But the rumour is too powerful , too old , and the result is this : French pan-Africans will objectively defend the denial , the lie , the minimization , the trivialization of the genocide against the Tutsis . Indeed , when one is Afro-descendant and anti-racist in France , the murderous conflicts around the minerals of the Congo are a contentious issue . The size of the Congolese diaspora , the primary target of these negationist ploys , which instrumentalize their pain , makes our problem almost insurmountable .
As a prominent example , the Umoja League is a respected pan-African organization in the Francophone world . Its president , Amzat Boukari Yabara , is a historian . Yet he has a real problem with the history of the genocide against the Tutsis . Beyond some dubious statements shared with his fans on social media , we can note his contribution in the magazine " Relations " for the 20th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda : " Rwanda 20 years after the genocide ". Not a single paragraph of this text unambiguously describes the history of the genocide . Worse , one passage quietly unfolds the double genocide theory : " We shall recall that the Rwandan genocide resulted in the displacement of more than two million people , most of whom were hunted down and made refugees in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ), where the continuing war killed more than six million people living in the mineral-rich grounds of the Kivu [ area ]."
Amzat Boukari should know that the genocide is not " Rwandan " because " Rwandans " did not " kill each other .” The genocide was perpetrated " against the Tutsis " who were targeted by a systematic extermination policy prepared and planned for a long time . Nor did the genocide " result in the displacement of more than two million people ." The Hutu extremists moved to Zaire , near the Rwandan border , taking civilians with them as hostages and stealing absolutely everything they could carry , in order to reorganize and finish " the work " - the genocide against the Tutsis . The historical documents exist and prove that all this was facilitated by the French Operation Turquoise . Moreover , a historian like Amzat Boukari should know that not even the methodologically mediocre Mapping Report dares to assert that " the continuation of the war killed more than six million people . There was war and fighting , of course ; above all , however , there was disease , famine and cholera . The RPF kept calling on civilians to return to Rwanda ; it first and foremost invited them to stay away from the genocidal militias that were using them as human shields .
Again , all this is well documented . But this is of little importance to a ' pan-African ' figure for whom popular approval outweighs the veracity of the facts . The sensational effect sought is there , and the effect of repetition gives credence to the denialist narrative . Other more ethical association leaders have tried to justify their silence on our memory in the following way : " If I speak about Rwanda at a conference , I lose half of my audience ". Frightening , but very real .
Way forward
The way to overcome this challenge is inscribed in the ideologies of pan-African movements . The often proclaimed practical and political solidarity must be inscribed in our lived reality . This is urgent . It is unbearable that our memory is trampled on in a predominantly white context , of course , but it is even more unbearable in my opinion as a pan-African activist that the denial takes place in African and Afro-descendant circles that claim to be fighting against the evils , such as Gobineau ' s racist theories imported centuries ago into our societies .
Decolonizing minds should mean getting rid of the harmful ideologies imported by imperialists everywhere and at all times in order to exploit their victims more easily . The work of decolonizing African minds must counter the conspiracy theory that led to the genocide against the Tutsis and that is still going on around Kivu , carried by the same murderous fervour as in the 1960s . For yes , anti-Tutsism , its accusations which peddle a fictitious Tutsi ’ s desire to plunder and dominate , has existed , developed and spread in people ' s minds for all this time . It is a question of putting an end to it collectively .
Jessica Mwiza is the Vice President of Ibuka , France
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