Sir, I am writing to supply some essential information which John O'Shea of GOAL omitted from his recent letters arguing against aid to Rwanda.
From Mr O'Shea's letters, one would not know that there had been a genocide in Rwanda in 1994 - more than one million people were killed and the country's infrastructure destroyed. This genocide was one of the worst crimes against humanity in modern history. The new government, so heavily criticised by Mr O'Shea, thus took office facing appalling problems.
Mr O'Shea also does not make clear the responsibility of the former genocidal government for having kept refugees in camps in Zaire and elsewhere, and for having used these camps as bases from which to destabilise Rwanda. For example, former government forces attacked schools inside Rwanda and targeted Tutsi students for killing, most recently at Muramba and Nyange, where eleven girls were murdered.
Despite their ongoing problems and fears, the survivors of the genocide have benefited very little from aid given to Rwanda. As Mr O'Shea might have mentioned, most such aid has been used to help resettle and reintegrate the returning refugees.
Irish people need and deserve thoughtful and accurate information about Rwanda. Mr O'Shea's campaign of disinformation is obscuring the facts and confusing the world about the true nature of the Rwandan tragedy, as well as trivialising the loss of innocent lives. Sadly, truth and justice would appear to be none of his concern. - Yours, etc.,
Rockfield Avenue,
Dublin 12.