Healing after the 1994 genocide

by Patrick Madden, 1 December 2006

The genocide was 12 years ago, but Rwandans refuse to forget. Not a single family was unaffected by the killings. In every Rwandan town the word "Jenoside" can be seen on signs. There is a large memorial in Kigali dedicated to the story of the Rwanda genocide and other genocides all over the world.

Another memorial stands for an altogether different group of people: a small gravel area with 10 granite obelisks in the remains of an army base. One half of the long, low building is painted bright blue and riddled with bullet holes. It was in this small, pockmarked building that the floodgates of the genocide were opened.

Prelude to Slaughter

It's the memorial to the 10 Belgian peacekeepers who were killed at the beginning of the genocide. After the airplane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Hutu president of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down, UN peacekeeping personnel were assigned to protect Agathe Uwilingiyimana, the prime minister of Rwanda's interim government.

The morning after President Habyarimana's plane was shot down, Rwanda's presidential guard surrounded the 10 UN troops and demanded their surrender. They were advised to comply in the hope that their release could be negotiated later.

The Rwandan soldiers then searched for Uwilingiyimana, and shot and killed her and her husband - they gave themselves up to protect their 5 children, who later escaped to Switzerland. Afterwards, the 10 UN peacekeepers were taken to the small, blue-painted room where they were brutally killed.

After this atrocity, Belgium withdrew all her troops from the UN peacekeeping force. Most of the other UN troops in Rwanda were ordered to withdraw to Nairobi, leaving a force of only 270 on the ground. Thinking the UN force would soon return, Hutu extremists started killing Tutsis as fast as they could.

Genocide

Over the next 100 days it's estimated that between 800 000 and 1 071 000 Rwandans were murdered. Over national radio, Rwandans were instructed to kill their Tutsi neighbours and any Hutus who refused to kill. The Interahamwe (meaning "those who attack together") conducted organised attacks on villages.

Mostly the Tutsi killings were carried out with machetes, but in some towns the victims were forced into churches and school buildings where they were slaughtered by gunfire or grenades.

Despite the quickness and brutality of the killings (at least 8 000 murders a day for 100 days) the Rwandan genocide was not among the largest genocides in human history. Its story is certainly among the most shocking, however.

Although about 6 million people died in Germany between 1933 and 1945, and many more in both American continents in the 16th century, the world was almost entirely unaware of these tragedies while they were occurring.

By contrast, despite intelligence provided before the killing began and international news coverage of the unfolding massacres in Rwanda, most first-world countries declined to speak out against the genocide or to take action to prevent or halt it.

The UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda) force was constrained by the UN rules of engagement: only to fire if fired upon. UNAMIR wasn't authorised to intervene in the genocide, and in some cases troops stood idly by while the killings took place in front of them.

Aftermath

The genocide ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front entered Kigali in July 1994, 100 days after it had begun. Fearing retribution, around 2 million Hutus fled to neighbouring countries where thousands died of cholera and dysentery in sprawling refugee camps. The First and Second Congo Wars followed this influx.

United States airplanes began to drop food parcels from the air to alleviate the suffering in the refugee camps. Although the intentions were good, the effects were disastrous: refugees were slaughtered by crowds trying to reach the food. Cholera and dysentery spread, and were exacerbated by septic meningitis when the rains came.

France established a field hospital near Lake Kivu to treat the sick. In the largest medical mission in its history, Israel sent many doctors to the area. France's abundant medical supplies and Israel's many military surgeons combined effectively to treat many sick refugees.

The Netherlands sent medics and nurses, CARE Deutschland sent ambulances, Merlin of Ireland sent trucks and heavy equipment to distribute food and supplies. Together, these co-operative international efforts curbed the death toll in the Lake Kivu area.

Justice

The RPF established a national unity government under President Pasteur Bizimungu with Paul Kagame as vice-president. Kagame eventually removed Bizimungu and became president in 2001. His government implemented the Gacaca community justice system, by which Rwandans have been prosecuting the perpetrators of the genocide in parallel with the national court system.

Roughly translated, Gacaca means "justice on the grass", as grass is the meeting place for these village courts. Village elders convene all parties to a crime, and all village members may intervene in the trial, testifying either for or against defendants.

Each of the 250 000 Gacaca judges elected by Rwandans have basic judicial training, and they judge only cases of simple murder, bodily injury and property damage. Organisers of the genocide, infamous assassins and perpetrators of sex crimes are prosecuted in Rwanda's criminal courts.

The Gacaca system allows the perpetrators of the genocide to be quickly tried and brought to justice, a process that would have taken about 200 years using only the national court system.

Reconciliation & Truth

Questions over the causes of the genocide, over the downing of Habyarimana's plane, over the non-intervention of the Western UN members, over suspected French complicity with the Hutus, all remain unanswered. More than 10 years after the event, the shame of the enduring secrets sours Rwandans' sincere efforts for truth and reconciliation.

But they continue, in the face of the uncertainty and the political quagmire, to heal and redress, to investigate and to teach. Rwandans believe that education about the 1994 genocide and others is the most effective and perhaps the only way of giving real effect to the outraged cry that follows a genocide: "Never again!"

It remains to be seen whether that sentiment, uttered worldwide after the possibility of intervention has lapsed, carries the sincerity of intention required to prevent other genocides. These events make demands on a global conscience that all too often seems unable to recognise itself, as the situation in Darfur would seem to indicate.

Land of a Thousand Hills

Were it not so appropriate that Rwanda's name evokes sadness and bewilderment at the genocide, and a solemn respect for its attempts at recovery and healing, Rwanda would also evoke impressions of awe and majesty.

The "Land of a Thousand Hills" is an amazingly beautiful and fertile country. Mountain gorillas inhabit misty forests, 5 volcanoes rise from an undulating savannah, tea and banana plantations carpet the hills and more than 20 lakes fill the valleys.

No family was unaffected by the killings, and no-one forgets. But in the aftermath of the genocide, despite the evasiveness of their own leaders and the inaction of others, the honesty and courage of the Rwandans have begun to transform their country and themselves to present a brave and honest face to the world in Rwanda, the Land of a Thousand Hills.

Article © Copyright 2006 Go2Africa.

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