UK Expert:BBC had an agenda to twist Rwanda history

[MUKAMASIMBA]

Ngoga (L), chats with comissioner Rosine Urujeni as Cameron looks on at Telecom House in Kigali yesterday

The producers of the controversial BBC documentary Rwanda's Untold Story set out to sway public opinion against the country by twisting the events that befell Rwanda two decades ago, a renowned Scottish researcher has said.

Dr Hazel Cameron, an expert on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, was yesterday testifying before the commission of inquiry into the accusations that the British broadcaster denied and revised the Genocide against the Tutsi, especially through the documentary aired on BBC2 on October 1.

Cameron is the director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS), at the University of St Andrews School of International Relations in Scotland.

She told the commission that the film crew contacted her prior to the shooting of the documentary seeking her opinion and confessed to her that they did not know anything about Rwanda and the Genocide.

Cameron, the first European to testify before the five-member probe team, spoke of her email correspondences with the documentary director, John Conroy, and reporter Jane Corbin, and how the duo inexplicably ignored her views.

"Conroy wrote to me saying he was making a proposal to the BBC about Rwanda's 20th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi and needed my expert opinion on people he should avoid interviewing. I gave him the list that included Prof. Filip Reyntjens, Allan Stam and Christian Davenport and others. To my surprise, he went for the exact people I told him to avoid," she said.

Reyntjens is a Belgian professor of law at the Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Antwerp, Belgium, known for his revisionist views about the Genocide.

Allan Stam and Christian Davenport are American academics who travelled to Rwanda in 1998 during which period, they say, they heard the same narrative about the Genocide from everyone they spoke to.

The two researchers claim in the one-hour film that due to the fact that Rwandans had no sense of question in the events that transpired during the Genocide, they concluded that the Government had brainwashed its citizens. They also claim that only 200,000 Tutsi died during the 100-day killing spree, as opposed to the official figure of more than a million people.

Cameron describes the BBC documentary as fraud on the grounds that the film-makers, who knew her vast knowledge of the Rwandan situation, contacted her for assistance and spoke to her on phone and exchanged emails only to suddenly cancel an interview with her at the eleventh hour – an indication that the documentary wasn't made to be objective.

Cameron sent a protest letter to Corbin the same night the BBC2 aired the documentary but the latter did not reply, the expert said.

"The bias, negativity and lack of contextualisation of your reporting in tonight's documentary is disappointing. You chose not to situate the violence you alleged, for example in the DRC, through the lens of securitisation of Rwanda's borders in the aftermath of the Genocide," she wrote in her protest letter.

Cameron expressed her frustration that the film makers were only interested in regurgitating the same old "tired allegations of revenge killings, the ICTR mandate etc of 15 -20 years ago, and failed to seek out any new positive reporting on the country and there is much there if you were interested."

She told the inquiry that if there is anything untold about Rwanda, it would be the success story in the post Genocide era, adding that the UK viewers would rather have been told that Rwanda was ranked the fourth least corrupt African country in 2013 (with a score of 53) and 49th least corrupt globally. Only five African countries scored above 50, namely Botswana, Cape Verde, Seychelles, Rwanda and Mauritius.

There is arguably more political corruption in UK than in Rwanda, she added.

She said Corbin was hoodwinked by those endeavouring to sabotage the peace process in Rwanda for their own political agenda, which is not for the greater good of Rwandans.

"Are you aware of Filip Reyntjens' relationship with former president Juvenal Habyarimana and his personal agenda in relation to President Paul Kagame? Filip Reyntjens has not been in Rwanda for over 20 years yet you refer to him as an ‘expert' on Rwanda," she wrote in the letter to Corbin.

Reyntjens' dramatic prediction of the lid coming off in Rwanda is merely his personal wish for the country, but sadly it is now the impression that the British public have of Rwanda thanks to your programme, Cameron added in her letter of protest, which she read out to the Ngoga inquiry yesterday.

In the documentary, Reyntjens is seen arguing that "I think by the end of 1993, the RPF had decided it was going to take power by the bullet".

But Cameron challenges this assertion.

"My question is what was his evidence for such a claim and is it appropriate for an academic to make a claim using the term ‘I think'? The answer is no. Any claim made by an academic must be supported by rigorous research that one can triangulate and validate so it is entirely inappropriate for someone who purportedly claims to be an expert on Rwanda and a professor to use the word ‘I think'," she told the commission.

Cameron is expected to continue with her testimony today.

The documentary sparked outrage among Genocide survivors and Rwandans in general as well as international scholars and researchers, with a coalition of dozens of eminent experts in several fields across the world sending a letter of protest to the BBC.

