Author: admin

  • 15 contestants advance to the final round of Miss Burundi 2025 (Photos) #rwanda #RwOT

    The competition, which celebrates beauty, culture, and intellect, is now entering its most thrilling phase. The 15 finalists will go head-to-head in the coming weeks, culminating in a spectacular finale scheduled for 25 July 2025, when the new queen will be crowned.

    All the contestants, including those who didn’t advance, took part in an intensive boot camp designed to hone their cultural understanding, confidence, and public presentation skills. The winner will take over the crown from the reigning Miss Burundi, Lellie Carelle Ndayizeye.

    As anticipation builds, all eyes are now on the finalists, each hoping to capture the crown and become the new face of Burundian elegance and ambition.

    The finalists beam with pride after making it through the tough selection process.

    All eyes are now on who will rise above the rest and claim the crown.

    Each contestant gave it her all to earn a spot among the final 15.

    The competition celebrates beauty, culture and intellect.

    The Miss Burundi competition started in March this year, with contestants selected from each province before narrowing down to the provincial representatives.

    The new Miss Burundi will be crowned in July 2025.

    The finalists for Miss Burundi 2025 have been revealed, with many already backing their favourites.

    The 15 contestants competing for the crown were announced at the end of last week.

    The contestants were chosen following their presentations before the judging panel.

    The 15 finalists earned their spot in the final round after competing in multiple regional contests across their provinces.

    The finalists were revealed after completing an intensive training camp.

    IGIHE

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/entertainment/article/15-contestants-advance-to-the-final-round-of-miss-burundi-2025-photos

  • Rwanda’s Komera centre ranked among 24 most beautiful buildings in the world #rwanda #RwOT

    The list was compiled by British magazine Time Out.

    Published at the end of last week, the ranking focused on buildings with remarkable history, exceptional architectural design, or unique features that make them stand out.

    The building is located in Rwinkwavu Sector, Kayonza District.

    The Kayonza-based structure was ranked 22nd. It earned its spot due to its distinctive architectural style, particularly the way its bricks are arranged to form patterns inspired by Imigongo, a traditional Rwandan art form.

    The building is also praised for its versatility. It includes a multi-purpose space that can easily be transformed into a meeting room, classroom, or auditorium—all with minimal adjustment.

    The Kayonza-based structure was ranked 22nd.

    Most of the materials used to construct the building were locally sourced in Rwanda, and women and girls made up 40% of the workforce involved in the construction.

    The design of the centre was done by BE_Design, a New York-based firm. The building was inaugurated in September 2022.

    This isn’t the first time the building has gained international recognition. In 2023, it was among the contenders for the prestigious Architizer A+Awards.

    The Komera Leadership organisation, which built the centre, works to empower women and girls with skills and knowledge, aiming to improve their lives and impact their communities.

    The building was inaugurated in September 2022.

    Topping the Time Out list is the world-renowned Taj Mahal in India. It is followed by Hallgrímskirkja in Iceland, and Egypt’s Pyramids in third place. Ad-Dayr in Petra, Jordan, ranks fifth.

    The Fondation Louis Vuitton in France is in sixth place, while the Trinity College Library in Ireland comes in seventh.

    8. Great Mosque of Djenné, Mali

    9. Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, Iran

    10. The Twist, Norway

    11. Sagrada Família, Spain

    12. Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, Bangladesh

    13. Pantheon, Italy

    14. Palmenhaus at Schönbrunn Palace, Austria

    15. Bát Tràng Ceramic Community House, Vietnam

    16. Museum at Eldridge Street, USA

    17. Santuario de Las Lajas, Colombia

    18. Museum of Old and New Art, Australia

    19. Maggie’s Centre, St James’s Hospital, UK

    20. Baháʼí Temple of South America, Chile

    21. Futuna Chapel, New Zealand

    22. Komera Leadership Centre, Rwanda

    23. National Holocaust Monument, Canada

    24. Enryaku-ji, Japan

    IGIHE

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/rwanda-s-komera-centre-ranked-among-24-most-beautiful-buildings-in-the-world

  • APR FC midfielder Lamine Bah gets married #rwanda #RwOT

    Lamine Bah joined APR FC in the previous season and played a key role in helping the team secure three trophies, including the Rwanda Premier League Championship, which earned them a spot in the CAF Champions League.

    Lamine Bah will continue to play an important role in APR FC’s lineup in the upcoming season.

    After his wedding, he is expected to focus on preparations for returning to Rwanda and getting ready for international competitions.

    The 23-year-old midfielder previously played for Olympique de Béja in Tunisia and was part of the Mali U-23 national team that qualified for the Olympic Games during their qualification tournament in Morocco.

    APR FC midfielder, Mahamadou Lamine Bah, married his fiancée, Adiarratou Traoré, in a white wedding ceremony on Sunday, June 22, 2025.

