Colgate President Jeffrey Herbst, Professor Susan Thomson, and special guests David Himbara, Joseph Sebarenzi and Noel Twagiramungu conducted an engaging conversation about the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide Monday night in Love Auditorium. The roundtable discussion can be seen in its entirety above or by clicking here.
The panelists focused on what has happened in the African nation since 1994. The event is one in a series held recently on campus to commemorate the anniversary.
Thomson was in Rwanda during the genocide. Her book — Whispering Truth to Power: Everyday Resistance to Reconciliation in Postgenocide Rwanda (University of Wisconsin Press) — examines grassroots resistance to the postgenocide policies established by Rwandan government officials.
Herbst is a well-known scholar of Africa. He is co-editor of On the Fault Line: Managing Tensions and Divisions Within Societies, published in 2012. The collection of essays examines “fault lines” within nations, which can lead to mass violence.
Himbara was the principal private secretary to the Rwandan president from 2000-2002, and head of the strategy and policy unit in the president’s office from 2006 to 2010. Sebarenzi is the former speaker of the Rwandan Parliament, and Twagiramungu is the former general secretary for the Rwandan League for Promotion and Defense of Human Rights.