They accuse the BBC and the film crew of lack of objectivity and fairness and attempting to revise the Genocide.

The commission, which is led by former prosecutor general Martin Ngoga, started the hearings last week and have three months to release their report.

Source: Newtimes

 

[mchambawima1]

Mkuu MUKAMASIMBA hii habari ni ya jana alfajiri lakini ndugu yetu jMali za hivi huwa anaziruka! Hivi sihajabu yuko anayapa breakfast majinamizi yake, baada ya mda utaona kaibuka na ile misumu yake iliyowafanya wauwe watu;

Aachelewi kuponda hata kama hana cha kuponda,usishangae akikuibukia na zile picha zake za Kadafi, Idi amin etc au oh huyu mwanamke yuko kwenye payroll ya Kigali ilimradi tu aponde kwao.

Kwa wasio mjuwa watamshangaa lakini sisi ndugu zake tunajuwa ni zile damu walizokunywa!

 

[MUKAMASIMBA]

Mkuu MUKAMASIMBA hii habari ni ya jana alfajiri lakini ndugu yetu jMali za hivi huwa anaziruka! Hivi sihajabu yuko anayapa breakfast majinamizi yake, baada ya mda utaona kaibuka na ile misumu yake iliyowafanya wauwe watu; achelewi kuponda hata kama hana cha kuponda,usishangae akikuibukia na zile picha zake za Kadafi, Idi amin etc au oh huyu mwanamke yuko kwenye payroll ya Kigali ilimradi tu aponde kwao.
Kwa wasio mjuwa watamshangaa lakini sisi ndugu zake tunajuwa ni zile damu walizokunywa!

Mkuu MCHAMBAWIMA...Huyo JMALI ni Mfa maji...nafikiri kabakisha siku chache akate roho kwani ndugu zake huko misitu ya DRC siku zao zina yoyoma..

 

[kmbwembwe]

Mkuu MUKAMASIMBA hii habari ni ya jana alfajiri lakini ndugu yetu jMali za hivi huwa anaziruka! Hivi sihajabu yuko anayapa breakfast majinamizi yake, baada ya mda utaona kaibuka na ile misumu yake iliyowafanya wauwe watu; achelewi kuponda hata kama hana cha kuponda,usishangae akikuibukia na zile picha zake za Kadafi, Idi amin etc au oh huyu mwanamke yuko kwenye payroll ya Kigali ilimradi tu aponde kwao.
Kwa wasio mjuwa watamshangaa lakini sisi ndugu zake tunajuwa ni zile damu walizokunywa!

kagame anatumia hela nyingi kujisafisha kwa maji taka. mlaaniwe nyie mnaoamini mioyoyoni kwenu kuwaua wahutu wasiokua na hatia yoyote kwa maelfu sio genocide. mlaaniwi nyie mnaoamini katika kudanganya dunia kwa kugeuza historia miguu juu kichwaa chini. heko bbc2 kwa kuanika ukweli. sasa mnataka tuamini radio kigali kwa kua mnaamini wabantu ni wajinga?

 

[Talkandtalk]

Mkuu MCHAMBAWIMA...Huyo JMALI ni Mfa maji...nafikiri kabakisha siku chache akate roho kwani ndugu zake huko misitu ya DRC siku zao zina yoyoma..

Documentary imekuwa ignored manake imejaa upuuzi mtupu:
Fortunately wenzetu hawana secret, Dr Hazel Cameron amefungua macho ya wengi ambao walikuwa bado hawajaelewa, inakuwaje walikataa kupublish maoni yake and opted for Rwandan rebels only?
Documentary ilikuwa na ajenda yake, ila kila mala ukweli hushinda.
Kingine ni kwamba there was nothing new, haya ni maneno tuliyozoea

 

[JustDoItNow]

Mkuu MUKAMASIMBA hii habari ni ya jana alfajiri lakini ndugu yetu jMali za hivi huwa anaziruka! Hivi sihajabu yuko anayapa breakfast majinamizi yake, baada ya mda utaona kaibuka na ile misumu yake iliyowafanya wauwe watu; achelewi kuponda hata kama hana cha kuponda,usishangae akikuibukia na zile picha zake za Kadafi, Idi amin etc au oh huyu mwanamke yuko kwenye payroll ya Kigali ilimradi tu aponde kwao.
Kwa wasio mjuwa watamshangaa lakini sisi ndugu zake tunajuwa ni zile damu walizokunywa!

