Saturday, April 6, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, speaking alongside Czech Republic President Petr Pavel, delivered a poignant message ahead of the 30th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Kagame lamented the apparent lack of lessons learned by the United Nations (UN) in the three decades since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
Reflecting on the UN’s inaction in preventing similar tragedies, Kagame emphasized, “If lessons were learnt, there are situations you look back and say, this problem could have been prevented or stopped immediately if only there was a will to look at the root causes and then fixing that.”
Kagame criticized the UN’s tendency to be swayed by competing interests, which often hindered meaningful action to prevent or stop atrocities.
He underscored, “There is always an interplay with interests, with different distorted views that only add fuel to the fire than actually reigning in what you have to bring to an end.”
Kagame’s critique of the UN’s shortcomings underscores the urgent need for reform and strive for a future where the lessons of history are not forgotten, and the mistakes of the past are not repeated.
The commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi will commence on Sunday, April 7, in Kigali.
