Rwanda has firmly rejected a resolution adopted by the European Parliament calling for the release of opposition figure Victoire Ingabire, describing it as neocolonial interference and a betrayal of the truth about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe responded bluntly, reminding European lawmakers that Rwanda will not accept external dictates on its sovereignty.
“I wish to remind the European Parliament, in case they forgot it, that Rwanda is a sovereign and independent nation since the end of the European colonisation. No amount of neocolonial resolutions will change that fact. Those days are gone for good and forever,” he said.
On Thursday, the European Parliament passed three emergency resolutions on Cyprus, Rwanda, and Togo. In the case of Rwanda, Members of the European Parliament denounced Ingabire’s ongoing trial as irregular and demanded her unconditional release.
They also accused Kigali of repressing political opposition, journalists, and civil society, urging the European Commission to review aid to institutions allegedly linked to arbitrary detentions or unfair trials.
But genocide scholar Tom Ndahiro, writing in The New Times on June 22, 2025, warned that portraying Victoire Ingabire as a democracy icon is itself an act of moral corruption.
“She has publicly aligned herself with genocidal ideology, questioned the nature of the 1994 genocide, and called for ‘inclusive remembrance’—a code phrase used by denialists to relativize the Genocide Against the Tutsi by including the ‘suffering’ of genocidaires,” he wrote.
Ndahiro described Ingabire as “the poster child of moral imposture,” noting her flirtations with the FDLR and her repeated efforts to undermine the memory of victims.
“Her calls for ‘inclusive remembrance’ are not noble—they are rhetorical grenades lobbed at the graves of the victims,” he added.
He further condemned what he called Western hypocrisy in elevating Ingabire. “Would Amnesty International host a white nationalist who downplays the Holocaust, just because they criticized a sitting government? Would European think tanks invite a Serb nationalist who called Srebrenica a hoax? Of course not. But Victoire Ingabire is different, you see—because her victims were African,” Ndahiro observed.
He cautioned that international media, NGOs, and academics who promote Ingabire’s narrative are complicit in a broader campaign of genocide denial.
“Every time Victoire Ingabire is called a ‘freedom fighter,’ a survivor is silenced. Every time an FDLR commander is allowed to speak on peace in eastern Congo, we undo the progress of justice. This is not democracy. This is desecration,” he wrote.
For Kigali, the European Parliament’s resolution reflects not a genuine concern for human rights, but a readiness to overlook genocide denial when it serves political ends.
Nduhungirehe’s response made it clear: Rwanda’s governance, justice, and historical memory remain the prerogative of Rwandans themselves.
The standoff reflects a broader tension between Rwanda and sections of the European Parliament, with Kigali consistently rejecting what it sees as attempts to impose external political agendas under the guise of human rights advocacy.
