Rwandan Government closed the BBC Radio Service

By Fiorella Bafundo

Last Saturday the Rwandan government suspended the BBC radio service “saying it threatened the country’s national reconciliation.” After the Rwandan Genocide happened in 1994, where many people were killed due to ethnic divisions between Tutsis and Hutus, the government has implemented serious but “vague” laws regarding the labeling of people and division. Consequently, last Saturday they considered that the radio had an “unacceptable speech” about the Genocide and considered that it was necessary to close it, because “The divisive and disparaging nature of these programs — as they stand today — is no longer acceptable, in light of the hard-earned peaceful coexistence of the people of Rwanda over the last 15 years.” That was what the minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in a statement for public.