To See Our Photos of Rwanda, Click Here
Now, Rwanda does not attract your average traveller/tourist in general. We suspect most people avoid it because of its recent history of bloodshed. For Martin and I, that's almost the very reason to visit, to pay respects to all the people lost in the genocide of 1994. As it happened, we arrived during Memorial Week - a sober time when the country remembers the million people that were massacred all those years ago. For us, travelling is not all about happy, fluffy stuff, but about learning about the good, bad and the ugly. Like Auschwitz and Cambodia (Killing Fields), visiting the Kigali Memorial Centre was a difficult and disturbing experience for both of us. It's hard to describe. I felt sad, sick to my stomach, and overwhelmed by the brutality.
I'll try to be brief about the history we learned as you may know it already: the Germans were first to colonise Rwanda (and Burundi) in 1895 until 1916. Belgian troops occupied it during WWI and then Belgium was granted governance by the League of Nations (some sort of United Nations of the time?). Eventually it turned into a colonial occupation. Arguably, colonisation brings 'benefits' such as medicine, education, infrastructure. A new ID system introduced in 1932 categorizing (and segregating) the people into their tribes, Hutu or Tutsi, was not so beneficial! The next few decades brought the king's death, instability between the ruling minority Tutsi (15% of population) (who were
upheld during colonial rule) and the majority Hutu (85%). In '59 Hutus were tired of this domination and rebelled killing thousands of Tutsi. 700,000 Hutus were exiled. With independence in 1961 came the first Hutu president. In '74 it became a one-party state tightly controlled by President Habyarimana (President H). Hutu retaliation led to civil war in 1990-93, and though peace agreements were signed in '94, there was still some corrupt who were reluctant to move towards democratic governance. In April of '94 the president's plane went down (incidentally, along with the Burundian president) supposedly taken out by his own men who were planning the genocide of the Tutsis. To complicate the story further and exposed in recent years, the French (who were doing $12M arms deals with President H) may have been responsible for this instead - allegedly. Regardless, within one hour of the president's death, the pre-meditated bloodshed began. Tutsis were systematically massacred. As the hatred between the Tutsi and Hutu got out of control, in the end a million innocent people were killed, countless were injured and an estimated 2 million displaced/fled to refugee camps. All this happened over a period of 100 days! By the time the rebel Tutsi organization (Rwanda Patriotic Front led by now President Kagame) composed of fled Tutsis in Uganda, took Kigali city on July 4th the genocide was already over. By the time UN enforcements finally came it was too much too late!
A few things that struck me as poignant and worth mentioning:
* There was an informant apparently: one of the president's security guards warned the head of the UN Peace mission (present to upheld the peace agreement). Major General Romeo Dallaire told the Peace Office in New York that there was a Hutu militia plan to eliminate Tutsis. He was told to inform the French and Belgians because of their ex-pat population there. Why this warning was ignored by US and UN or why no action was taken is not clear. There are theories out there…
* A request from the same Maj. Gen. Dellaire for more UN enforcements to stop the genocide was ignored. Instead of increasing troops, the UN Security Council led by the US government - who had just lost soldiers in Somalia, reduced the force to 270 soldiers. Dallaire figured that he could STOP the genocide with only 5000 support troops - none were issued.
* It is noteworthy that the number of French and Belgian soldiers brought in to evacuate their foreign workers would have been sufficient number to stop the violence.
* No one was spared - not women, children, or the elderly.
* Even Hutu were killing their own. Reluctant to participate in the killing of friends and neighbours, 'Moderate Hutu' as they were known, were also eliminated.
* Children witnessed their parents being brutally killed and humiliated by people they knew.
* An estimated 500,000 - half a million - women were raped before being either murdered or left to live with HIV from HIV infected soldiers (part of the wipe-out strategy)
* Playing on poverty, ignorance and old fears of Tutsi domination, broadcasts on TV and radio waged a virulent campaign incite fear, perpetuate the hatred and justify the violence.
