“At the UN, lengthy discussion was underway on a semantic point – was this genocide or not? – in the meantime, the massacres continued… ”

No, this quote doesn’t relate to Ukraine. It is about the last genocide of the twentieth century, the Rwandan one. Do you remember? I will never forget the images shown in the news in the summer of 1994. They burnt into my memory although I was young and I didn’t fully grasp what was happening.

Much later, I studied about and extensively researched the ‘event’, learning more about human nature than what I wished to know. I met survivors too, who, despite their experiences, managed to move on with their lives. Talking to them nothing suggested anything extraordinary about them. It was difficult to connect them to the images I saw as a teen.

The whole world knew about the ‘conflict’, we watched it in horror in live coverage. Those in power debated every aspect of the massacre, then provided some assistance, too late, too little. 500-800 000 (est.) Tutsi died in three months. No one could imagine it would happen again. But it’s happening just now. Only the ethnicities differ.

And a lengthy discussion is underway on a semantic point – is this genocide or not? – in the meantime, the massacres continue…

#rwandangenocide #ukrainemassacre #unitednations #humanrightsviolations #ukraine #warcrimes