- Alain Destexhe
Alain Destexhe is a Belgian liberal
politician . He was electedsenator for theFrancophone electoral college in 2003, and again in 2007. Destexhe is a member of the liberalReformist Movement and represents Belgium in theWorld Economic Forum . He was awarded the "Prize of Liberty" byNova Civitas .Early life
Alain Destexhe graduated in Medicine from the
University of Liege . Later he graduated inInternational Affairs from theInstitut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris .Literary achievements
In 2005, he gained national success by publishing "Wallonie, la Vérité des Chiffres" ("Wallonia, the Truth of the Figures" in French), a leaflet in which he exposed the disastrous
economical situation ofWallonia .He has also published a book dealing with the
Rwandan Genocide . His book deals mainly with historical antecedents leading up to the mass killings in 1994 and who was to blame for this tragical event. Afterwards, his analyses of that era have been used in many parliamentary enquiries and investigation commissions.Controversies
*He openly attacked the Canadian
general Roméo Dallaire , the military leader of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda, at a conference held in 2004. He stated that Dallaire failed to protect his troops and cost the lives of ten BelgianBlue Helmet soldiers in UN service. He directly and personally blamed Dallaire for the deaths of the Belgian soldiers, and launched an unprovoked attack on him at the tenth anniversary of the genocide. He asserted, in front of the assembled international press, that Dallaire had been declining to meet with the widows of the killed Belgian soldiers. When Dallaire commented that he had received no communication from any of the widows or from Destexhe on the subject, Destexhe responded that he had been trying to contact Dallaire but didn't know where to find his address. The exchange can be see in the CBC documentary
*During the 2007 election campaign, he made a propaganda "007 Destexhe" film in which he openly attacked the alleged corruption andcleptocracy within the ruling Socialist Party.External links
* [http://destexhe.be Alain Destexhe Personal Webpage]
* [http://www.mr.be Mouvement Réformateur Official Webpage]
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