2024 Elections: Learn from Rwanda genocide – UN Resident Coordinator cautions Ghanaians

As the 2024 election campaigns heat up, the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Ghana, Mr Charles Abani, has urged the country to learn from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide against the Tutsis by avoiding hate speech, divisive language, and names or labels that discriminate against or dehumanize others.

The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator stated that the government needed to remain vigilant and strengthen early warning systems against incitement to violence in all forms, both online and offline, because genocide never occurs without warning indications.

Speaking at a symposium in Accra to mark 30 years of the genocide that killed over one million people in 100 days, he asked Ghana to “pro­mote dialogue, uphold justice and human rights for all,” and promote unity over division in Ghanaian society.

“The horrors of that dark chapter of human history serve as a stark reminder of the conse­quences of hatred, division, and indifference. And although it takes Rwanda to come here to remind us about this, I would ask every Ghanaian, every West African, ev­ery African to reflect personally on what this dark history means and why it is important for us. Geno­cide is a word that evokes horror, sorrow, and disbelief,” the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator said.

The genocide was carried out following decades of state-sponsored discrimination and dehumanization of the Tutsi people by colonial and post-independence governments.

The symposium, organized by the Rwanda High Commission in Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), aimed to raise awareness of the truth about what happened during the genocide and strengthen commitments to combat hate speech, genocide denial, and impunity.

The UN Resident Coordinator, commiserating with the survivors, emphasized the crucial necessity of education and awareness in combating ignorance and prejudice, particularly among younger people.

He emphasized the importance of justice, accountability, and ending impunity for perpetrators of atrocities such as genocide, as well as developing an inclusive society in which all individuals are cherished and their rights are upheld as the way ahead.

Rosemary Mabazi, Rwanda’s High Commissioner in Ghana, underlined the significance of appropriately labeling and depicting the 1994 events as the “Genocide against the Tutsis” in Rwanda because they were a premeditated and intentional act.

She condemned the denial, distortion, or trivialization of these events, including an underestimation of the over 1 million death toll, and challenged existing institutions to modify that narrative through “education and memoriali­sation” activities.

Ms Mabazi warned that allowing the conditions that led to the Rwandan genocide could result in similar disasters elsewhere.

In a presentation on the history of the genocide, Prof. Denis Bike­sha of the University of Rwanda stated that despite the horrors that transpired, the country was making considerable socioeconomic development.