Ingabire has no moral authority to discuss Rwanda’s unity, reconciliation

Author: Moses Kayinamura

• 2023-07-20 05:02:00

During a recent BBC World Questions debate on Rwanda, Victoire Ingabire, a convicted genocide ideologue, was invited to discuss the reconciliation process following the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.

Soon after the interview was published, Rwandans expressed their frustration with BBC over inviting someone who lacks the moral authority to engage in discussions on unity and reconciliation in Rwanda because her actions and beliefs contradict these principles.

Ingabire’s parents and husband were convicted by Gacaca courts, in absentia, for their role in the 1194 Genocide against the Tutsi. They have all managed to evade justice and are comfortably living in The Netherlands.

Although Ingabire was abroad for her studies during the 1994 genocide, her upbringing and affiliations trace back to the Hutu Power ideology, and she vehemently opposes the unity and reconciliation efforts in Rwanda.

Following the defeat of the genocidal regime, Ingabire, along with other Hutu Power members, refused to accept the government unity led by RPF Inkotanyi and became politically active against it. She eventually assumed leadership of an organization founded by Gen Augustin Bizimungu, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Ingabire was appointed, in 1998, as the Netherlands coordinator of the Rally for the Return of Refugees and Democracy in Rwanda (RDR), a ‘political party’ formed in Mugunga refugee camp in former Zaire, now DRC. She was appointed by the masterminds of the genocide against the Tutsi whose armed wing comprising ex-FAR and Interahamwe militias remained active in the refugee camps. Ingabire's main objective as RDR leader was to deny the genocide against the Tutsi. She sought to portray the victims as perpetrators and acted as a diplomatic envoy for génocidaires in Europe, seeking assistance to return to Rwanda by any means necessary.

In August 2000, during the third RDR congress in Bonn, Germany, Ingabire was elected President of the RDR whose founding fathers were notorious genocide masterminds and ideologues, Col Theoneste Bagosora and Dr Ferdinand Nahimana. Just like RDR, FDU-Inkingi - the party Ingabire founded in 2006 as she sought to rebrand and hide her sinister agenda - is made of genocide fugitives

Ingabire made several alarming statements that further highlight her anti-reconciliation stance. During a speech at Nijmegen University in Belgium on June 2, 2006, she claimed that the genocide was a tool used by the Rwandan Patriotic Front to silence media and opponents. She accused the RPF of planning the genocide from Uganda and exporting it to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a communiqué released on April 1, 2007, Ingabire stated that Rwandans were killing each other, labeling all of them as villains.

After living in the Netherlands for 16 years, Ingabire returned to Rwanda in January 2010 to register her genocidal party, FDU-Inkingi, and contest in the presidential elections.

Upon landing, she visited Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre where she delivered a speech questioning why there is a memorial of the Genocide against the Tutsi only while – according to her – there were Hutu victims also to be remembered.

“This memorial limits itself to the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi. There is no memorial for the victims of the genocide that was perpetrated against the Hutu, who are also suffering,” Ingabire said before asking: “When is our turn?”

The double genocide theory is not new.

It is common tactic used by genocide deniers is to relativize genocide by pointing to other crimes that might have been committed although they are not classified as genocide. It is not different from a Neo-Nazi saying that Holocaust memorials limit themselves to Jews victims and do not include Germans who died during World War II.

How can anyone assume that someone with double genocide ideology can speak about reconciliation? Ingabire’s genocide ideology, her collaboration with terrorist groups and conspiracy against the government, got her arrested three months after arriving in Rwanda. In 2012, Ingabire was found guilty of terrorism, genocide denial and planning to cause state insecurity. She was sentenced to 15 years, but released on presidential pardon after serving eight.

Ingabire used her political party, FDU-Inkingi, to legitimize and protect genocide fugitives. Numerous fugitives who were tried or extradited to Rwanda from European countries were found to be members of FDU-Inkingi.

Her actions aimed to shield genocide ideologues and criminals – they claim the accusations against them are politically motivated because they are opposition politicians – from justice, posing a significant challenge to the reconciliation process.

Ingabire's adherence to the Hutu Power ideology, promotion of the double genocide theory, and defense of genocide fugitives undermine Rwanda's progress in unity, reconciliation, and development.

Her continual dissemination of falsehoods and sabotage of Rwanda's efforts render her irrelevant to discussions on the country's unity and reconciliation process on any media platforms.

Today, Rwanda's achievements in these areas have garnered international recognition, serving as an example for other post-conflict nations who conduct regular study tours in Rwanda.