    IGIHE

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/sports/article/apr-fc-midfielder-lamine-bah-gets-married

  • When HRW plays blind man’s bluff with hate #rwanda #RwOT

    For an organization that prides itself on objectivity, its chronic allergy to nuance, cultural context, and the bloody consequences of romanticizing violent actors is more than just intellectual laziness.

    It is complicity. Willful, dangerous, and unforgivable complicity.

    Take, for instance, the tragic tale of Delphin Katembo Vinywasiki, alias Idengo Delcato, who died under unclear circumstances on February 13, 2025.

    HRW was swift—feverishly swift, in fact—to amplify speculation that the M23 or the AFC (the armed forces aligned with M23) were involved in his death.

    I can imagine even the body wasn’t even cold. The toxicology results were not yet in. But the report was ready.

    Because nothing sells quite like the mythology of a rebel group being the root of all evil in eastern Congo, especially if it has Tutsi fighters.

    What HRW and its copy-paste echo chambers failed—or refused—to do was examine who this man really was.

    Delcato was not merely 'an engaged artist,' as some noble phrase in their press release claimed.

    He was a hate-monger in lyrical form. His song, 'Dawa ya Mututsi' (translated as 'The Cure Against the Tutsi'), was not a misguided metaphor.

    It was a genocidal anthem. It was the soundtrack to ethnic cleansing.

    Imagine, for one second, if someone recorded a song titled 'The Cure Against the Arabs' or 'Kill the Blacks' in any other part of the world.

    Would Human Rights Watch praise the composer as a committed artist? Would he be labeled a “symbol of resistance”?

    Would journalists line up to mourn his passing without first reckoning with his lyrics that danced on graves and incited bloodshed?

    But in Congo, it seems, the Tutsi are fair game. Songs targeting them? Artistic expression. Massacres of Banyamulenge? Tribal conflicts. Hate-filled pamphlets? Local color. A deadly doctrine of ethnic purity under the mask of patriotism?

    Merely a case of contested nationhood. It is a moral collapse so cavernous that it echoes.

    Delcato was not just a musician with a microphone; he was a militarized mouthpiece.

    He played a central role in the FAR-W, one of the 'Wazalendo' (patriotic) militias propped up by none other than Minister Muhindo Nzangi Butondo.

    Yes, that same government official who coined the term 'Wazalendo' to rebrand a stew of armed groups—Mai-Mai, ADF, FDLR—as righteous defenders of the nation.

    Groups so patriotic they massacre civilians, loot villages, and torch schools with anthems like Delcato’s booming from Bluetooth speakers tied to child soldiers’ waists.

    But the same M23—who call for negotiations, openly state their grievances, and refrain from hate speech—are labeled 'terrorists' by Kinshasa’s palace of glass and smoke.

    Apparently, patriotism in the DRC means never having to say you’re sorry for hate or homicide—as long as your enemies are Tutsis.

    And where was LUCHA in all of this? The 'citizen movement' that basks in international grants and moral high ground?

    Silent. Eerily silent. Delcato was their member. Their child. Their mobilizer.

    But once his genocidal lyrics began to gain traction—once he crossed the line from activism to armed ethno-nationalism—they fled the scene like patrons from a burning theater.

    Not a word of reckoning. Not a whisper of accountability.

    Just the sound of keyboards typing out the next grant proposal to some European donor blissfully unaware that 'civil society' in Congo has become the polite term for militia-adjacent nationalism.

    LUCHA’s silence is not just cowardly; it is damning.

    It signals a deeper rot—the ease with which so-called human rights groups slip into ethnic partisanship while still collecting checks for preaching tolerance.

    Let us ask an uncomfortable question: what if Delcato had released a song titled 'The Cure Against the Luba', or 'Dawa ya Muhutu'?

    Would he still be called a “symbol of resistance”?

    Would HRW still flash their cameras and tweet their condolences?

    No. Because the international community—especially the Western liberal institutions that drive discourse—has a twisted and selective memory.

    The suffering of Tutsis is background noise. Their massacres are minor chords. Their dignity is negotiable.

    This is not accidental. It is rooted in the exoticism and intellectual laziness of foreign NGOs who cannot be bothered to understand the region’s history beyond the Wikipedia version.

    For them, it is easier to align with whatever narrative pours from Kinshasa’s press machine.

    Easier to label M23 as Rwanda’s stooges than to unpack the legitimate claims of Congolese Tutsis in the Kivus, who have been hounded from their homes, lynched in marketplaces, and now demonized in death by songs like Delcato’s.

    It takes effort—ethical and intellectual effort—to investigate the ideological role of artists in conflict.

    It requires acknowledging that art is not always resistance; sometimes, it is incitement. It demands cultural competence.

    And above all, it demands courage—the courage to tell donors, presidents, and movements: your martyr is a menace.

    Delcato is mourned today not because of what he said, but because of who he targeted.

    If he had sung about exterminating another group, he would have been arrested or at least disavowed.

