KIGALI, Rwanda, Oct. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The British broadcaster BBC is facing fierce criticism following a documentary that claimed the genocide in Rwanda that left more than a million Tutsis massacred was not planned and executed as has been previously known.
On the night of 1st October, BBC Two – a UK affiliate of the BBC aired a documentary 'Rwanda: The Untold Story' by reporter Jane Corbin. Based on unpublished research by American academics of Christian Davenport and Allan C. Stam, the documentary says less than 200,000 Tutsis were killed during the three-month of genocide.
"The programme ignored the vast evidence from people who were here in 1994, from local, national and UN court records and from scholars and academics," reads a protest letter by IBUKA, the umbrella grouping of genocide survivors.
"By giving voice to those who deny the Genocide without reaching out to a single survivor or survivor organisation, the BBC has demonstrated an incredible lack of respect for the more than a million victims and their surviving loved ones."
A head count of the Tutsi victims of the genocide totaled 1,364,020. In memorials erected across Rwanda, their names and photos are displayed. In just one memorial site among the many in Kigali, the capital, there are remains of about 300,000 victims – with all their names.
In the documentary, Allan C. Stam from the University of Michigan makes a strangely nuanced comment on the genocide in Rwanda and the Jewish Holocaust. Genocide survivors are furious: "Genocide denial is known as the final stage of genocide and occurs when genocide is met with attempts to deny the occurrence and minimise the scale or death toll."
"Through your documentary, you have silenced the voices of survivors and amplified those that seek to minimise and legitimise one of the fastest and most systematic genocides of the 20th century."
On social media, there was visible disbelief about the documentary. Meanwhile, it has been established that Jane Corbin is the same reporter who emerged with documentary on alleged WMDs in Iraq which turned out to be "sexed up intelligence" from western governments that wanted to invade Iraq.
To read the full letter of IBUKA, follow this link; http://www.kwibuka.rw/downloads/ibuka-letter.pdf
For Media Enquiries, contact
By Dan Ngabonziza
KT Press
Email
+250 788 668 509