28 years after the Rwandan genocide: a reconciled country

The worst tragedy in the history of Africa in general, and Rwanda in particular, is 28 years old, and the country is still in the process of reconstruction and reconciliation between the ethnic groups that make up the territory. But to understand what happened, let's take a step back to understand the factors that influenced and triggered this barbarism.

On 6 April 1994, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana was travelling with Burundian President Cyprian Ntayamira, both Hutu; they were due to land at the airport in Kigali, Rwanda's capital, when their plane was hit by a missile that shot down the plane, killing all the passengers. Juvénal's assassination triggered the massacre and on 7 April the most atrocious acts ever witnessed began, causing a mass exodus of more than a million people.

Rwanda is a country located in the Great Lakes region of Africa, with a population of approximately twelve million inhabitants, where three ethnic groups coexist, the Hutus who make up 85% of the population, the Tutsis who represent 14% and finally the Twa who make up 1% of the population. The Twa are known as the first inhabitants of this territory, of pygmy race. The Hutus are Bantu and peasants. The Tutsis were cattle breeders and nomads, as well as having military training, which gave them a certain organisational advantage over the rest of the ethnic groups, and they even founded a feudal monarchy that sought to dominate the other ethnic groups, which led to revolts against the cattle breeders.

Although it may seem that the assassination of President Juvénal was the reason for what is now known as the 'African holocaust', the tensions actually date back to the colonial era in the 19th century. When the Tutsis imposed their feudal monarchy, the German colonisers began to rule by supporting the country's elite, in this case the Tutsis. In 1913 the Germans encouraged the cultivation of coffee for manufacture and sale, but German governance was short-lived as, after World War I, sanctions imposed on Prussia mandated the abandonment of the country, with Belgium taking control of the area in 1923.

The Belgians decided to impose their presence in the Rwandan government and even control administrative and military power, which did not please the then king, who did not agree to share power with the Belgian colony. The king was forced to resign in 1931. His son Mutara Rudahigwa came to the throne, friendlier to Europeans than his father, was nicknamed "the king of the whites" and even converted to Christianity. 1933 saw the worst of the Belgians' consequences in Rwanda, when their administration began to implement the "colonial ID card" in which Hutu, Tutsi and Twa were differentiated on the basis of supposedly physical differences. This initiative played a decisive role when the genocide began because it allowed Hutus to identify who were Tutsis, which intensified the massacre.
 

By separating the population along ethnic lines, rifts began. The Tutsis benefited from the better jobs, with the Belgians claiming they were more like Europeans. The Hutus, on the other hand, took the unskilled jobs. Nevertheless, there was relative peace until the Tutsis began to treat the Hutus disparagingly, claiming they were their vassals. This fuelled ethnic rivalry and when the Hutus came to power they began to take revenge.

Rwanda declared independence in 1962 and the Hutus took control of the country. In 1973, Juvénal Habyarima took power in a coup d'état. Despite living in supposed peace in the country, the Tutsis were unhappy with the new Hutu leader and when they had the opportunity, they committed the attack that triggered a landmark event that continues to cause shockwaves today.

A group known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) of Tutsi ethnicity is the group that was blamed for the attack on President Juvénal on 6 April 1994. Violence was unleashed on 7 April of the same year in response to the attack on the Hutu leader, on the understanding that the perpetrators could be none other than the Tutsis.

The violence lasted a hundred days, during which hundreds of people were killed indiscriminately and with extreme violence; the most common weapon used in this massacre was the machete and the genocidaires gathered the captured people in closed places where they riddled them with cold-blooded bullets. They killed children and systematically raped women.

All of this happened with the inaction of Western agencies and powers such as the United Nations, the United States and France. It is believed that the interests in mineral resources and the strategic position of the country allowed the inaction of these actors during the massacre.

