British broadcaster's interview with Rwanda genocide convict irks survivors

The survivors of the 1994 Rwanda genocide under their umbrella association "IBUKA" have strongly condemned the British commercial television network, ITV for giving an airplay to genocide convict Jean Kambanda.

The genocide perpetrator's exclusive interview with ITV reporter was aired on Tuesday on ITV where he uses the opportunity to deny his participation in genocide.

The former prime minister of the genocidal government is currently serving a life sentence at a prison in Mali.

Kambanda was in 1998 convicted on all the six charges he was facing, all connected to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

"This is very shocking and frustrating. This is a mockery to genocide victims and the survivors. We strongly denounce ITV's actions and we need an explanation on this," Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu, the president of IBUKA told reporters on Thursday.

He said Kambanda who confessed to have participated in the execution of genocide 21 years ago, has used the TV channel to cleanse his name and also counteract the very genocide.

"ITV is a commercial channel and this is not surprising, because someone might have paid for this interview to run. However we shall never relent our efforts towards telling the truth about 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. This is a war we have to fight with genocide deniers across the world," Dusingizemungu angrily stated.

In an ITV interview, Kambanda, who exhausted all legal procedures after the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) upheld his life sentence, said he was tricked into entering a guilty plea during his trial and he was denied a lawyer of his choice.

According to Johnston Busingye, Rwanda minister of Justice, the post genocide country will soon get in touch with ICTR to find out if it is within the rights of a genocide convict to get airplay on a public television which he uses to cleanse his name and also negate genocide.

"This is extremely shocking and undermining the country's tragic history. The infamous Kambanda is a genocide convict who was at the heart of the genocide and he is known globally for that. We will never be brought down by this. We shall always fight against genocide deniers," he said.

Rwanda has frequently requested to have the convicts of the ICTR complete their sentences on Rwandan soil, but the tribunal instead chose to transfer most of them to Mali and Benin.

The 1994 Rwanda genocide which claimed more than 1 million lives, majority ethnic Tutsis and minority Hutus was sparked when a plane carrying the ex-Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana (a member of the ethnic Hutu majority) was shot down on April 6, 1994, killing all on board.

Rwandan extremist Hutus blamed ethnic Tutsis for the attack and sought immediate revenge using machetes, clubs, blunt objects and other deadly weapons to rape, maim and kill their Tutsi neighbors during 100 days spell.

The Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA), now Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF), led by the Rwanda President Paul Kagame stopped the genocide. Endit