Rwandan investigators to take action over BBC

A visitor looks at a picture of children victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide at the Genocide Memorial in Nyamata, inside the Catholic Church where thousands were slaughtered. Rwandan investigators have urged the government to take action against the BBC over a controversial documentary questioning official versions of the 1994 genocide.   PHOTO | AFP 

In Summary

• The BBC, one of the country’s most popular broadcasters, has said previously that the programme in “no way” sought “to downplay or conceal the horrifying events of 1994”

Bujumbura, Sunday. Rwandan investigators on Saturday urged the government to take action against the BBC and ban its radio programmes from the country’s airwaves over a controversial documentary questioning official versions of the 1994 genocide.

The probe led by the country’s former top prosecutor Martin Ngoga found that the British broadcaster broke Rwandan law on genocide denial in its report on the massacres that left around 800,000 dead.

The BBC has rejected all the accusations against it.

“The BBC, in general abused press freedom and free speech, violated its own editorial guidelines (and) transgressed journalistic standards,” Ngoga said.

Rwanda should “initiate criminal and civil process to deal with identified offences”, he added.

The focus of the probe was the programme ‘Rwanda, The Untold Story’ which was broadcast on the BBC’s second television channel, BBC2, in October 2014 and highlighted criticism over Rwandan president Paul Kagame’s alleged role in events.

The programme revived allegations that his Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) then a rebel group, now the ruling political party was behind the downing of a plane carrying the country’s then Hutu president that triggered the genocide against the primarily Tutsi victims.

The Ngoga-led probe also recommended that the country should terminate the agreement that allows the BBC to broadcast on Rwanda’s airwaves.

BBC radio services in the local Kinyarwanda language have been blocked since the programme was broadcast.

If the BBC wants to resume broadcasting in Rwanda it must promise better conduct, Ngoga said.

“The government should require the BBC to commit to adhering to not only agreed professional and legal principles, but also in practice, in the letter and the spirit of the agreement,” he added.

Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders termed the recommendations as “disproportionate” and questioned why radio broadcasts were cut off when the documentary was broadcast on television. (AFP)