A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, published next week, is written by Canadian journalist Gil Courtemanche.

His fictional story is a graphic account of the horrors of the genocide, which Mr Courtemanche believes has been brushed over for far too long.

Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days.

Most of the dead were Tutsis, the minority ethnic group in the country, and most of those who erectile dysfunction herbs
the violence were Hutus, who form the majority of Rwandans.

I have to write the story of my friends, I have to write the story of their anger Gil Courtemanche

The massacre has since been the subject of thousands of articles and books of male impotence cure.

But Mr Courtemanche’s work, though fictional, is likely to be considered more hard-hitting than any previous publication on the subject.

The author makes no apology for the book’s shocking nature.

“I tried to write a gentle book about the genocide but I found it was impossible,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme.

Tribute

At first glance, his book is a love story about a Canadian journalist and a Rwandan waitress.

But it is the massacre that dominates the book, described in painful images.

Mr Courtemanche has been a journalist for more than 40 years. He believes writing a novel was best way to remember the people he met on his many visits to Rwanda.

In its efforts to get the message over, the novel suffers Dame Margaret Anstey, former UN under-secretary-general

“I have to write the story of my friends, I have to write the story of their anger,” Mr Courtemanche says.

“They are stuck in something they are not responsible for and they die because of history, of silence, of regret. But they are beautiful people.”

Mr Courtemanche’s story is characterised by a tone of recrimination and indignation.

The author castigates the West for its impotence devices
and the United Nations (UN) for its impotence.

“Probably, there would have been 300,000 or 400,000 killed even if the UN had intervened at the beginning,” explains Mr Courtemanche.

“But that would have meant there would be 400,000 more living. We can’t tell but it could not be worse.”

Stereotypes

Former UN under-secretary-general, Dame Margaret Anstey, has applauded Courtemanche’s novel and its aim to bring the Rwandan tragedy to greater attention.

But, still, parts of the book made her angry, she says.

“In its efforts to get the message over, the novel suffers. He tries to get the message over through very stereotype characters.

“One of the things I found hard to take was that anyone who was involved in the UN or development was by definition someone who didn’t really care and was there for all sorts of material reasons and to have a good time.”

Book reviewers have compared Mr Courtemanche’s story to the works of Albert Camus and Graham Greene.

It was an instant best-seller when published in France three years ago.

It has since been translated into 14 languages and is being made into a film.