Forty-five days following Rwanda's High Court’s decision not to grant her rehabilitation, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza posted on X that she will be delivering the “Advocate for Change in Rwanda” lecture at James Cook University on June 13. According to her post, she will speak as a “Rwandan political prisoner and activist”.

The self-proclaimed opposition leader was in 2013 tried and convicted for crimes related to genocide and terrorism. She was sentenced to 15 years in jail, but released in 2018, on presidential pardon.

Inviting her as “political prisoner of activist” is misleading the audience. Ingabire is neither a politician nor activist. She is a convicted terrorist and genocide ideologue.

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

She has been pulling all the stops to restore Hutu Power ideology in Rwanda.

The 55-year-old was appointed, in 1998, as the Netherlands coordinator of RDR, a so-called political party formed in Mugunga refugee camp in former Zaire, now DRC. She was appointed by the masterminds of the 1994 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 military means.

August 2000 saw Ingabire elected President of RDR, an organisation whose founding fathers were notorious genocide masterminds and ideologues. Its founders are 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.

During a speech at Nijmegen University in Belgium, on June 2, 2006, Ingabire claimed that the Genocide was a tool used by the Rwandan Patriotic Front to silence the 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 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 a common tactic used by genocide deniers 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 Jewish victims and do not include all the Germans who died during World War II.

How can anyone assume that someone with double genocide ideology can advocate for positive change in Rwanda? Ingabire’s change aims to advocate for divisionism in Rwanda.

She 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 aim at shielding genocide ideologues and criminals from justice.

Ingabire continues to be the leader of FDU-Inkingi and DALFA-Umurinzi, well knowing that both outfits are illegal organizations in Rwanda.

In 2019, FDU- Inkingi was linked to terror attacks in Kinigi, Musanze, in Northern Province, that killed 14 people and injured 18 others. Although Ingabire does not fall in the category of genocide suspects, her actions demonstrated that she harbors a genocide ideology and is a proponent of the double genocide theory.

James Cook University has to know that Ingabire’s ideology can never qualify her as a politician in Rwanda. Giving her a platform serves to deny Rwanda’s history and undermine the country’s journey towards unity and reconciliation. Giving her a platform to speak is also promoting genocide ideology.

Ingabire, like other genocide ideologues and fugitives, claims the accusations against her are politically motivated because she thinks she is an opposition “politician”. The likes of her have been claiming to be political opponents, or dissidents. Such people are not qualified politicians in Rwanda, as their agenda differs from the country’s vision.

Ingabire’s discussion at James Cook University will only be about spreading disinformation and misinformation. She is not the right person to discuss Rwanda’s political life or change.