UN ASHAMED OVER HANDLING OF RWANDA GENOCIDE, BAN SAYS
New Nork, 8 Jumadil Akhir 1435/8 April 2014 (MINA) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has criticized the international community for failure to prevent the 1994 Rwanda genocide, saying the UN is ashamed how the situation was handled.
Ban’s remarks came on Monday, while addressing thousands of Rwandans at an official mourning in the capital, Kigali, to mark the 20th anniversary of the genocide.
“We could have done so much more. We should have done so much more. In Rwanda, troops were withdrawn when they were most needed,” said Ban, describing the massacre as “one of the darkest chapters in human history,” Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
The UN chief together with Rwanda President Paul Kagame lit a torch of remembrance which will burn for 100 days – the same length of time it took government soldiers and Hutu militia to kill 800,000 ethnic Tutsis back in 1994.
The torch was lit by a flame that had toured across Rwanda for three months.
Several African leaders and other officials attended the official mourning, but the French ambassador to Rwanda, Michael Flesch, was barred from the ceremony due to a diplomatic row with France over its role in the massacre.
Rwanda has long complained that Western and other nations did not do enough to stop the massacre from taking place, accusing France and Belgium of involvement in the killings.
Kagame recently denounced the “direct role of Belgium and France in the political preparation for the genocide,” saying French troops were both accomplices and “actors” in the bloodbath.
Paris has strongly rejected the accusations, while Belgium has apologized to Rwanda for failing to prevent the genocide.
The Rwandan genocide began following the shooting down of a plane carrying former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, on April 6, 1994. Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was also killed in the plane crash. They were both ethnic Hutus.
After the crash, Hutus who were in majority, were incited to commit acts of ethnic violence against Tutsis. The genocide of 1994 lasted approximately 100 days and hence is called the “100 Days of Hell.” (T/P012/E01)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