Hii kitu mzee wa sumu ni kweli. Kagame aliua watu wengi sana ambao ni wahutu. Alikuwa anaogopa wataji organize kule congo na kurudi kumpindua. Hiyo inaweza kutokea. Hata mkiwaua vipi. Hittler alitaka kuwamaliza kabisa wayahudi kwenye sura ya Dunia, lakini alishindwa na wao sasa ni kama ndo wanatawala dunia.

Hawa jamaa sidhani kama mnaweza kuwamaliza. Watawageuka tu. Omba TZ iingilie kati tuwapatanishe mambo yaishe.

 

[MUKAMASIMBA]

kagame anatumia hela nyingi kujisafisha kwa maji taka. mlaaniwe nyie mnaoamini mioyoyoni kwenu kuwaua wahutu wasiokua na hatia yoyote kwa maelfu sio genocide. mlaaniwi nyie mnaoamini katika kudangaji dunia kwa kugeuza historia miguu juu kichwaa chini. heko bbc2 kwa kuanika ukweli. sasa mnataka tuamini radio kigali kwa kua mnaamini wabantu ni wajinga?

Subirini utaona jinsi BBC inapigwa za uso!

 

[MUKAMASIMBA]

Hii kitu mzee wa sumu ni kweli. Kagame aliua watu wengi sana ambao ni wahutu. Alikuwa anaogopa wataji organize kule congo na kurudi kumpindua. Hiyo inaweza kutokea. Hata mkiwaua vipi. Hittler alitaka kuwamaliza kabisa wayahudi kwenye sura ya Dunia, lakini alishindwa na wao sasa ni kama ndo wanatawala dunia.
Hawa jamaa sidhani kama mnaweza kuwamaliza. Watawageuka tu. Omba TZ iingilie kati tuwapatanishe mambo yaishe.

ahahahaha kesi yanyani utampelekeaje tumbiri? hakuna tofauti ya FDLR na wasanii.

 

[MUKAMASIMBA]

kagame anatumia hela nyingi kujisafisha kwa maji taka. mlaaniwe nyie mnaoamini mioyoyoni kwenu kuwaua wahutu wasiokua na hatia yoyote kwa maelfu sio genocide. mlaaniwi nyie mnaoamini katika kudangaji dunia kwa kugeuza historia miguu juu kichwaa chini. heko bbc2 kwa kuanika ukweli. sasa mnataka tuamini radio kigali kwa kua mnaamini wabantu ni wajinga?

Hao jamaa wamelaniwa na waliyo yafanya rwanda..ndio maana wataishi porini na hawatakua na amani mpaka hapo watakapo mrudia mungu na kuomba msamaha...jiulize kwanini walishindwa vita wakati walikua na uwezo wote na wingi wao???

Mungu aliwachapa kiboko....na wasitegemee kushinda vita yoyote dhidi ya rwanda hata kama watasaidiwa na wasanii mungu kampatia pk fimbo kama ya moses,"there is a line you can not cross".

 

[kmbwembwe]

Subirini utaona jinsi BBC inapigwa za uso!

Mnahangaika kuwahonga wazungu kama blaire wakati majirani wa rwanda siku zote tunajua ukweli. wacheni uroho wa madaraka kujidai na majivuno (ethnic apartheid). walichosema bbc2 ni kile sote tulikijua. fanyeni maridhiano ya kweli kwa wanyarwanda sio kubobea kwenye uongo.

 

[MUKAMASIMBA]

mnahangaika kuwahonga wazungu kama blaire wakati majirani wa rwanda siku zote tunajua ukweli. wacheni uroho wa madaraka kujidai na majivuno (ethnic apartheid). walichosema bbc2 ni kile sote tulikijua. fanyeni maridhiano ya kweli kwa wanyarwanda sio kubobea kwenye uongo.

kweli wewe wajifanya unajua wakati hujui kitu,sasa wewe kelele zote humu jf unatafuata nini kama si madaraka ya interahamwe???

 

[mchambawima1]

we wacha mbwembwe kama za JustDoItNow (Kibao-kata) jamaa huwa akiandika utafikiri ni katoto kaliko kakulia kulee uwanja wafisi kwenye bar za gongo yani tabu tupu.

 

[mchambawima1]

mnahangaika kuwahonga wazungu kama blaire wakati majirani wa rwanda siku zote tunajua ukweli. wacheni uroho wa madaraka kujidai na majivuno (ethnic apartheid). walichosema bbc2 ni kile sote tulikijua. fanyeni maridhiano ya kweli kwa wanyarwanda sio kubobea kwenye uongo.

we wacha mbwembwe kama za JustDoItNow (Kibao-kata) jamaa huwa akiandika utafikiri ni katoto kaliko lelewa kulee uwanja wafisi kwenye bar za gongo yani tabu tupu.