Rwandan genocide deniers use many strategies to obscure the 1994 genocide, in which an estimated 500,000 to 1 million died and as much as 70 percent of the Tutsi population was affected.
Yamina Karitanyi, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, said deniers keep changing their strategies. She promised that Rwandans will never stop fighting them.
Karitanyi spoke at a commemoration service at St. Marylebone Parish Church in central London. More than 500 guests attended, including many Rwandans living in the U.K.
“For those set on inflicting emotional distress on Rwanda, our message is clear: We will not tire in using the law, and diplomacy, to fight genocide ideology,” Karitanyi said.
She said she regretted a decision was still pending on five extradition cases of genocide suspects living in the U.K.
Michael Gray, academic and universities director at Harrow School, said there was “a premeditated and carefully orchestrated genocide against the Tutsi” and it should have been stopped by the international community.
John Martin
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
