President Kagame on the Possibility of Another Genocide in Rwanda

The International Reporting Project (IRP) and 12 senior U.S. editors and producers traveled to Rwanda from November 6-19, 2011, to learn more about this tiny but complex Central African country.

The Gatekeepers concluded their trip by meeting with Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda. In this excerpt, the president discusses the possibility of another genocide occurring in Rwanda.

"I don't think there would be such a danger in the future," the president said, citing changing conditions of the the quality of life for Rwandans: "the people of Rwanda, their psychology and politics have completely changed."

"Genocide here did not happen by accident," he explained. "It's something that has its roots back some decades--a mix of colonial history and poor management of our own society and politics."

However, by building better governance institutions and by making sure that Rwandans are better educated, Rwanda has changed so much that another genocide seems unlikely, Kagame reasoned.

Audio excerpt by Rebecca Davis and Melody Wilson. Photos by Ed Robbins, Nicholas Aster, Sue Horton, Tom Paulson and Rebecca Davis.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• President Kagame
• Genocide
• Rwanda
• Paul Kagame
• 1994
• Africa
• education
• government

[AnnieGetYourGang]

I followed various reports written by those taken on the International Reporters' Project's tour for "gatekeepers," those in editorial and broadcast anchor positions to manage the news. None of them seemed ever to have heard of the 1994 Gersony Report, which describes the systematic slaughter of Rwandan Hutu people by the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Army between April and September 1994.