Zimbabwean writer, Geoff Hill
More than 300 delegates from around the world have gathered at the National University in Buenos Aires for the biennial congress of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.
Ahead of the meeting, one of the most influential players in global justice reaffirmed that Gukurahundi falls within the United Nations definition on genocide and must be classified as such.
Speaking from the Argentine capital, Dr Gregory Stanton of Genocide Watch told The Zimbabwean *********** that events in Matabeleland between 1983 and 1987 were well within the International Criminal Court definition, and ranked with, "the worst of our generation."
"Gukurahundi was genocide," Stanton said. "We have clear rules from the Rome Statute that set up the International Criminal Court at The Hague, and from precedents coming out of trials in places like Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Cambodia."
Stanton said that killing many people was not always genocide. "Idi Amin murdered more than 300 000 Ugandans, and while it was a crime against humanity, there is no agreement on whether this was genocide because his victims came from so many regions. He removed anyone who stood against him," he said.
The key, he said, is when people are killed solely based on their colour, tribe, religion, gender or social status.
"In Gukurahundi, the victims' only crime was an accident of birth. If you were Matabele, that was enough to have you killed. There is no difference with Hitler killing Jews or the murder of Tutsis in Rwanda. The numbers vary, but not the hideous thinking that lies at the heart of genocide."
Also in Buenos Aires this week was Zimbabwe author and journalist, Geoff Hill, who in 2009 became the first African to serve on the IAGS advisory council. Hill has been invited to deliver a paper on Gukurahundi and the silence in Europe, America and Africa that allowed it to happen.
He told this newspaper that there was "huge interest," in the topic.
"Sadly it took things like Murambatsvina and the seizure of white farms to move global opinion, but in the 1980s even those who were at the forefront of protests against apartheid in South Africa knowingly kept quiet while thousands were being murdered in Matabeleland," he said. "Mugabe was seen as a hero of his age and few were willing to tackle him."
Stanton agreed, and said lessons from Gukurahundi were especially relevant to killings now taking place in Sudan.
"The gun is not the deadliest weapon," he said. "Sadly the real danger lies in silence because it allows the slaughter to continue, and this was our crime during Gukurahundi. We must learn from that, and ensure that Khartoum's bombing and hunting down of civilians — taking place right now in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan — is condemned from every quarter," he said.
Stanton has been involved with global justice for more than two decades and was instrumental in setting up courts in Cambodia that opened last year to try perpetrators of the Pol Pot genocide, more than 30 years after the event.
He said that dealing with Gukurahundi was essential before real peace could come to Zimbabwe.
"That must include a chance for survivors to face their tormentors in a judicial environment, and a full investigation of events, regardless of who is named among the accused.
"I know that Geoff has worked hard these past two years to push the Matabeleland issue in the IAGS, at The Hague and elsewhere and he will be meeting with a lot of scholars here to take things to the next level," Stanton said.
This story was first published by The Zimbabwean news online.
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