ALLEGATIONS OF "GENOCIDE IDEOLOGY" IN SECONDARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 000002

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KAWC RW
SUBJECT: ALLEGATIONS OF "GENOCIDE IDEOLOGY" IN SECONDARY
SCHOOLS

Classified By: CDA Cheryl Sim, reason 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary. In December allegations of "genocide
ideology" surfaced regarding a number of secondary schools
around Rwanda. A parliamentary Commission report criticized
the Ministry of Education for its alleged lack of concern,
and the Education Minister received heavy criticism herself
at a special Chamber of Deputies hearing. A new
parliamentary commission will revisit the allegations, and
frame recommendations for action. Some deputies may have
seen these allegations as a convenient means to burnish their
genocide survivor credentials at the expense of an apolitical
technocrat unused to the hot seat. Nonetheless, the report
and the ensuing debate serve to underline that it will take
decades to address the root causes of "genocide ideology."
End summary.


2. (SBU) In Late December Education Minister Jeanne d'Arc
Mujawamariya and her deputy, Minister of State for Primary
and Secondary Education Joseph Murekeraho, faced heated
criticism in an appearance before the Rwandan Chamber of
Deputies, following the release of a report by a
parliamentary commission that charged that "genocide
ideology" exists in many Rwandan secondary schools. After a
two month inquiry, the commission had reported to the full
Chamber that in a number of schools evidence of genocide
ideology among students had been found, chiefly in the form
of anonymous letters and tracts threatening genocide
survivors and pledging to finish the 1994 genocide. Several
of the parliamentarians suggested Mujawamariya might harbor
genocide ideology herself, given what they perceived to be a
lack of action by the Ministry and lack of personal
commitment by the Minister to eradicating such student
behavior.


3. (SBU) In her remarks to the parliamentarians,
Mujawamariya defended the Ministry and her own actions. Not
only had her Ministry taken the allegations seriously and
been aware of them previously, she claimed, the parliamentary
commission had in fact acted upon the Ministry's own report
to it; thus any allegations that her Ministry had been
derelict in its response were incorrect. She stressed the
Ministry would coordinate its actions with the police, the
National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, and local
authorities to both punish transgressors and continue
education efforts to prevent such occurrences in the future.
At the end of her testimony, parliamentarians announced the
creation of a second commission, to further investigate the
allegations, seek additional information from Education
Ministry officials, and report back to the full Chamber.


4. (C) Contacts at the office of Prime Minister Bernard
Makuza (a Hutu) told embassy employee that the Parliament had
originally planned to call only the Minister of Education (a
Hutu),to castigate her about the commission findings. The
Prime Minister's office politely reminded parliamentary
officials that the Minister of State for Primary and
Secondary Education (a Tutsi),was the executive branch
official most directly concerned with the direction of the
nation's secondary schools and should be called as well.
Both officials were subsequently called to testify.


5. (C) In comments to pol/econ chief on January 2, Chamber
of Deputies Vice President Denis Polisi disputed
Mujawamariya's account of her Ministry's report to
Parliament, saying that the original source of the
allegations was a visit by a Deputy to a secondary school in
the countryside. The Chamber of Deputies quickly formed a
commission to investigate the Deputy's allegations, and "two
full volumes" of information had been collected. Polisi said
that of the nation's 680 secondary schools, 87 had been
investigated, and 32 had been found to contain some measure
of "genocide ideology." He agreed that the level of
"genocide ideology" varied from school to school, but said
that it was more than "simple insults among children"
(accounts of the investigation noted that anonymous tracts
circulated by Hutu students threatening to kill Tutsi
students vied for attention at some schools with anonymous
Tutsi tracts offering to "drive our cars through your big
Hutu noses").


6. (C) Polisi faulted individual school authorities, saying
that schools with "strong leadership" had few problems, while
schools with "inattentive" leaders had "many more problems."

After the report of the second Commission, the Chamber of
Deputies would recommend courses of actions for the Ministry
of Education, he said, and might call for the dismissal of
the two Ministers. "We need to act with some caution," he
said, as "these are problems that will take decades to solve
-- we won't end them with one report." Particularly
disturbed at accounts of some secondary school teachers
allegedly propagating hatred between Hutus and Tutsis, he
commented that "education will not work if the educators are
themselves the problem."


7. (C) Comment. Among the assembled legislators
criticizing the Ministry of Education for its alleged errors
and omissions, several Tutsi survivors heavily criticized the
Hutu Minister of Education herself -- for what appear to be
the actions of unknown students in far-flung secondary
schools. This may have been the case of an easy target too
inviting to pass up, particularly heading into an election
year. The young and inexperienced Minister of Education
belongs to no political party, and could be criticized
without offense to any particular political persuasion,
including the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front. The new
Parliamentary Commission may take a more reasoned approach,
and work with the Education Ministry to find acceptable
policies to address student offenses, which themselves
reflect the challenges of addressing fully the roots of
"genocide ideology." End comment.


SIM