BBC Gahuza a propaganda factory for Rwanda’s detractors

At inception, the main mission of  BBC Kirundi- Kinyarwanda service, which called itself Gahuzamiryango, or BBC Gahuza, was to help with reunification of families separated during the war and genocide which rocked Rwanda in 1994.

Though the war and the genocide against the Tutsi, as well the ensuring mass displacement of populations ended a long time ago, BBC Gahuza still calls itself “Gahuzamiryango” (unifier of families).

It shelved the reunification programme and morphed into a platform used by Rwanda’s enemies in total breach of its core principles of fairness and impartiality.

The BBC didn’t do any proper vetting of journalists it hired when it started. Those journalists included individuals with a hideous past. Some had connections with the hate media which fanned the flames of ethnic hatred during the 1994 genocide such as the infamous, Radio Television des Mille Collines (RTLM).

In so doing, the BBC showed that it was ready to breach common standards and embraced a shameful stance of serving as a mouthpiece for those it enthroned as political opponents or human rights activists.

The BBC never gave a platform to German Nazis after the Holocaust. However, it didn’t have qualms over sending one of its journalists, Venuste Nhimiyimana, to Mali to interview the former genocidaire Prime Minister, Jean Kambanda. The latter was in a Malian prison serving a life sentence for genocide crimes.

Along Kambanda was Georges Rutaganda, former vice-president of the notorious Interahamwe militia, responsible of the massacres of more than one million Tutsi.

Later, Nshimiyimana broadcast the interview in a 60-miniute program on BBC. This is the greatest travesty which defies understanding.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, in October 2015, the BBC aired a controversial documentary called “Rwanda Untold Story,” entirely hinged on genocide denial. It accused President Paul Kagame of shooting down President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane, and triggering the 1994 genocide.

The documentary was condemned by scholars, researchers, journalists, and historians for being a promotion of genocide denial The airing of this documentary was the straw which broke the camel’s back. The BBC Kinyarwanda-Kirundi service was banned on Rwandan territory.

These days, the BBC has grown into a powerful mouthpiece for genocidaires, and all those it has enthroned as opposition leaders and any other of Rwanda’s detractors. Amongst them is Victoire Ingabire, well-known for her Hutu Power ideology, and sort of trojan horse for genocidaires, and supporters of the genocide ideology.

The genocidal forces defeated by the Rwandan Patriotic (RPF) in July 1994, enticed her to leave her exile in the Netherlands, and hoped to use her inside Rwanda so she could cause trouble from within. But she failed.

Calling her a key opposition leader is total fallacy. Ingabire’s political party isn’t registered in Rwanda and probably will never be. Her new party, Development and Liberty for All (DALFA-Umurinzi), is the latest subterfuge used to hide her links to genocidal forces. She was previously president of FDU/Inkingi, and the RDR (Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda) created by senior officers of the defeated genocidaire army.

 FDU/Inkingi is part of the armed grouping P5, labelled as “terrorist” by a group of UN experts.

Other individuals often guests at the BBC include Faustin Twagiramungu, an associate of Paul Rusesabagina, Rwanda’s terror kingpin. The BBC has also given a platform to Rwandan fugitives such as Noble Marara, a criminal who is on the run in the UK.

The BBC doesn’t hesitate to interview leaders or spokespersons of the terrorist milita based in eastern DRC, the FDLR.

The trial of Rusesabagina and his co-accused was a revelation of how the BBC sacrificed its professionalism to prop up the image of their terror group, the MRCD/FLN, which attacked Rwanda and killed people.

Evidence in the form of communication exchanges between the media outlet’s editors and officials from the terror group revealed how, following its attack on Rwandan soil, BBC editors discussed the best way to broadcast it.

This was a serious breach of journalism standards and another proof of the BBC’s willingness to serve as a platform for Rwanda’s detractors, self-styled opposition leaders and haters.