    But since it was Tutsis—those forever foreign, perpetually suspect, unwanted citizens—his bile passed as ballad.

    Human Rights Watch is not alone in this complicity.

    Several journalists, think tanks, and regional analysts suffer from the same disease: the allergy to complexity.

    They know full well that ethnic hate is being laundered through 'patriotic' rhetoric in the DRC.

    They know that figures like Muhindo Nzangi are arming militias while dressing up their violence in flags.

    And still they pretend that Congo’s woes are imported.

    That M23 is the virus. That Rwanda is the only villain.

    This intellectual fraudulence has a cost. It emboldens hate-preachers like Delcato.

    It grants impunity to ethnic supremacists. It legitimizes genocidal propaganda disguised as protest music.

    And it exposes, most tragically, how easily the international community can be manipulated—how quickly it forgets Rwanda 1994 until the next genocide rears its head.

    Delcato’s death is tragic, but not because he was a resistance hero.

    It is tragic because the hatred he vocalized is still alive—still thriving—in the policies of ministers, in the lyrics of new 'artists,' and in the reports of organizations who cannot distinguish activism from atrocity.

    It’s time we drew the line.

    There is no excuse for hate—no matter how musical, how artistic, or how tragically dead the author may be.

    If Delcato had been a German musician calling Jews 'vermin' in lyrical form, he would have been rightly condemned.

    If he were an American rapper calling for Latinos extermination, no NGO would dare praise his artistic merit.

    But since he sang in Swahili, from a remote corner of Congo, about Tutsis—he is misunderstood. He is 'complicated.' He is mourned.

    We must stop mistaking bigots for freedom fighters.

    We must stop tolerating genocidal lyrics as cultural resistance.

    We must demand more from movements like LUCHA and hold ministers like Nzangi accountable for their ideological grooming of militias.

    And Human Rights Watch? If it cannot bring itself to understand the weight of history, the complexity of local dynamics, or the horror embedded in songs like 'Dawa ya Mututsi'—then perhaps it should consider a new line of work.

    Maybe fiction writing. At least then, their fabrications wouldn’t cost lives.

    It is no longer enough to mourn victims of hate once their killers act.

    World must also learn to name, denounce, and disarm the merchants of hatred before they become martyrs of confusion.

    If international organizations continue to shower praise where condemnation is due, they will not be defenders of human rights but midwives to the next massacre.

    HRW was swift—feverishly swift, in fact—to amplify speculation that the M23 or the AFC (the armed forces aligned with M23) were involved in the death of Idengo Delcato, who died under unclear circumstances on February 13, 2025.

    Tom Ndahiro

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/opinion/article/when-hrw-plays-blind-man-s-bluff-with-hate

  • Iranian parliament backs closure of Hormuz Strait, a key oil transit route for countries including Rwanda #rwanda #RwOT

    The decision to shut down this vital route is seen as a strategy by Iran to pressure Israel and the U.S. to cease their military actions.

    The closure of the Hormuz Strait is linked to the U.S. strikes on Iranian targets. Iran intends to use the closure as leverage to influence its adversaries and halt military aggression.

    After the Parliament’s decision, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council began discussing the implementation of the resolution.

    The Hormuz Strait lies between Iran and Oman and sees the daily transit of between 16 million and 21 million barrels of oil, accounting for 20% of the global oil transport.

    Oil-producing countries in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), including Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait, heavily rely on this route to export oil, primarily to Asia.

    Countries allied with the U.S. also use the route for transporting oil. In response, the U.S. stationed warships in Bahrain to protect commercial vessels passing through the strait.

    A closure of Hormuz would severely disrupt the economies of many countries as oil is a key energy source and an essential driver of economic development globally. Economic analysts predict that the price of crude oil could soar from $74 per barrel to between $120 and $130.

    Although the closure would significantly harm Iran, which depends heavily on the route for its own oil exports, it would also impact its allies, including China, which imports around 90% of its oil from Iran.

    The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that in the first quarter of 2025, Saudi Arabia transported 5.3 million barrels of oil per day through the Strait, Iraq 3.2 million barrels, and the UAE 1.8 million barrels. Iran itself exported 1.5 million barrels per day.

    Vandana Hari, founder of energy intelligence firm Vanda Insights, told CNBC’s 'Squawk Box Asia' that the possibility of closure remains 'absolutely minimalistic.'

    If Iran blocks the strait, the country risks turning its neighboring oil producing countries into enemies and risks hostilities with them, she said.

    Furthermore, a closure would also provoke Iran’s market in Asia, particularly China, which accounts for a majority of Iranian oil exports.

    'So very, very little to be achieved, and a lot of self inflicted harm that Iran could do' Hari said.

    However, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on China to use its influence with the Iranian government to discourage Tehran from closing the Strait of Hormuz.

    “I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil,” Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser, told Fox News.

    “If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It’s economic suicide for them if they do it. And we retain options to deal with that, but other countries should be looking at that as well. It would hurt other countries’ economies a lot worse than ours.”

