Campaigners around the world expressed their sorrow at the death of Alison Des Forges, the human rights activist who helped to publicise the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, and subsequently worked to defend human rights in the Great Lakes region of Africa. She died in a plane crash on 12 February.
Dr Des Forges was a senior adviser to Human Rights Watch's Africa division for almost twenty years. She wrote on the genocide, her award winning publications being instrumental in bringing awareness of the Rwandan crisis to the international community. Her disappearance is a tremendous loss and IANSA would like to extend their sincere condolences to her family and friends.
Jacques Ntibarikure, coordinator of the Burundi Action Network on Small Arms (BUANSA) said "The sad news of the death of Dr Alison Des Forges deeply affects us all. We truly lost an important member of the network of human rights defenders. We join her family and friends in their grief".
Click here to leave a tribute to Alison on the Human Rights Watch website. |
