Rwanda - 10 years Later:
April 8th was the day for a ceremony at the UN Headquarters in New York City.  A ceremony to commemorate 100 days where hell was unleashed in the country of 1000 hills called Rwanda.   The sad reality was a low and embarrassing turnout; not unlike when the days of turmoil visited Rwanda.  The world stood still, made excuses, called it something else such as a spontaneous tribal uprising.  Koffi Annan and Boutros-Boutros Ghali cut the troop strength, while the Canadian General Dallaire who was in charge of the UN contingent nearly lost his mind and soul as the carnage took place. 
 

The world looked on in silence since it was merely African against African and that was not a threat to world peace.  It only had dire consequences on fellow Rwandans.  Africans stood by, from Koffi Annan to President Moi and everyone in between.  Uganda was supportive of the Rwanda Patriotic Front that under the leadership of Paul Kagame brought an end to the carnage.  America and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright quibbled as to the definition of what is genocide, ignoring the reality on the ground. The world did get involved by supplying shelter, food, and medicine to genocidaires who at that point were in then Zaire, Tanzania and upper crust ones in Nairobi.

France had trained and equipped Rwanda's Army and actually fought against the Rwanda Patriotic Front in 1990.  They also rescued many of the genocidaires and gave them escort to safety as whole towns fled.  France told the world they had it under control, but they were more worried about losing French-speaking Rwanda to an Anglophone rebel group made up of Tutsis whose parents fled to Uganda in the 60's and 70's.  France was afraid of a greater Tutsi Empire led by President Museveni whose grandmother had Tutsi roots.

Genocide took place in one hundred days while the world stood still, while America argued that it was not genocide, while the UN cut the forces that could have stopped that horrific event. Now it is 10 years later, the sign in Peace Stadium read "Never Again," but while they were holding the memorial service another event is taking place, another Rwanda is starting up in the Darfur region of Sudan. It is Muslim against Muslim, government led militias causing havoc, and once again there is a silence. Sudan is of course on the UN Human Rights committee, while an ethnic cleansing is taking place in West Sudan. Yes, it is happening again.

One can look at all the errors of countries, at historical background to the genocide in Rwanda and forget that the wounds this genocide made ten years ago are still there.  The machete scars still exist, the scars of heart and soul, the victims of rape, those who saw family members killed in front of their own eyes.  Today there is one change that has taken place, no longer is the tribal affiliation on the national identity card which takes me back to ten years ago when I asked a question.

"What tribe do you belong to?"  Was the question I asked a woman in Kigali, Rwanda during the late summer of 1994.  Her answer was simple and yet profound.  "What does it matter? I am a Human Being."
Human Beings are hard to kill, hard to hate, hard to eliminate, but "Invenzi" are Tutsi cockroaches and needed to be stepped on and crushed.  After all what did it matter whether they were eliminated from the earth? 

The woman that I had asked the question of had actually survived the 100 days from hell in hiding. She had scars, both physical ones and psychological ones, and as a consequence she also had AIDS, and in Africa in 1994 that meant the sentence of death.

Ten years later, I think of Jean who was a cook and housekeeper in a house I stayed at in Kigali.  He spoke of how his neighbors turned on him, about the radio station, Mille Collines, broadcasting that the job needed to be completed, "the graves were still only half full."  The Interhamwe (those who attack together) came to his house and destroyed it and killed his mother and sister.  He and his family got away thanks to a nice Hutu neighbor.  They existed for two months out in the country living off the land.  Life was miserable for him.  He was going to go to his church, but he had heard churches were places where Tutsis were attacked and not places of refuge. 

I remember attending an Anglican Church in Kigali in August of 1994 and seeing the bullet holes, the stains, and my thoughts drifted to a young girl whose home was attacked, her family killed, she herself struck by a machete and thrown into a mass grave.  That night she crawled out and found refuge with a kind Hutu man who hid her beneath the floorboards until the RPF entered Kigali.

Rwanda was not a spontaneous tribal conflict, but a systematic plan to eliminate a people.  Both Hutus and Tutsis speak the same language, often lived next to each other, there were no separate territories, the Tutsis were the minority and ruled for years until the Belgians reversed the order of power. 

Hutu Power became the order of the day and the genocide in 1994 was meant to eliminate a people, to cut them down to size by beheading them.  Most deaths came through the machete, house by house, led by officials, by doctors, inspired by professors, kept on target even by ministers from various religious denominations.

Now it is ten years later and although Africa vowed never to let it to happen again . the word is coming from the Darfur Region of Sudan that we still have not learned.  All we need to do is remember that we are not merely dealing with nationalities, tribes, religion, belief systems, but fathers, mothers, daughters, children...people just like us, people with dreams, hopes for a better tomorrow, people who want to live in peace...may sanity prevail…jon