Massad Boulos Echoes Blinken: America Rejects Kagame’s One-Sided Genocide Narrative
The Editorial Staff
Apr 10, 2025
As Rwanda marks 31 years since the 1994 genocide, one thing is clear: the United States, despite its own past failures, is standing firm against the Rwandan government's politicized version of history.
Massad Boulos, senior advisor to former President Donald Trump, recently visited Kigali. Standing alongside Rwanda’s top leadership, Boulos chose his words carefully but powerfully.
“We remember the thousands of innocent Tutsi men, women, and children… We also remember the Hutu, Twa, and others who were killed while opposing the genocide.”
In just one sentence, Boulos shattered the illusion of a monopoly on memory. And in doing so, he joined a growing list of American officials, both Republican and Democrat who are refusing to recite the Kagame regime’s politically charged term: "Genocide against the Tutsi." He may not have shouted it, but his words spoke volumes.
READ ALSO | President Habyarimana's son pays tribute to his late father
This is not an isolated stance. Just last year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, under President Biden’s administration, said something strikingly similar:
“We mourn the many thousands of Tutsis, Hutus, Twas, and others whose lives were lost during 100 days of unspeakable violence.”
Different parties. Different administrations. Same message.
The truth, it seems, still matters to some.
While the Rwandan government insists on a single, selective version of events, one that elevates Tutsi suffering while downplaying or denying the mass killings of Hutu civilians, America’s language continues to reflect a broader, more honest view of what truly happened in 1994.
This is not genocide denial. It is genocide truth-telling.
Because the real tragedy was not a one-group affair, it was a Rwandan Genocide, a national catastrophe in which Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa alike were killed, displaced, or silenced. And many Hutu victims died not at the hands of genocidaires, but at the hands of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) the same group now ruling Rwanda with an iron fist.
READ ALSO | How Paul Kagame Sparked the Rwandan Genocide to Seize Power
Today, the Kagame regime uses genocide remembrance as a political shield: to criminalize dissent, to silence survivors who don’t fit the script, and to brand critics as “revisionists” or “deniers.”
But America isn’t playing along.
By honoring all victims, not just those recognized by the regime, the U.S. is sending a clear message: Memory should unite, not divide. And no government, no matter how powerful, should control the narrative of a nation’s pain. Kagame and his soldiers must be held accountable for the thousands of Hutus killed.
By XTRAfrica
