08.01.08 - RWANDA/GENOCIDE - REPORT: GENOCIDE IDEOLOGY STILL CIRCULATED IN RWANDAN SCHOOLS

Arusha, 8 January 2008 (FH) -A Rwandan Parliamentary Commission report has expressed worries that some secondary schools still circulate the obnoxious "genocide ideology", which according to UN estimates claimed 800,000 lives in 1994, reports Hirondelle News Agency.

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The report disclosed that" genocide ideology" was detected in 84 of the 637 secondary schools in Rwanda.

The 428-page report was discussed in December by the deputies at a plenary session.

The report attached copies of anonymous texts and leaflets circulated, one of which read as: "Tutsis are snakes, we have enough of them and we will kill them".
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The report reveals that some Tutsi students are being obligated to wear distinct uniforms, to which they are discriminated by some of their school mates.

In another example, at the secondary school of Gaseke, about thirty kilometers from Kigali, lists of Tutsi students to be killed were drawn up. Fortunately no one has been killed so far, according to administration officials.

In the same school, the 10-point text is circulated reminding of the 10 Hutu commandments published before the genocide by the extremist Kangura newspaper.

The editor in chief of the newspaper, Hassan Ngeze, is serving a 35 years prison rendered by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania.

"Never commit adultery with a Tutsi woman (...), never bind yourself to friendship with a Tutsi", reads a text in the Gaseke school.

Another read: "Pray, even if we do not cut out you into pieces, we will poison you and you will die".

"Let the Tutsis die", read another leaflet found in the school complex of Shyogwe, in the South Province.

The report recommends to the governmental authorities to urgently bring before justice all the teachers conveying the genocide ideology.

"In all the provinces, the exemplification of the genocide ideology are identical", warned the deputies.

As for the students who are minors and who are suspected to be the authors of the messages, the deputes have recommended the suspects to be sent to "re-education" centers.

The commission exhorts officials of the school establishments to work hard to create a climate of peaceful coexistence between the genocide victim students and those whose parents are prosecuted for their alleged role in the genocide.

The deputies urged speedy adoption of a bill repressing genocide ideology which is before the government.

They also questioned the allegedly lack of push from the Minister of Education, Jeanne d' Arc Mujawamariya, and the Secretary of State for Primary and Secondary Education, Joseph Murekeraho, over the issue and majority of the deputies were not satisfied with their explanations.

ER/PB/SC
© Hirondelle News Agency