Country background
The scale, speed and atrocity of the Rwandan genocide in 1994 tore Rwandan society apart. Nowadays, Rwanda is still trying to heal the enormous psychological and social damage caused by the genocide, so it is particularly relevant to any project attempting to counteract incitement to violence through the media. In the years leading up to the Rwandan genocide, several radio broadcasters campaigned to blame one ethnic group, the Tutsis, for all the country's problems. Extensive research has gone into explaining the origins, the role and the negative impact of the infamous radio station called Radio Télévision Mille Collines (1,000 Hills Radio and Television). RTLM was the most widely reported symbol of hate radio in the world. Its broadcasts, disseminating hate propaganda and inciting people to murder Tutsis and opponents to the regime, began in July 1993 and greatly contributed to the 1994 genocide of hundreds of thousands. After Rwandan Patriotic Front troops drove the government forces out of Kigali in July 1994, RTLM used mobile FM transmitters to broadcast disinformation from inside the French-controlled zone on the border between Rwanda and Zaire , causing millions of Hutus to flee toward refugee camps, where they could be regrouped and recruited as future fighters. (Source: Jean-Paul Chrétien, Media of Hate).
All this created the impetus for the Great Lakes Reconciliation Radio project, which began broadcasts in Rwanda in 2004.
Strategy
In 1998, Rwanda 's Nantional Unity and Reconciliation Committee (NURC) invited two psychologists, renowned genocide scholar and reconciliation specialist Ervin Staub and trauma treatment expert Laurie Pearlman to hold biannual seminars for Rwandan politicians and civil society leaders.