Stain on the conscience
of the conviction of former defence official Theoneste Bagosora for instigating Rwanda's 1994 genocide, will be welcomed by many people in the region, where the horrific events of those three months in 1994 still cast a long shadow.
To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the signing at the United Nations of the Panorama investigated why the international community stood by and watched the genocide happen in its 1998 film . In the US it was renamed .
I had a minor part in the making of that as a film researcher and some of the footage featured, even while heavily sanitised, still remains some of the most harrowing I have seen. Given the horrific events which unfolded with such speed - how could they not be?
The accusation was that Western governments were slow to react to the events unfolding in Rwanda. US State Department spokesperson Christine Shelley was in a press conference on 10 June 1994 about the US administration's refusal to even call the events 'genocide'. It took until March 1998 for to apologise for the international community's inaction over Rwanda.
Panorama made several films about the genocide in Rwanda; but only one was made while the killings raged; Fergal Keane's film which first aired in late June 1994.
aired on the 10th anniversary in 2004.
That many of the culprits remain at large - and are some of recent atrocities in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo - remains a stain on the conscience but today's news is a step towards reconciliation.
Comments Post your comment