    In the past, Iran had threatened to close Hormuz in retaliation against the U.S., but never followed through. This time, attention is on Iran’s security council, which will make the final decision.

    The Hormuz Strait lies between Iran and Oman and sees the daily transit of between 16 million and 21 million barrels of oil, accounting for 20% of the global oil transport.

    Rwanda stays alert

    Rwanda is one of the countries that imports oil through the Hormuz Strait. For oil to reach Rwanda, it passes through the Arabian Gulf, then through the Indian Ocean to either Mombasa, Kenya, or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

    During a discussion with parliamentarians on June 19, 2025, Rwanda’s Minister of Infrastructure, Dr. Jimmy Gasore, explained that disruptions in the Hormuz Strait could affect Rwanda due to potential price hikes.

    '[…] A disruption there would impact the global market, and consequently, Rwanda. We would likely experience a price increase or reduced import volumes,' he said.

    Rwanda’s Prime Minister, Dr. Edouard Ngirente, informed Parliament that since the emergence of conflict between Israel and Iran on June 13, Rwanda has set up a task force to assess potential impacts on the country.

    'We are closely monitoring the situation with daily updates on oil prices, our national reserves, weekly imports, and how it affects shipments from Dar es Salaam or Mombasa,' he said.

    Currently, Rwanda has seven oil reserves containing 117.2 million liters of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel. The country has taken steps to build up its reserves to mitigate the effects of fluctuating prices due to international conflicts.

    Rwanda has seven oil reserves containing 117.2 million liters of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel.

    IGIHE

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/iranian-parliament-backs-closure-of-hormuz-strait-a-key-oil-transit-route-for

  • The global market for genocide denial #rwanda #RwOT

    And genocide denial has rebranded itself—with glossy flyers, catered buffets, and morally confused applause—as thought leadership.

    On June 21, 2025, in Brussels of all places, the organization Jambo ASBL—a veritable wolf pack in tweed blazers—hosted an international conference on refugees.

    A noble cause, you might say, until you see who’s on the guest list. Gaspard Musabyimana, Charles Ndereyehe and others. Men whose real biographies read like open indictments.

    They are all fugitives from justice, all under indictments or accusations of incitement, organization, or participation in that genocide. Men whose records are written not in ink but in blood.

    But today, they wear neckties. They speak fluent French. They post human rights slogans on social media.

    And the West, that self-declared guardian of democracy and justice, hands them a platform and applauds. This is not only a perversion of memory—it is a grotesque betrayal of truth.

    Men and women whose names are known not for sheltering refugees, but for creating them. Men who stood not in protection of the persecuted, but in orchestration of their slaughter.

    Genocidaires were well represented by their children. Gustave Mbonyumutwa, the son of Shingiro Mbonyumutwa who died before facing justice, was assigned to talk about 'The absence of refugee voices in peacebuilding processes'. What a mockery!

    Placide Kayumba and Gloria Uwishema were on a panel discussing 'Solutions and Citizens’ Consultation'. The former is a son of Dominique Ntawukuriryayo—convicted for genocide by the ICTR; while the latter is the daughter of Charles Ndereyehe—a well-known genocide ideologue.

    And now, they sit on panels with PowerPoint slides and talking points. They pontificate about human rights, democracy, and dignity, without choking on the irony.

    Meanwhile, the very people whose families were ripped apart by these ideologues are nowhere to be seen—uninvited, invisible, forgotten.

    What we are witnessing is not justice, not dialogue, and certainly not healing. It is genocide laundering, sponsored by apathy and dry-cleaned by the West’s incurable blindness to its own selective compassion.

    From Massacres to Microphones

    There was a time when the architects and enablers of genocide fled into hiding. Now they flee into press conferences.

    The very people who once called for extermination on Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) are now panelists on migration.

    Those who helped compile Tutsi kill lists in Rwanda now edit 'think pieces' on democracy and justice from comfortable European cities.

    The world, especially in its Euro-American institutions, has shown an extraordinary gift for historical amnesia when genocide takes place far from white borders.

    There is a reason denial of the Holocaust is illegal in France and Germany and many European countries, but denial of the Genocide Against the Tutsi is sold on Amazon, broadcast on YouTube, and paraded across human rights conferences under the smug protection of 'freedom of speech.'

    What we are witnessing today is not freedom—it is freedom without responsibility, and worse, freedom without memory. It is how the world’s moral compass shatters, pixel by pixel.

    Should the world accept the western misapprehension of innocence?

    Let us not mince words: this ludicrous phenomenon is not happening in a vacuum. It is tolerated, sponsored, and polished by actors with blood-stained histories and selective morals.

    Several French politicians, for instance, whose soldiers helped protect fleeing genocidaires in Operation Turquoise, still refuse to call their role what it was: collaboration or complicity.

    Not only were génocidaires sheltered in camps under French protection, but France continued to provide diplomatic cover for them for years—fueling revisionism in the name of geopolitics.