It has even been reported that Canadian General Roméo Dallaire, who was in charge of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), sent a fax to the UN on 11 January 1994 reporting well-founded suspicions that Hutu militias intended to attack and exterminate the Tutsis. The peace mission was established in the Rwandan capital of Kigali a year before the massacre in 1993. It should be remembered that the country had been through a civil war that began in 1990, but a truce was reached with the Arusha Accords, although violence still continued.

Another factor to be highlighted was the local media, the Radio of the Thousand Settlements (RTLM), a media outlet that supported the Juvénal government, which was responsible for stirring up hatred and repudiation by using propagandistic procedures to infame the Tutsis. One radio journalist even went so far as to reveal the hiding place of the Tutsis and encouraged the Hutus to cut their Tutsi neighbours to pieces.

The press also played a role, publishing the ten Hutu commandments, calling the Tutsis "cockroaches" and inviting them to kill them. The commandments in the newspaper fomented fear in the Tutsi community and strengthened the Hutus, who increasingly rekindled their hatred of their rivals. 

The French had their own interests in certain parts of the country, which explained their indifferent attitude, and they had signed a technical military agreement with Rwanda. The Gauls were in fact collaborating with the government in Juvénal, supplying them with weapons to fight the RPF Tutsi militias.

On a trip to Rwanda last year, President Macron did not apologise verbatim, but did acknowledge in a speech his country's mismanagement, saying: "Today I stand humbly and respectfully at your side, I come to acknowledge the extent of our responsibilities"; however, the president went on to argue that "the killers who roamed the swamps, the hills, the churches, had no face of France. She was not an accomplice... but France has a role, a history and a political responsibility in Rwanda. And it has a duty: to face history and acknowledge the amount of suffering it has inflicted on the people of Rwanda by allowing silence to prevail over examination of the truth for too long".

The UN, which was on Rwandan territory with a peacekeeping mission (UNAMIR) and a force of 2,600 blue helmets, inexplicably decided to withdraw the contingent when the genocide worsened. General Roméo of the peacekeeping mission revealed in an interview that several Belgian, German and French advisors were aware of the facts, but kept it from the UN. 

The US, UK and France used their veto power in the UN Security Council to stop the mission's action on the ground, claiming that "there was a lack of evidence to show RPF incursions into Rwanda", where UNAMIR sought to control the Uganda-Rwanda border.

For the 28th anniversary of the genocide, the UN Secretary-General has stated on the official UN website that "as we remember the bloodshed of 28 years ago, we recognise that we always have a choice. To choose humanity over hatred, compassion over cruelty, courage over complacency, and reconciliation over anger".

After the genocide, elections were held on 25 August 2003 in which Paul Kagame was elected president, winning 95% of the vote. Elections were held again on 9 August and Paul was re-elected with 93% of the vote for a seven-year term. Election observers noted the good organisation of the elections, declaring them free. Today Rwanda is still presided over by Paul Kagame who belongs to the Tutsi ethnic group, and is considered a hero because he managed to re-establish peace and achieve the coexistence of rival ethnic groups after the massacre. In an interview with the photographer Brandon Stanton, Kagame said: "How do you get justice when such a big crime is committed? To kill a million people in 100 days required the same number of executioners. But we could not imprison an entire nation. Forgiveness was the only option. These were difficult decisions. I asked myself many questions. But I always concluded that the future of Rwanda was more important than justice.

Rwanda has taken a 180º turn after the genocide, if during the end of the massacre the World Bank announced that it was the poorest country in the world, with institutions and hospitals in ruins. With no harvests and an average income of less than 90 dollars a year, it was clear that the participation of the entire population was essential to lift the country. As the president said, forgiveness was the only way forward, so the oppressed had to join hands with the oppressors to row in the same direction.

Today Rwanda is a stable country and a model to follow, as its economy is booming, its development is in full swing and at the institutional level there is no hint of corruption. The saying 'unity is strength' can be confirmed, this is how this country that seemed to be unable to move forward because of quarrels is progressing, today it is more than demonstrated that with forgiveness everything is possible.