* Thousands of people seeking refuge were killed in churches. One story was that the priest locked the church from the outside and then allowed the soldiers to bulldoze it down. Incredible.
* One exhibit was gut-wrenching with the names and photos of a handful of children, their favourite food and pastime, and then how they were killed - bludgeoned, macheted, shot, thrown against a wall…
* In the middle of one heart-wrenching photo of a queue of boys, was one boy smiling to the camera. Where was the photo taken and did he know what was going to happen to him?
*Many people crossed borders to refugee camps which of course were gruesome. More violence and rape there. Hutu militia who had crossed along with refugees, reorganized themselves and started incursions and violence.
* During the fleeing, and subsequent move back in 1996, families became separated. 300,000 children lost parents and family. Aid agencies and orphanages took them in. Numerous left to lead households. Only limited families have been reunited since.
* As for the perpetrators? Many are in hiding in neighbouring countries and even perpetrators who planned the whole genocide are seeking asylum in France. Approximately 125,000 genocidaires as they're called, were arrested - just a small portion of those involved. Held in prisons and makeshift jails around the country, numerous are still awaiting trial. Entire communities were involved in crimes - an overwhelming number for courts to deal with. Stepping in to help the main justice court, community courts are struggling too. And once convicted, due to lack of space, they are given community service instead. In the newspaper I read stories of how people easily escape from these; that the system is inadequate; and families feel they are not getting justice.
Another afternoon in Kigali, still in shock, we visited a couple of churches 30km south - the Nyamata Memorial and one at Ntarama. These were horrific and perhaps more shocking and sickening because they were at the actual site of so many atrocities. At Nyamata church the clothes of the dead killed there had been piled on the benches; in the garden a walk-in tomb with bones and skulls in an organized display, within arms reach and not behind any screen or glass. At Ntarama, set in beautiful peaceful countryside, thousands of people were killed here. Tutsi and Hutus refusing to participate in the attack against their neighbours fled to the church hoping for protection. Grenades were thrown in and anyone left alive were shot or macheted apart. Only in recent years were the skeletons (still with their clothes on) removed. The Sunday School room was lined with low benches in rows and in the corner a wall was stained with the blood of the children thrown against it. Awful! This
horror was replicated in churches all over Rwanda.
It was hard to hold back the tears. Indeed we witnessed a number of locals visiting the Memorial Centre who were beside themselves with grief. It's hard to grasp that this happened so recently. Eighteen years is not that long ago. How do people recover from this kind of brutality? How do they come back from this huge tragedy? Everyone has a story. Anyone 18 years or older has seen too much! Almost everyone knows someone who was killed by their neighbours, friends, even family! Worse, probably someone who killed someone! Martin and I wondered how they go on living together after all this? It's still so raw for them. But somehow, they seem to. Our American friend Peter said that as someone who lives here, he can definitely feel
that there is still some tension. How could there not? They are reminded daily of the genocide in the school curriculum, in the ongoing justice court trials, in the papers. Even memorial week! Maybe it's too much remembering, and some of them just want to move on.
They of course don't want it to happen again. You see signs on graves and memorials saying "Never Again". The billboards and banners around the country remind them… Well, I sincerely hope they continue to 'Learn from their History to Build a Bright Future'. *Mush
 |
| "Learning from our History" Sign |
I'll try to be brief about the history we learned as you may know it already: the Germans were first to colonise Rwanda (and Burundi) in 1895 until 1916. Belgian troops occupied it during WWI and then Belgium was granted governance by the League of Nations (some sort of United Nations of the time?). Eventually it turned into a colonial occupation. Arguably, colonisation brings 'benefits' such as medicine, education, infrastructure. A new ID system introduced in 1932 categorizing (and segregating) the people into their tribes, Hutu or Tutsi, was not so beneficial! The next few decades brought the king's death, instability between the ruling minority Tutsi (15% of population) (who were
 |
| Kigali Memorial Centre |
 |
| 250,000 Buried at Kigali Memorial Centre |
* There was an informant apparently: one of the president's security guards warned the head of the UN Peace mission (present to upheld the peace agreement). Major General Romeo Dallaire told the Peace Office in New York that there was a Hutu militia plan to eliminate Tutsis. He was told to inform the French and Belgians because of their ex-pat population there. Why this warning was ignored by US and UN or why no action was taken is not clear. There are theories out there…
* A request from the same Maj. Gen. Dellaire for more UN enforcements to stop the genocide was ignored. Instead of increasing troops, the UN Security Council led by the US government - who had just lost soldiers in Somalia, reduced the force to 270 soldiers. Dallaire figured that he could STOP the genocide with only 5000 support troops - none were issued.