    The Belgians, colonial engineers of Rwanda’s ethnic divisions—and the infrastructure of genocide, have perfected the art of silence.

    Today, Jambo ASBL—a hate-mongering association filled with children of genocide perpetrators—is comfortably headquartered in Belgium, where it spews propaganda, lobbies EU parliamentarians, and calls for 'democracy' in Rwanda, all while glorifying men who organized mass murder.

    The British, with their famed restraint, have offered sanctuary to wanted génocidaires and patted themselves on the back for supporting abstract concepts like 'reconciliation.'

    But it’s easy to preach reconciliation when you are oceans away from the mass graves.

    The Americans, meanwhile, oscillate between forgetfulness and arrogance. Their refusal to call the genocide by its name while it happened in 1994—calling it 'acts of genocide' rather than genocide—was not a legal oversight but a moral failing.

    Today, their academic and policy institutions are infected by self-proclaimed experts who downplay the Genocide Against the Tutsi or regurgitate FDLR talking points in the name of 'balanced perspectives.'

    And then there’s the United Nations. That emblem of global virtue. The same UN that withdrew its peacekeepers as Tutsi children were butchered with machetes now releases yearly reports that treat both genocidaires and survivors as morally equivalent sides of a conflict.

    In the name of neutrality, they erase history.

    Lest we think the problem is only foreign, let us turn the lens inward. The African Union is another disgrace. It is simply a hollow brotherhood.

    The AU, whose predecessor, the OAU, watched the 1994 genocide unfold without lifting a diplomatic finger, remains handcuffed by cowardice.

    Instead of confronting the cancer of genocide denial spreading through regional politics—especially in the DRC, Burundi, and even parts of Southern Africa—it buries its head in sand.

    Its silence on groups like the FDLR, made up of remnants of the 1994 genocidal machinery, is deafening.

    Its refusal to condemn high-profile revisionists is complicity, not diplomacy. The AU could have built an African moral response to African genocides. Instead, it outsourced its conscience to Brussels.

    Victoire Ingabire: The Saint of Selective Amnesia

    Nowhere is this international hypocrisy more visible than in Jambo ASBL, which has repackaged genocide denial as civic activism.

    Formed by descendants of perpetrators of the Genocide Against the Tutsi, it markets itself as a voice for the Rwandan diaspora.

    But scratch the surface and you’ll find denial, hate, and incitement in tailored suits.

    Their publications and conferences are not just misguided—they are strategic operations of historical revisionism, meant to delegitimize Rwanda’s post-genocide recovery by erasing the genocide itself.

    They twist every narrative: the victims become the villains; the killers become the critics.

    That such an organization is allowed to operate freely in Belgium is not a loophole—it is an indictment of European hypocrisy. Replace “Tutsi” with “Jew” in their rhetoric and they’d be shut down before breakfast. But in Africa’s case, the threshold for outrage is much, much higher.

    Then there’s Victoire Ingabire, hailed in some Western circles as Rwanda’s 'hope for democratic change.'

    She has graced international headlines, met EU officials, and been given platforms from the BBC to Al Jazeera.

    She’s even been nominated for human rights prizes. And yet, this is a woman who has publicly aligned herself with genocidal ideology, questioned the nature of the 1994 genocide, and called for “inclusive remembrance”—a code phrase used by denialists to relativize the Genocide Against the Tutsi by including the “suffering” of genocidaires.

    Her calls for 'inclusive remembrance' are not noble—they are rhetorical grenades lobbed at the graves of the victims.

    The praise heaped upon her by Western media and think tanks reveals a truth that many dare not say aloud: in the eyes of many, democracy is more important than memory—as long as the victims are African.

    In other words, a genocide denier who opposes President Paul Kagame is more valuable to the West than a genocide survivor who challenges their moral complacency.

    Let’s not beat around the bush. Victoire Ingabire is not a democracy icon. She is the poster child of moral imposture. She is a coldly calculated political opportunist who dons the veil of freedom while trafficking in the vocabulary of genocide ideology and denial.

    Ingabire’s flirtations with the FDLR, her public statements undermining the reality of the 1994 genocide, and her coy silences around genocidaires speak louder than any manifesto.

    Yet, despite all this, some media houses fawn over her. International NGOs treat her as a Mandela in waiting.

    The international hypocrisy is stomach-churning. Would Amnesty International host a white nationalist who downplays the Holocaust, just because they criticized a sitting government?

    Would European think tanks invite a Serb nationalist who called Srebrenica a hoax?

    Of course not. But Victoire Ingabire is different, you see—because her victims were African.

    Because the genocide she dances around in euphemisms didn’t happen in Europe. Because, in the calculus of international morality, dead Tutsis weigh less.

    And those who promote her—journalists, NGOs, academics—aren’t blameless bystanders. They are accomplices in a new war: a war against memory, truth, and the dignity of survivors.

