By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEW YORK (IDN) \u2014 In a message marking the grim anniversary of the 1994 genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned of the rise of extremist groups and the inflammatory rhetoric that produced horrific consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEveryone must take a hard look at today\u2019s world and ensure that we heed the lessons of 27 years ago,\u201d the UN chief declared. \u201cWhile the technology used by extremists is evolving, their vile messages and rhetoric remain the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than one million were systematically killed in Rwanda over the course of just 100 days including Hutu and others who opposed the massacre. This year, the \u201cDay of Reflection\u201d took place in the shadow of disturbing revelations uncovered by French historians that tied France\u2014blinded by their fears of losing influence in Africa and by a colonial view of the continent\u2019s people\u2014to the massive slaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report was intended to answer charges that France did not do enough to halt the massacres orchestrated by Rwanda\u2019s Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana, with whom Paris had cultivated close ties. The document was commissioned in 2019 by President Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fifteen historians with unprecedented access to French government archives produced the 992-page report. While the authors cleared France of complicity in the deaths of the ethnic Tutsis, they faulted former President Fran\u00e7ois Mitterand under whose regime the \u201cmurderers but also the masterminds of the genocide\u201d were protected in a safe zone established by French forces and who the French authorities refused to arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mitterrand and his inner circle were also fearful of the encroachment of English-speaking influence into francophone Africa by Uganda and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) of Kagame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, UN chief Guterres stressed the urgency of addressing deepening social and cultural divides, especially given the COVID-19 crisis, which have profoundly affected the entire spectrum of human rights everywhere, fueling discrimination, social polarization and inequalities \u201call of which can lead to violence and conflict\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe saw what happened in Rwanda in 1994, and we know the horrific consequences when hate is allowed to prevail\u201d, he said, calling on everyone to defend human rights and ensure full respect all members of the society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn this solemn day, let us all commit to building a world guided by human rights and dignity for all\u201d, Mr. Guterres added. [IDN-InDepthNews \u2013 12 April 2021]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo: A monument in memory of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda is unveiled at the United Nations in Geneva (file). UN Photo \/ Violaine Martin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) \u2014 In a message marking the grim anniversary of the 1994 genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned of the rise of extremist groups and the inflammatory rhetoric that produced horrific consequences. \u201cEveryone must take a hard look at today\u2019s world and ensure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,20,16,32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa","8":"category-human-right","9":"category-news","10":"category-regions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6103,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102\/revisions\/6103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}