Rwanda genocide exhibit to ‘open very soon’

New York – The United Nations has apologised for postponing the
opening of an exhibit marking the anniversary of the 1994 Rwanda
genocide over Turkish objections to a reference to the killing of
Armenians in Turkey during World War 1, the Rwandan ambassador said on
Wednesday.
"We were contacted by UN Under Secretary General (for public
information Kiyotaka Akasaka) who told me they are reviewing the text
(of the exhibit)," Rwanda’s permanent UN representative Joseph
Nsengimana said. "He apologises. The exhibit will (officially) open
very soon."
The exhibit, which was to have been inaugurated by UN chief Ban
Ki-moon Monday, is meant to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the
Rwandan genocide during which Hutu extremists killed about 800 000
people, most of them ethnic minority Tutsis.
Farhan Haq, a UN spokesperson, said the controversy arose when a
Turkish diplomat walked by the exhibit as it was being put up last
week and complained about a reference to the killing of several
hundred thousand Armenians in Turkey during World War 1.
He said the reference was on a small panel with a quotation from
Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-born Jewish lawyer who coined the word
genocide in 1943, had earlier shown interest in the Armenian
"genocide" and campaigned in the League of Nations to ban what he
called "barbarity" and "vandalism".
Turkey, the successor of the Ottoman Empire, categorically denies
claims of genocide and says thousands of Turks and Armenians were
killed in civil strife during 1915-1917 when Armenians took up arms
for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops
invading the crumbling empire.
Much to Turkey’s ire, many countries have recognised the killings as
genocide.
Haq said a review panel made up of officials of the UN departments
of public information and political affairs as well as those with
expertise in genocide affairs would now look over the photographs and
the text of the exhibit ahead of the inauguration.
"This is what they were supposed to have done," he said. "I am
hoping it will be very quick."
The exhibit is partly organised by Aegis Trust, a British-based
international organisation lobbying to prevent genocide worldwide. –
Sapa-AFP

Published on the Web by IOL on 2007-04-12 00:33:20