    Let us briefly imagine when memory is an orphan. And what of those survivors?

    The woman who watched her mother hacked to death in a church while UN peacekeepers drove away.

    The orphan who grew up with no one to whisper bedtime stories because the entire village was slaughtered in three days.

    The man who saw his infant brother smashed against a wall while nuns turned their backs.

    These survivors don’t get conferences. They don’t get op-eds in European newspapers. They get silence.

    Their trauma has become inconvenient. Their testimonies are too raw for polite society. Their truth, too brutal for human rights panels that prefer the sweet lies of denialists over the bitter truth of genocide.

    Let us end with a grim parallel. Imagine this: A conference in Berlin in 2025. Its theme: 'The Jewish Question and Post-War Migration.' Speakers include the sons of SS officers, a fugitive who ran Auschwitz’s logistics, and a woman who publicly claims 'not all gas chambers were real.'

    Among the discussants is the daughter of a Goebbels deputy who believes the Holocaust is 'contested,' and a charming German socialite who thinks we should 'open the conversation' about whether Zyklon B was misunderstood.

    Imagine this grotesque theater being hosted at a sleek European university. Covered with neutral headlines in The Mail & Guardian. Live-streamed by NBC. Sponsored, perhaps, by a well-meaning human rights NGO that simply 'wants to broaden the debate.'

    Now imagine that conference being praised by Der Spiegel, covered with neutrality by the BBC, Deutsche Welle and protected by Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    Unthinkable? That’s exactly what happened on June 21, 2025 in Brussels—with Tutsi victims swapped out and the Western gaze averted. It was live on YouTube mainly on Zoom.

    Let us end with a grim and deliberately unsettling parallel. Imagine this:

    Now pause. Deeply. Because that exact theater of perversion unfolded in Brussels this week—only the victims were not Jewish, but Tutsi.

    And because they are Black, African, and from a region treated as a political sideshow by the West, their bones are apparently less sacred than minerals in the DR Congo.

    Their memories less guarded. Their killers more palatable. This is not merely a double standard—it is an inverted morality in which the sanctity of life is measured in pigmentation and postcode.

    What is unfolding before our eyes is the betrayal of civilization dressed in the costume of liberal tolerance.

    When denial becomes panel discussion, when fugitives of genocide are described as 'voices of opposition,' and when ideologues like Victoire Ingabire are exalted as 'champions of democracy,' the world is no longer confused—it is complicit.

    Why does this all matter? Because genocide denial is not just a fringe phenomenon. It is a well-funded, institutionally protected, academically laundered business.

    There are publishing houses, YouTube channels, university departments, and NGOs all complicit in distorting the historical record of Rwanda.

    The victims of 1994 are being buried again—this time beneath hashtags, headlines, and human rights jargon.

    Every time a denialist speaks on a panel, a grave is spit on.

    Every time Victoire Ingabire is called a 'freedom fighter,' a survivor is silenced.

    Every time an FDLR commander is allowed to speak on peace in eastern Congo, we undo the progress of justice.

    This is not democracy. This is desecration.

    This is not the gray fog of post-conflict ambiguity. This is black-and-white betrayal.

    When media houses grant her op-eds, when diplomats pose for photos with her, when think tanks offer her keynote spots—what they’re really doing is shaking hands with ideology dipped in blood. They are not really misinformed; they are just morally bankrupt.

    The defenders of civilization once vowed 'Never Again.' But they didn’t mean it for everyone. Not in Africa. Not when the victims are Tutsi. Not when the killers wear suits, speak in fluent English or French, and know how to navigate Western guilt with precision.

    Claude Gatebuke is the best example of manipulators of the West.

    The Genocide Against the Tutsi did not end in 1994. Yes, the killing stopped. But the war on truth continues.

    And the worst part? The same powers who looked away then now lend their prestige to those rewriting the past.

    The hypocrisy is not just in what they did—but in what they now celebrate or tolerate.

    There will never be peace in the Great Lakes region if truth is trampled for the comfort of Western palates and African cowardice.

    There will never be healing if denialists are praised as activists. And there will never be justice if genocidaires wear suits and sit on conference panels, while survivors sit in silence.

    This isn’t just a failure of international relations. It is a failure of humanity.

    Truth must be remembered not just in memorials or museums, but in policy. If we cannot name denial, condemn collaborators, and shut down the microphones of hate, then we are not post-genocide—we are pre-genocide all over again.

    Certainly, history will not be kind to those who cheered the killers in suits while silencing the orphans in rags.

    We must choose, here and now: memory or myth, truth or revision, justice or betrayal. There is no middle ground. Not when the bones of the murdered are still buried beneath the soil—and their killers now speak on podiums above it.

    On June 21, 2025, the organization Jambo ASBL—a veritable wolf pack in tweed blazers—hosted an international conference on refugees in Brussels.

