READER LETTER | Rwandan genocide a wake-up call for inaction

As the world is joining Rwanda to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1994 genocide, the UN security council, the African Union and the international community should remind themselves of their lukewarmness at the sight of the nationwide ethnic violence that developed to an untold bloodbath in that Central African country.

 Bill Clinton who was the US president at that time, emotionally admitted that the 1994 Rwandan genocide was the biggest failure in his administration. Rwanda would not have lost about 800,000 precious souls, just in 100 days, if the UN security council and the international community took prompt actions to contain the massacres.

This commemoration is also for the world's peace – keeping bodies to savour a time of meditation, a time of creating corrective action models and generally to learn from the cost of their lukewarmness that resulted in fatal neglect. The Rwandan genocide is an awakening call for the international community, in future, that they should promptly nip in the bud any growing waves of atrocities before they evolve into a human catastrophe.

Batsirai Kativu, Johannesburg