Cote
Volume 393, Issue 10169, P319-320, January 26, 2019
Citation
We were deeply saddened to read Laurie Garret's book review [1]
(Sept 15, 2018, p 909) of In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front [2]
by Judi Rever. This book, and the accompanying Perspective,1
misrepresents or does not discuss certain facts about Rwanda's history. In particular, this revisionist account does not make any reference to documented plans of the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis that were systematically implemented in phases starting in 1959. In 2018, over 18 000 bodies were found in 41 mass graves in just two Kigali districts.3
The book propagates inaccuracies about the catalysing event of the 100 days of genocide against the Tutsis, blames the victims, and does not accurately discuss the rebuilding and reconciliation that has since occurred in Rwanda.
Far too many accounts of the genocide in Rwanda have been written by revisionists who were neither present during the genocide, nor in the subsequent years—and it is their narrative that has dominated the world's sense of why Rwanda experienced such a tumultuous period. Some journalists and academics believe they understand the genocide and ethnic tension in Rwanda better than the survivors. This book and its dangerous claim that it is documenting history is no different.
Garret's Perspective1
makes no attempt to acknowledge Rwanda's contemporary progress to improve health outcomes.4
She quotes an American physician who visited Rwanda for a short time and presents his opinion as evidence of differing health outcomes between ethnicities. As much of the world knows, use of ethnic identifications in Rwanda has been banned since 1994 and is irrelevant to the country's health-care system. Such actions would be met with career-ending consequences and are illegal. We attest that any discussion regarding differences for providing health or any other services on the basis of ethnicity is simply unthinkable in Rwanda.
We cannot understand why The Lancet would publish such a piece. Would they review David Irving's Holocaust denial books? Genocide denial is a reprehensible act and these assertions impede reconciliation not only between victims and perpetrators but also in the wider Rwandan community.
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1. Garrett L, Rwanda: not the official narrative. Lancet. 2018; 392: 909-912
2. Rever J, In praise of blood: the crimes of the Rwandan patriotic front. Penguin Random House, Toronto, Canada 2018
3. Mbonyinshuti J, Genocide: over 18 000 victims exhumed in Kigali mass graves.
https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/genocide-over-18000-victims-exhumed-kigali-mass-graves.
Date: 2018.
Date accessed: January 7, 2019
4. Binagwaho A Farmer PE Nsanzimana S et al. Rwanda 20 years on: investing in life.
Lancet. 2014; 384: 371-375
