“The genocide in Rwanda was one hundred percent the responsibility of the Americans.” –Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali as cited by Robin Philpot.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Length (59:03)

Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying President Habyarimana of Rwanda and president Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down by a missile. An estimated 800,000 people were slaughtered in the 100 days that followed.

The official narrative is that the killings were carried out by members of the Rwandan army, the National Police, government-backed militias and the Hutu civilian population. The genocide stopped when the Rwandan Patriotic Front led by TUTSI-Expatriate and Ugandan official Paul Kagame seized control of northern regions of the country eventually capturing the capital Kigali.

The Rwandan tragedy helped pave the way for the creation of the “Responsibility to Protect Doctrine” which authorizes military intervention in violation of national sovereignty in the name of preventing a humanitarian catastrophe.

It is also one of only five genocides recognized as such by the Canadian government,

What if the official narrative of Rwandan atrocities is incorrect?

According to some observers, this is a false depiction of events. Western complicity in the atrocities went well beyond standing idly by while innocent men, women and children were slaughtered. Alternative narratives point to the war Rwanda fought from 1990 to 1994 with the Uganda-based Rwandan Patriotic Front. They also point to the erosion of Rwandan State suthorities ability to cope with the slaughters while fighting an unrelenting war with a US equipped RPF.

This week’s Global Research News Hour commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the slayings in Rwanda with an exploration of this alternative account.

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, and Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization. In 1996 he together with Belgian Economist and Senator Pierre Galand conducted field work in Rwanda to determine the role of international financial institutions donors and creditors in the etgnic massacres of 1994.

Robin Philpot is a Montreal-based writer, translator and publisher. He is the author of Rwanda and the New Scramble for Africa: From Tragedy to Useful Imperial Fiction, the English version of which was recently printed by Baraka Books. In an extensive interview he outlines his argument that the Rwandan killings were initiated by the Tutsi-dominated RPF, that they were responsible for the deaths of the Rwandan and Burundian presidents, how the media and political entities have successfully covered up the truth, and what that suggests about Western attitudes toward Africans.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Length (59:03)

Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

The Global Research News Hour, hosted by Michael Welch, airs on CKUW 95.9FM in Winnipeg Fridays at 1pm CDT. The programme is also broadcast weekly (Monday, 5-6pm ET) by the Progressive Radio Network in the US, and is available for download on the Global Research website.