The Untold Story of the Rwanda Genocide- New BBC Documentary

A new controversial but powerful BBC documentary attempts to shed light on the other untold stories from the 1994 Rwandan genocide. According to the new documentary, Paul Kagame is not the liberator that he claims to have been but a selfish man in search of political power who was not concerned about how many people actually died in his pursuit of power. The mainstream story of the 1994 genocide fits into the narrative that his western backers former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Former President Bill Clinton use in their praise of him. Three Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) informants claim that American trained Paul Kagame was the mastermind in the shooting down of the plane that killed the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, which then triggered the mass killings.

Featured in the documentary are two American academics from the University of Michigan who traveled to Rwanda to better understand the genocide. They believe that most Tutsis were already dead by the time the RPF marched in to takeover power. This contrasts with Paul Kagame’s story of him as the ‘savior’ that helped to end the genocide. The RPF is accused of killing fleeing Hutus and Tutsis indiscriminately as they approached the capital. In addition, there is evidence that the United Nations (UN), United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US)  suppressed a report that showed the RPF killed 30,000 Hutus in one part of the country. Kagame is also accused of being responsible for the killing of 5 million Hutu and Tutsi refugees in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who had fled during the genocide.

Rwanda’s Untold Story Documentary from RDI-Rwanda Rwiza on Vimeo.

Professor Alan Stam of the University of Michigan agrees that 1 million people died in the Rwandan genocide. However, he argues that there were only 500,000 Tutsis in the country at the time. Of the 500, 000 who were in the country before the genocide, 300,000 Tutsis survived. This means about 200,000 Tutsis died and therefore 800,000 Hutus also died in the 1994 genocide but no one talks about it. The government of Rwanda will imprison anyone who challenges the mainstream story of the genocide and labels them a ‘genocide denier’.

Rwanda’s former Chief of External Intelligence, Col Patrick Karegeya was murdered in a hotel room in Johannesburg, South Africa. Faustin Nyamwasa,  a Rwandan former Lieutenant General who was Chief of Staff of the Rwandan Army has survived four assassination attempts. They were both accused of trying to topple the Kagame regime.

Paul Kagame has been President of Rwanda since March, 2000. In the last election (2010), Kagame claims he won with 93% of the vote.