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Hate radio


Anti-Tutsi articles and graphic cartoons began appearing in the
Kangura newspaper from around 1990.
In June 1993 a new radio station called Radio-Television Libre des
Mille Collines (RTLMC) began broadcasting in Rwanda...

The station was rowdy and used street language - there were disc
jockeys, pop music and phone-ins. Sometimes the announcers were
drunk. It was designed to appeal to the unemployed, the delinquents
and the gangs of thugs in the militia. "In a largely illiterate
population, the radio station soon had a very large audience who
found it immensely entertaining." (Linda Melvern)

transistor radio

The U.S. - "We believe in freedom of speech"

Its stated aim was "to create harmonious development in Rwandese
society" but nothing could have been further from the truth. It was
set up and financed by Hutu extremists to prepare the people of
Rwanda for genocide by demonising the Tutsi and encouraging hate and
violence.

Some people - including the Belgian ambassador and staff of several
aid agencies - recognised the danger and asked for international help
in shutting down the broadcasts, but it was impossible to persuade
western diplomats to take it seriously. They dismissed the station as
a joke.

David Rawson, the US ambassador, said that its euphemisms were open
to interpretation. The US, he said, believed in freedom of speech.
TALKING IN CODE...

The radio told people to go to work and everyone knew that meant get
your machete and kill Tutsis.

Many Rwandans, however, knew the threat. 'I listened to RTLMC', said
a survivor, 'because if you were mentioned over the airways, you were
sure to be carted off a short time later by the interahamwe. You knew
you had to change your address at once."

based on information in A People Betrayed by Linda Melvern

Who was behind the radio station?

The graves are not yet full
RTLM was set up and financed by hard-line Hutu extremists, mostly
from northern Rwanda: wealthy businessmen, government ministers and
various relatives of the President. Its backers also included the
directors of two African banks and the vice-president of the
interahamwe (militia).

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In this section
STARTING A GENOCIDE
Whose idea was it?
How did it start?
The foreigners are leaving
  Hate radio  
DETAILS
Roadblocks
The little things
INSIGHT
A simple plan
This new job
A strangeness of mind
Personalities
A good man
FOCUS ON THE BUGESERA
The Bugesera
Ntarama church massacre
A day in the marshes
MZUNGUS
The role of the west
Two French missionaries
A journalist's story
THE END OF THE GENOCIDE
 The refugee crisis
A country with nobody home

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