    Tom Ndahiro

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/opinion/article/the-global-market-for-genocide-denial

  • Southern Province: BPR Bank Rwanda celebrates 50 years of service with clients #rwanda #RwOT

    Speaking at the event held on June 20, 2025 in Huye District, Xavier Shema Mugisha, Executive Director of Commercial Business at BPR Bank Rwanda Plc, explained that the annual initiative is intended to celebrate accomplishments with stakeholders while also seeking feedback for improvements and listening to client needs.

    'In previous years, you offered valuable suggestions which we implemented, but that does not mean our work is complete. The journey continues, and we must keep improving our services for your benefit,' he remarked.

    Patience Mutesi, CEO of BPR Bank Rwanda Plc, highlighted the importance of 2025 as the bank marks its 50th anniversary.

    'This year, we are celebrating 50 years of a bank valued at over 1,000 billion Rwandan Francs. It has been a long journey with many challenges, but we’ve overcome them. Today, the bank stands as one of the leading institutions in East Africa. You made the right choice by trusting us. Our services now extend beyond Rwanda to the entire East African Community,' she said.

    Mutesi also announced that, in 2025, shareholders began receiving dividends on their shares, a testament to the bank’s profitability and sustainable growth.

    'We welcome your ideas to guide us through the next 50 years so we can continue to grow even faster,' she added.

    Laurent Gatera from Huye District, a client of BPR since 1980, reflected on how the bank was once the only institution reaching people across the country and urged its leadership to continue meeting customers’ needs.

    This sentiment was echoed by François Nyamaswa from Gisagara District, a client since 1990, who praised the bank’s progress and encouraged others to remain loyal to BPR Bank Rwanda Plc, noting its clear path toward a brighter future.

    Huye District Mayor Sebutege Ange commended BPR Bank Rwanda Plc for engaging with citizens in a way that fosters friendship and trust, emphasizing the alignment with the national vision of citizen-centered service delivery.

    He further urged BPR Bank to continue expanding its outreach to communities, providing information on financial services to promote saving habits and responsible borrowing.

    BPR Bank Rwanda Plc was founded in 1975.

    BPR Bank clients in the Southern Province of Rwanda celebrated the bank’s achievements as it marked 50 years of existence.

    Xavier Shema Mugisha, Executive Director of Commercial Business at BPR Bank Rwanda Plc, explained that the annual initiative is intended to celebrate accomplishments with stakeholders while also seeking feedback for improvements and listening to client needs.

    Patience Mutesi, CEO of BPR Bank Rwanda Plc, highlighted the importance of 2025 as the bank marks its 50th anniversary.

    Employees of BPR Bank in the Southern Province of Rwanda were also present to celebrate this milestone.

    Batamuriza Isabelle, a client of BPR Bank in Huye District, praised the bank for its support and commitment to empowering women in their development journey.

    Laurent Gatera from Huye District, a client of BPR since 1980, reflected on how the bank was once the only institution reaching people across the country and urged its leadership to continue meeting customers’ needs.

    Huye District Mayor Sebutege Ange commended BPR Bank Rwanda Plc for engaging with citizens in a way that fosters friendship and trust.

    Clients of BPR Bank in Southern Rwanda expressed their joy as the bank celebrated its 50th anniversary.

    François Nyamaswa from Gisagara District, a client since 1990, praised the bank’s progress and encouraged others to remain loyal to BPR Bank Rwanda Plc.

    IGIHE

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/southern-province-bpr-bank-rwanda-celebrates-50-years-of-service-with-clients

  • Inside Rwanda’s multi-million dollar push to transform lakeside tourism #rwanda #RwOT

    The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) recently announced that the funding was part of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), a seven-year development plan that has now been concluded.

    The projects have so far resulted in the establishment of 631 hotel rooms along the country’s scenic lakes, including Lake Kivu, Lake Ruhondo, and Lake Burera.

    RDB Deputy Chief Executive Officer Juliana Kangeli Muganza said the growth of lakeside tourism is not only diversifying Rwanda’s hospitality offerings but also contributing to broader economic development.

    'As more hotels are established to cater to visitors, we see other economic activities emerging,' Muganza said. 'These investments are creating jobs and supporting communities.'

    Figures from the Rwanda Chamber of Tourism indicate that the number of private tourism establishments rose sharply from 450 in 2018 to 1,360 by 2023. The government now aims to increase the national hotel room capacity from 10,000 to 35,000 over the next five years.

    In Karongi District, located along the northern shores of Lake Kivu, authorities report a notable increase in tourism infrastructure. More than 14 hotels are now operational in the district, drawing both leisure and research visitors.

    Karongi Mayor Gerald Muzungu said hospitality investments are creating demand in related sectors such as food supply chains, transportation, and construction.

    'Hotels are creating demand in food supply chains, transport, and other services, boosting job creation far beyond the hospitality sector,' Muzungu noted.

    One of the standout projects is Château Le Marara, a newly opened European-style hotel located on a peninsula in Bwishyura Sector. The facility is already hosting guests and events while sourcing fresh produce from local suppliers, according to interim General Manager Solange Kayondo.