* It is noteworthy that the number of French and Belgian soldiers brought in to evacuate their foreign workers would have been sufficient number to stop the violence.
* No one was spared - not women, children, or the elderly.
* Even Hutu were killing their own. Reluctant to participate in the killing of friends and neighbours, 'Moderate Hutu' as they were known, were also eliminated.
* Children witnessed their parents being brutally killed and humiliated by people they knew.
* An estimated 500,000 - half a million - women were raped before being either murdered or left to live with HIV from HIV infected soldiers (part of the wipe-out strategy)
* Playing on poverty, ignorance and old fears of Tutsi domination, broadcasts on TV and radio waged a virulent campaign incite fear, perpetuate the hatred and justify the violence.
* Thousands of people seeking refuge were killed in churches. One story was that the priest locked the church from the outside and then allowed the soldiers to bulldoze it down. Incredible.
* One exhibit was gut-wrenching with the names and photos of a handful of children, their favourite food and pastime, and then how they were killed - bludgeoned, macheted, shot, thrown against a wall…
* In the middle of one heart-wrenching photo of a queue of boys, was one boy smiling to the camera. Where was the photo taken and did he know what was going to happen to him?
*Many people crossed borders to refugee camps which of course were gruesome. More violence and rape there. Hutu militia who had crossed along with refugees, reorganized themselves and started incursions and violence.
* During the fleeing, and subsequent move back in 1996, families became separated. 300,000 children lost parents and family. Aid agencies and orphanages took them in. Numerous left to lead households. Only limited families have been reunited since.
* As for the perpetrators? Many are in hiding in neighbouring countries and even perpetrators who planned the whole genocide are seeking asylum in France. Approximately 125,000 genocidaires as they're called, were arrested - just a small portion of those involved. Held in prisons and makeshift jails around the country, numerous are still awaiting trial. Entire communities were involved in crimes - an overwhelming number for courts to deal with. Stepping in to help the main justice court, community courts are struggling too. And once convicted, due to lack of space, they are given community service instead. In the newspaper I read stories of how people easily escape from these; that the system is inadequate; and families feel they are not getting justice.
 |
| Photos of the Some of the Dead at Kigali Memorial Centre |
 |
| Ntarama Church Interior |
It was hard to hold back the tears. Indeed we witnessed a number of locals visiting the Memorial Centre who were beside themselves with grief. It's hard to grasp that this happened so recently. Eighteen years is not that long ago. How do people recover from this kind of brutality? How do they come back from this huge tragedy? Everyone has a story. Anyone 18 years or older has seen too much! Almost everyone knows someone who was killed by their neighbours, friends, even family! Worse, probably someone who killed someone! Martin and I wondered how they go on living together after all this? It's still so raw for them. But somehow, they seem to. Our American friend Peter said that as someone who lives here, he can definitely feel
 |
| Bones at Ntarama Church |
They of course don't want it to happen again. You see signs on graves and memorials saying "Never Again". The billboards and banners around the country remind them… Well, I sincerely hope they continue to 'Learn from their History to Build a Bright Future'. *Mush
No comments:
Post a Comment