The word "massacre" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to an event in which a number of people were killed in a cruel or violent way. For example: "The villagers were horrified by the massacre that had occurred just down the road."
Related: Running With Mother – a child's tale of Gukurahundi killings Zimbabwe's second vice-president Phelekezela Mphoko recently claimed that the Matabeleland massacres were a "conspiracy of the west", with nothing to do with Mugabe.
Sekeramayi was more circumspect in direct diplomatic discussions but made it clear that the massacres were no accident.
Nevertheless, western governments did little once the scale of massacres were dialled down to a lower, but still savage, intensity.
More than this, the conflicts have reminded everybody else that the French still regard this part of their world as their backyard The long French involvement in African affairs, from Rwanda to north Africa, has also been marked by bloody massacres and torture.
Armenia suffered massacres and repression in the 20th century and has recently experienced an economic collapse.
At the same time, to put too much emphasis on the international dimension of the Matabeleland massacres would be to miss the point.
Viewed across a period of several years, the documents appear to provide evidence that the massacres were but one component of a sustained and strategic effort to remove all political opposition within five years of independence.
Victor Ochen, the Director of African Youth Initiative Network (AYInet) based in Lira which was the site of one Kony's worst massacres in Uganda said that though the campaigners have good intentions they don't seem to seek a lasting solution.
The Advanced Energy for Life campaign was crafted by Burson Marsteller, a public relations firm that worked with the Nigerian government and Argentina junta when they were accused of massacres and disappearances, and helped the nuclear, chemical and energy companies after environmental disasters.
Others tell of being caught up in atrocities, witnessing massacres or being tortured.
"Farouq al-Sharaa is a man of reason and conscience and he has not taken part in the massacres in Syria, Turkeyy's foreign minister, Ahmet Davoutoglu, said in a weekend TV interview.
