Tweet
Panafrican News Agency (PANA) Daily Newswire
April 7, 2004
GENOCIDE: MAURITANIANS FAULT RWANDANS, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
by Amadou Seck, PANA correspondent
Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Ten years after the massacre of about
a million mostly Tutsi Rwandans by Hutu extremists, pundits here
continue to blame the tragedy on both the Rwandan political class and
the international community.
According to Prof. Cheikh Saad Bouh Kamara, former chairman of the
Mauritanian Human Rights Association, everyone has a share of
responsibility for the genocide.
"This 4th genocide of the century after those of the Armenians, Jews
and Cambodians was an occurrence which clearly showed failure on the
part of the UN and major powers as well as neighbouring states," he
said. "But Rwandans also have a share of responsibility in this
tragedy. Fanaticism, discrimination, hypocrisy and demagogy were
materialised into ethnic cleansing," Kamara said.
He appealed to the political class in Africa and the entire
international civil society to ensure that "our people do not
experience such a nightmare ever again."
"The international civil society should get policy-makers to respect
the right to security for all communities and citizens, while
ensuring the existence of a democratic mode of power transmission, as
an antidote to arbitrariness, insecurity and the massive violation of
the rights of individuals and entire communities," he stressed.
Union of Progressive Forces (UFP) chairman Mohamed Ould Maouloud
posited that "the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the
Rwandan genocide is extremely important for the African political
class because it provides them with an opportunity to reflect on our
responsibility as citizens, intellectuals, politicians and leaders of
the continent."
Maouloud said the anniversary offered "an opportunity for us to look
into problems of ethnocentric ideology and manipulation, even if
complaints of exclusion by certain national communities are often
legitimate."
He maintained that "problems attendant to ethnicity are almost the
same everywhere," adding "only a democratic mode of power
transmission and a victorious battle against poverty and under-
development will enable Africa to avoid such tragedies in the
future."
University don Amadou Sall argued that the elite was solely
responsible, warning that "several countries in Africa are potential
Rwandas because of the violent orientation given ethnicity."
The tragedy which occurred in Rwanda in April 1994 "is the outcome of
a set of contradictions and problems related to the formation of the
Nation-State. These complexities were poorly negotiated by the
governing elite and the contradictions generate serious difficulties
everywhere in Africa," he stated.
He said the pressures so general often find vent in coups and civil
wars, separatist unrest and rebellion.
"In reality, there is an ethnic dimension to all the civil wars
fought in Africa. Our elite have always shown their preference for
the management of these contradictions through recourse to violence,"
Sall observed.
"In varying degrees, we can quote the cases of Guinea under Sekou
Toure, Mauritania between 1989 and 1992, Cote d'Ivoire today and many
other countries, to say that the Rwandan case was not peculiar," he
intimated.
To contain the phenomenon, Sall recommends safeguards in power
management, "an end to impunity and the constant surveillance of
repressive systems."
He insists on "the application of a social contract and consensus in
power management based on democracy, pluralism, protection of the
minority, distinguishing between State and religion, and a fairer
redistribution of national wealth."
April 7, 2004
GENOCIDE: MAURITANIANS FAULT RWANDANS, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
by Amadou Seck, PANA correspondent
Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Ten years after the massacre of about
a million mostly Tutsi Rwandans by Hutu extremists, pundits here
continue to blame the tragedy on both the Rwandan political class and
the international community.
According to Prof. Cheikh Saad Bouh Kamara, former chairman of the
Mauritanian Human Rights Association, everyone has a share of
responsibility for the genocide.
"This 4th genocide of the century after those of the Armenians, Jews
and Cambodians was an occurrence which clearly showed failure on the
part of the UN and major powers as well as neighbouring states," he
said. "But Rwandans also have a share of responsibility in this
tragedy. Fanaticism, discrimination, hypocrisy and demagogy were
materialised into ethnic cleansing," Kamara said.
He appealed to the political class in Africa and the entire
international civil society to ensure that "our people do not
experience such a nightmare ever again."
"The international civil society should get policy-makers to respect
the right to security for all communities and citizens, while
ensuring the existence of a democratic mode of power transmission, as
an antidote to arbitrariness, insecurity and the massive violation of
the rights of individuals and entire communities," he stressed.
Union of Progressive Forces (UFP) chairman Mohamed Ould Maouloud
posited that "the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the
Rwandan genocide is extremely important for the African political
class because it provides them with an opportunity to reflect on our
responsibility as citizens, intellectuals, politicians and leaders of
the continent."
Maouloud said the anniversary offered "an opportunity for us to look
into problems of ethnocentric ideology and manipulation, even if
complaints of exclusion by certain national communities are often
legitimate."
He maintained that "problems attendant to ethnicity are almost the
same everywhere," adding "only a democratic mode of power
transmission and a victorious battle against poverty and under-
development will enable Africa to avoid such tragedies in the
future."
University don Amadou Sall argued that the elite was solely
responsible, warning that "several countries in Africa are potential
Rwandas because of the violent orientation given ethnicity."
The tragedy which occurred in Rwanda in April 1994 "is the outcome of
a set of contradictions and problems related to the formation of the
Nation-State. These complexities were poorly negotiated by the
governing elite and the contradictions generate serious difficulties
everywhere in Africa," he stated.
He said the pressures so general often find vent in coups and civil
wars, separatist unrest and rebellion.
"In reality, there is an ethnic dimension to all the civil wars
fought in Africa. Our elite have always shown their preference for
the management of these contradictions through recourse to violence,"
Sall observed.
"In varying degrees, we can quote the cases of Guinea under Sekou
Toure, Mauritania between 1989 and 1992, Cote d'Ivoire today and many
other countries, to say that the Rwandan case was not peculiar," he
intimated.
To contain the phenomenon, Sall recommends safeguards in power
management, "an end to impunity and the constant surveillance of
repressive systems."
He insists on "the application of a social contract and consensus in
power management based on democracy, pluralism, protection of the
minority, distinguishing between State and religion, and a fairer
redistribution of national wealth."