Jeremy Nell and Keith Harmon Snow
The above photo, taken by Keith, is a survivor and soldier of the Forces for the Democratic Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) standing guard during “peace negotiations” with the United Nations (UN) in the eastern Congo.
To be clear, a lot of Rwandans were murdered during “the 100 days” of April 1994. Probably hundreds of thousands more than the official account.
That’s not where the myth(s) are found.
Active mission in Kahuzi Beiga National Park; soldiers of the first “integrated” brigade of the Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).
The myth(s) are a multilayered consequence of US-backed propaganda and international confusion resulting from deliberately skewed reporting.
Put another way, the mainstream narrative is that the Hutu-led government orchestrated an ethnically-driven genocide of Tutsis (with a few moderate Hutus thrown in for good measure). We are told that around one million “cockroach” Tutsis were murdered by the Hutus after the aircraft carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down on 6 April.
Except that, well, it’s nonsense, and Hotel Rwanda is a propaganda piece.
For example, Hutus—not Tutsis—made up the majority of those slaughtered.
What actually happened was a multipronged, violent coup d’état backed by various international interests including Uganda and the United States. A genocide was one limb of the entire body. A Western-backed civil war was another limb.
Paul Kagame, coincidentally, has been the president ever since.
Keith Harmon Snow, a former lecturer at the University of California, is an award-winning photojournalist and war correspondent.
He has spent a considerable amount of time in various African countries—including Rwanda and Uganda—and has a profoundly deeper knowledge of Rwanda’s history, politics, and culture.
Photography
Here are some of Keith’s harrowing—but beautiful—photos from his time in Central Africa.
Conversation
Award-winning photojournalist Keith Harmon Snow breaks apart the mainstream myth(s) of the Rwandan genocide. What actually happened was a violent coup d’état with Western backing, led by Paul Kagame.
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