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Burundi National Assembly speaker rejects allegations of Rwandan genocide denial

Xinhua, September 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

Burundian National Assembly Speaker and former chairman of the country's ruling party, Pascal Nyabenda, has rejected allegations of him denying the 1994 Rwandan genocide against Tutsis, his spokesman told a press conference on Wednesday.

"There have been tendentious interpretations by Adama Dieng, Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide about a statement made on Aug. 16 this year by Pascal Nyabenda, Speaker of the National Assembly, who was by then the chairman of the ruling party. In the statement, he never explicitly or implicitly denied the genocide that left hundreds of thousands of victims in Rwanda," said Alexis Badian Ndayihimbaze, spokesman of the Burundian National Assembly speaker.

The statement that raised disagreements was posted on the Burundian ruling party website on Aug. 16.

Nyabenda's reaction came after Adama Dieng expressed his concern at "inflammatory statements" by Burundian officials that could constitute incitement to violence.

Adama assumed that the Burundian ruling party might have suggested that the Rwandan genocide against Tutsis was a "fabrication" of the international community that was used to remove the Hutu rule, stressing that the denial of the Rwandan genocide was "unacceptable". Enditem