all the actors of that documentary. My special thanks are addressed to BBC host Jane Corbin for all her efforts in making the documentary. Thanks to her investigation into the 1994 Rwandan tragedy, BBC has brought forth a valuable contribution to all those seeking to understand what really happened in Rwanda to better prevent any recurrence of such atrocities both in Rwanda and anywhere in the world.
Indeed, it is very surprising how the world has been “forced” (by the current Rwandan Government) to believe the narrative that the “genocide against the Tutsi killed nearly or more than one million Tutsi. According to the same narrative, the Kigali Genocide Memorial Site is now home to more than 250,000 genocide victims (Tutsi). Yet, it is a historical fact that in and around 1994, Kigali City was inhabited by around 300,000 people since, according to the Rwanda’s national population census of 1991, the total population of the city was 221,806 including all the three ethnic groups. Thus, saying that the Kigali genocide memorial has more than 250,000 Tutsi victims, is simply confirming the research done across Rwanda by Christian Davenport and Allan Stam that proves that the statistics put forward by the Government are contrary to the facts.
For two decades the world media have been dominated by the big lies and distractions manufactured by Kagame‘s RPF making of him the “hero” and closed eyes to the crimes committed by Kagame and his clique. One thing I do not doubt is that this documentary will play an important role to remove the clouds of big lies and propaganda behind the great tragedy caused by the RPF since 1990 in the African Great Lakes Region. Thank you very much BBC for your invaluable contribution to the fight for the truth.
Enough is enough, the International community should not be intimidated by Kagame who has been enjoying the suffering of Rwandans both Hutu and Tutsi using the so-called “genocide ideology” weapon to silence everybody with different opinions on how things should work in the country. Kagame has been constantly accused of terrorism crimes. He ordered the shooting down of the plane of President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyprien NTARYAMIRA of Burundi on April 6, 199[1],[2]. After this terrorism act the RPF-Inkotanyi and Kagame were able to take the power in 1994 in a bloodshed that took lives of millions of innocent Hutu and Tutsi. Indeed, after grabbing power, the mass killings of the RPF did not stop but they were extended beyond Rwandan borders into the Democratic Republic of the Congo where Kagame’s army massacred millions of innocent Hutu refugees and Congolese citizens[3]. Kagame is also accused of murdering two other presidents of the region namely Melchior Ndadaye (of Burundi), and Laurent Désiré Kabira (of DRC).
I recall that for two decades, Kagame and his clique of RPF extremists have been accused in several UN reports of committing atrocities in the Great Lakes Region including backing numerous rebellion groups such as the former M23 movement in the DR-Congo. However, to-date, no single case has been bought before any justice system.
Reflecting on the reaction of IBUKA survivors organization, I deplore the recent bizarre statements formulated by some Tutsi survivors’ organization called IBUKA, describing the documentary as ”genocide denial”. This is not a “denial film” as said in a letter to BBC and BBC should not stop airing the documentary because it was said by some thirty Tutsi survivors who protested in front of BBC headquarters on Saturday October 11, 2014. BBC has not denied the Genocide that happened in Rwanda therefore the reasons of protesters were empty and baseless. This a sign in fact, that the RPF is pushing IBUKA survivors to demonstrate and it is a clear evidence of the nonexistence of political space in Rwanda and of how the Kigali government does not tolerate any opposition ideas. The Kagame’s Government strategy to eliminate all political opponents consists in putting all the Hutu in the same bag of ”genocidaires” while any Tutsi with opposing political opinions is charged of corruption.
The truth must be said! Kagame and the RPF, use the so called ”Tutsi genocide” as a mass destruction weapon against all the Hutu population, particularly intellectual Hutu. Almost the Hutu who are serving in RPF and Kagame’s Government are known as Hutu of services and are used to give false testimonies. From my own experience in September 2010 before I fled to Germany, I was approached personally by Gen Jack Nziza, one of the RPF serial killers. It was before the publication of the UN Mapping report in which the RPF/INKOTANYI-led government was accused by the UN of having committed (against HUTU Refugees in the DRC) crimes which, if confirmed by a competent court, should be called genocide. Gen Nziza himself told me that the RPF/INKOTANYI wanted to use my personality as an influential person in the HUTU community to contradict the “United Nations’ Mapping Report documenting the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed within the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between March 1993 and June 2003”. Gen Nziza asked me that, in order to save the RPF, upon the official publication of the Mapping Report, I was to give interviews to the government media especially on Rwandan Television (RTV) to give false testimonies against the findings contained in the UN mapping Report. He told me that anyone in Rwandan or international community who would hear my testimonies would be convinced because I would be speaking as an educated HUTU person who have lived in the refugee camps in DRC. Gen Jack Nziza promised me that I would be given the post of Governor of one of the Provinces in Rwanda after the false testimonies. I who had personally lost 18 family members including my mother, sisters, brothers, nephews and close friends, could I accept such an evil plan of the RPF?
Fortunately on the 1st October 2010, the United Nations published the report and I had already managed to leave the country. I recall that in this report the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights investigators and experts said “tens of thousands” of Hutu civilians were slaughtered with knives, bludgeoned with hammers and burned alive as the RDF (Rwandan Defense Forces) and the ADF (Allied Democratic Liberation Forces) swept across the DRC. Like millions of other Rwandans, I have seen with my own eyes the RPF/INKOTANYI killing people and the vast majority of victims were women and children. I could better testify this should an opportunity arise!
To date, Hutu refugees are still being hunted like animals in the jungle and in the rivers of the DR-Congo. In order to avoid another tragedy such as the one the World watched in 1994, the world’s media should keep on unveiling the truth until the current Government of Rwanda accept to seat with its opponents including the FDLR as well as other Rwandan political organizations in exile. The FDLR as a whole should not be regarded as a genocidal movement since it was founded after the genocide and the majority of the FDLR fighters are young people who, in 1994, had between one and 15 years.
On my behalf as well as on behalf of many thousands of voiceless Hutu survivors, accept, the assurance of my highest gratitude and respect.
Jean Marie Vianney MINANI
Survivor of the genocide against the Hutu refugees in the DR-Congo
Germany
Contacts: [email protected], Tel:004915216127584
CC: The Public
[1] Testimonies of former RPF’ soldiers in Michael Hourigan Report in 1996-1997 in ICTR,
[2] Abdul Ruzibiza (RPF), Aloys Ruyenzi (RPF) Testimonies, International Lawyer Judge Fernando Andreu Merelles, Jean- Louis de Bruguière, Prof. Peter Erlinder,
[3] The UN mapping report on the most serious violations of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo over 1993-2003