    Perched on the hilltops of Karongi, with a perfect view of Lake Kivu, stands a now-famous hotel known as Château le Marara.

    Beyond formal employment, the lakeside tourism boom is generating a wave of informal job opportunities. Workers such as painters, masons, and porters are finding steady income from construction and hotel maintenance.

    One of the rooms in the luxurious Château Le Marara hotel.

    According to RDB, the lakeshore projects completed so far have created approximately 364 jobs, with another 400 positions expected as ongoing projects are finalised.

    Sector outlook

    The broader hospitality and tourism sector in Rwanda currently employs around 165,000 people, a number that is projected to rise with the ongoing expansion of infrastructure and services.

    Officials say lakeside tourism will remain a central pillar in Rwanda’s long-term economic development strategy, with plans to deepen investments and promote sustainable, community-driven growth.

    Rwanda has invested over $106 million in lakeside hospitality and tourism projects over the past five years, a move that officials say is driving job creation, stimulating local economies, and attracting further investment.

    IGIHE

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/business-62/article/inside-rwanda-s-multi-million-dollar-push-to-transform-lakeside-tourism

  • Americans stage anti-war protests after U.S. raids on Iranian nuclear sites #rwanda #RwOT

    Around 100 protesters rallied on Times Square, holding signs reading “Stop The War On Iran,” “Hands Off Iran” and others.

    A group of people also held similar protests outside the White House, according to videos circulated on social media.

    The emergency protests were planned in over 15 cities across the country, according to the website of the ANSWER Coalition, one of the organizers of the protests.

    “(U.S. President Donald) Trump’s unprovoked bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities is an outright war crime. It violates the UN Charter, international law and the U.S. Constitution. It threatens to set into motion a regional or even global war with massive casualties, nuclear radiation and catastrophic consequences,” said a post on the website.

    “We demand an immediate end to U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and its sovereignty,” said the ANSWER Coalition.

    The people of the United States want more funding for health care, education and infrastructure, while Trump and his war hawks are launching a new war that endangers the world, sheds the blood of Iranians and eventually Americans, and serves only the interests of the military-industrial complex, said the coalition.

    “President Trump took his faithful decision without Congressional approval, even though it will trigger serious reprisals from Iran and put American soldiers directly in the line of fire. It was done not in response to any imminent threat,” said Etan Mabourakh, the organizing manager with the National Iranian American Council.

    “We urge restraint. We urge diplomacy. Diplomacy is the only way to solve problems. Bombs have never brought liberation,” said Mabourakh at Times Square.

    The United States is expected to see more similar protests in the coming days, including a national march in Washington D.C. on June 28, according to the website.

    Protesters rally outside the White House to denounce US air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, in Washington, DC, the United States, on June 22, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    Xinhua

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/americans-stage-anti-war-protests-after-u-s-raids-on-iranian-nuclear-sites

  • Somali, AU troops recapture strategic areas from al-Shabab #rwanda #RwOT

    AUSSOM said in a statement issued in the Somali capital of Mogadishu that the move followed a three-day joint operation code-named “Operation Silent Storm,” aimed at liberating areas under al-Shabab control in the Lower Shabelle Region.

    AUSSOM Sector One Commander Joseph Ssemwanga emphasised that joint operations will continue in Middle Shabelle until al-Shabab threats are effectively addressed.

    “Sabiid-Anole has become a strategic location since March, where terrorists plan deadly attacks, conceal ammunition, including vehicles for vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, and establish illegal checkpoints to extort locals,” Ssemwanga said.

    During the joint operation, several al-Shabab fighters were neutralized during a prolonged siege of their hideouts in various parts of the villages, AUSSOM said.

    The AU mission said the forces also seized a substantial amount of ammunition from fleeing militants, clearing improvised explosive devices planted in communities and supply routes.

    AUSSOM Force Commander Sam Kavuma said the pan-African mission is fully committed to implementing the Somalia Transition Plan, which will culminate in the transfer of security responsibilities to the Somali Security Forces.

    “I commend the brave efforts of our gallant AUSSOM Ugandan troops and the Somali National Army in degrading al-Shabab,” Kavuma said.

    Sahal Abdullahi Omar, commander of the Somali National Army’s land forces, also confirmed that “Operation Silent Storm” successfully dismantled al-Shabab’s presence in the two villages.

    The allied forces are currently securing the recaptured villages and clearing remaining pockets of al-Shabab terrorists in Lower Shabelle’s Afgooye District.

    The operation aims to degrade and eliminate terrorists from Lower Shabelle and neighboring areas, the AU mission said.

    The African Union (AU) Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) and the Somali National Armed Forces (SNAF) have recaptured strategic locations of Sabiid and Anole in the southern region from al-Shabab, the AU mission said on Sunday.

    Xinhua

    Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/somali-au-troops-recapture-strategic-areas-from-al-shabab