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Mrs Victoire Ingabire Clarifies FDU-Inkingi’s Position on Genocide In Rwanda

After sharp attacks from Rwandan officials and RPF-led journalists for her declaration yesterday at the Kisozi Genocide Memorial, Mrs Victoire Ingabire, Chair of the FDU-Inkingi (UDF-Inkingi), has issued a statement to clarify the official FDU Inkingi’s position on all crimes (Genocide, Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes) committed in Rwanda.

She declares:

WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IN 1994 THERE HAS BEEN EFFECTIVELY A GENOCIDE IN RWANDA

Rwandans,

I would like to thank you again for your warm welcome on my arrival in my country after 16 years in exile. First thing on the Rwandan soil, I went straight to honour our people who died during the genocide; I also explained that rememberance was an important ritual for Rwandans. Because of the many lives we lost in our country, let�s all of us together advocate for NEVER AGAIN. Politicians, those aiming for political leadership, and any other person should stress NEVER AGAIN as their main motto for action.

We agree totally and are conscious that there has been a genocide against Tutsis and we seriously and continuously advocate that all those who were responsible be brought before the courts of justice. We also agree that there have been other serious crimes against humanity and war crimes; those who committed them have to bear the legal consequences. We must all the time remember those tragedies, make sure they don�t get ever repeated. We need also to ensure that people�s lives are effectively and strongly protected by laws.

It is shameful to find people using Rwandans� suffering and tragedies to silence and oppress others. It is also disgraceful to see some referring to that painful period in our history to lend others ideologies aimed at reducing the seriousness of crimes committed. The main and honorable role of the media is to inform objectively without any bias and raise awareness on possible controversies that could emerge from the tragedy our country has experienced.

Let�s work for a true reconciliation not characterised by intimidation, so that we politicians could put forward effective policies and manifestos, instead of distracting the populations by looking for our interests in exploiting the tragedy that has traumatised every Rwandan.

All of us together, let�s build our country in a total peaceful environment.

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
Chairperson of FDU-Inkingi

via Rwanda FDU-UDF : Press Release of the Chairperson of FDU-Inkingi.

January 18, 2010   No Comments

The Sunday Times – Rwanda – Claims That FDU�s Ingabire Desecrates Memory With Double Genocide Theory

Less than 12 hours after Victoire Ingabire’s arrival in Kigali, a campaign of attacks, interpretations and intimidation tactics has already been launched by those who are not used at seeing the other side of the recent Rwandan tragic history. In its editorial yesterday, The Sunday Times has accused Mrs Victoire Ingabire, FDU Inkingi chairperson, of desecrating the memory of genocide victims.
The editorial reads:

FDU�s Ingabire desecrates memory with Double Genocide theory

Opposition politician, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, could not have started her homecoming on a more vicious note.

There are some who had thought that her arrival to compete for the highest office, in a country where women have assumed a leading role in governance, would be a welcome addition to national politics. Instead, she revealed a very disturbing side of her.

As soon as she left the airport, she made it straight to the Gisozi Genocide memorial site to pay homage to victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, or so it seemed.

It must have been a shock to her to come to Kigali, after an absence of close to two decades, to see the huge changes.

Any well-intentioned person would easily notice that this country has not been sleeping in the last 15 years. The post-Genocide Rwanda amazes everyone; the reconstruction efforts, and especially the reconciliatory approach by the government has been acclaimed the world over.

But this is not what Ingabire sees. She sees desolation where there is none and slams Gacaca as unjust as if the thousands who took part in the Genocide are angels.

To add insult to injury, she stuns the Rwandan people by echoing every revisionist and Genocide deniers� favourite line: espousing the Double Genocide Theory.

This is the first time, since 1994, that a Genocide denier has chosen to articulate this level of revisionism on the Rwandan soil.

She utters all this right where hundreds of thousands of innocent souls are laid to rest, victims of similar inflammatory statements. She could not have chosen a better moment and place to desecrate the memory of the victims.

Ends

Source: The Sunday Times – Rwandas First Daily :: Issue 14143 :: FDU�s Ingabire desecrates memory with Double Genocide theory.

January 18, 2010   No Comments

The Sunday Times Rwanda Claims: Ingabire Espouses Double Genocide Theory

Less than 12 hours after Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza arrived in Rwanda from her 16-years exile, Journalist Edmund Kagire of The New Times (Kigali-Rwanda) launches attacks against her by publishing an incendiary front page article titled:
“Ingabire espouses Double Genocide Theory”.
Here is what he writes:

KIGALI – After 16 years of self exile in Europe, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, the president of the United Democratic Forces (FDU-Inkingi), arrived in the country yesterday to register her party ahead of this year�s Presidential elections, according to her declarations.

Ingabire arrived aboard a Kenya Airways flight at around 15:00 from Amsterdam via Nairobi where she spent a night. She was accompanied by three other persons.

The heads of two controversial political parties; Bernard Ntaganda of PS Imberakuri and Frank Habineza of the yet-be-registered Green Party of Rwanda, were on hand to receive her.

Speaking to the press shortly before heading straight to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Site at Gisozi, Ingabire said that she is here to relieve Rwandans �from fear, poverty and inefficient Gacaca�.

She claimed that �Rwandans live in fear� and that �there is need for all Rwandans to work together in their different parties and religious affiliations to fight the fear�.

In words that clearly suggested the �Double Genocide� theory, Ingabire who has expressed her intentions to contest for the Presidency, said that �the reconciliation road has a long way to go unless those who killed Hutus during the Genocide are brought to book.

�If you look at this memorial centre, it only shows one side of the Genocide committed against the Tutsi. There is another side of the Genocide committed against the Hutu because they are also hurting and asking themselves when their grievances will be settled.�

Despite stating that she was paying tribute to the over 250,000 people buried at Gisozi, her visit to the memorial site was seen by many as a mockery to those who died in the Genocide, an observation supported by her past utterances which reveal a deep sense of revisionism.

�These �double Genocide� claims are the same that revisionists in Europe use to deny that Genocide was committed against the Tutsi. To utter those words, standing on the victims� graves, is the worst insult against Genocide survivors,� Simon-Pierre Rwakana, who had come to visit the memorial site said.

Ends

Source: The Sunday Times – Rwandas First Daily :: Issue 14143 :: Ingabire espouses Double Genocide Theory.

January 18, 2010   No Comments