you’re forgiven,
you would never know that in 1994
neighbor against neighbor
dead bodies lining the streets
1994, it’s hard to place that
as recent – until you see the
color photos and kids sprawled
in the dirt in their nike shoes.
there’s a peace here you don’t expect
f r a g i l e , to be handled carefully,
but peace none the less.
up the mountain where we walk
one of the roads is blocked off
there’s just been a confession
of a mass grave site from the genocide
so it’s being extricated.
we are not hutu or tutsi, they say
we are all r w a n d a n
it started with imperialism.
(doesn’t it always?)
initially under germany colonization in the late 1800s
the colonists favored the tutsi when assigning
admin roles believing them racially superior
starting the rift between hutu and tutsi populations.
during world war I belgian forces took over rwanda
and in 1935 introduced identity cards labeling people
as tutsi, hutu, twa or naturalized, preventing any movement
between the groups and creating more division
(still, the tutsi were favored)
but after world war II a hutu emancipation movement started
encouraged by the catholic church who had sympathy for the
under privileged hutu
in 1957 hutu scholars wrote the bahutu manifesto
first document to label tutsi and hutu as separate races and
rallying for transfer of power from tutsi to hutu based on
statistical law –
and then there was an assignation of a hutu sub-chief
and war broke out, the rwandan revolution,
and in 1962 a hutu dominated republic was created
as the country became independent
floods of tutsi sought escape in neighboring countries
but they wanted to return, though most of the 300,000
refugees remained so for three decades.
in 1990 a refugee tutsi force came in from uganda
under the name rwandan patrotic front (RPF) and for the next
year they waged guerilla type warfare with backing from
france and zaire
in 1992 the RPF announced a ceasefire and tried to work
with the government, but in 1993 extremist hutu groups
formed and began large scale violence against the tutsi.
the united nations assistance mission for rwanda
(UNAMIR)
brought a peacekeeping force into kigali in 1993
(it failed).
it’s unclear exactly when the decision was made
to kill the tutsi population on a mass scale, but
soon “lists” were being made and attempts to register
all tutsi’s in kigali continued –
in 1994, the commander of UNAMIR received intelligence
of the mass plan for genocide, requesting aide… but
because of poorly dotted i’s and crossed t’s about what the
peacekeeping force was really there to do, no one
was sent. the request went unanswered.
another assassination happened in april,
and large scale murder of the tutsi’s began.
they set up roadblocks – each person had to show
their identity card, and anyone with a tutsi card was
slaughtered immediately. men, women, and children.
house to house searches ensued,
neighbor against neighbor
and each leader of the rural provinces
encouraged hutu civilians to kill
their tutsi friends.
machetes. rifles. beatings.
torture. genital mutliation.
systematic r a p e .
they specifically recruited HIV positive men
to rape captive tutsi’s. creating “rape squads,”
the goal –
slow, inexorable death.
it’s estimated that during the first
six weeks up to 800,000 rwandans
were killed. because many hutu were killed
as well, for reasons such as alleged sympathy
for the tutsi or even just having a similar
hutu either took part, or were killed on the s p o t.
the RPF made gains, fighting back and most
of the killings stopped at the end of april,
though in rural areas it took longer and the help
of French forces from the united nations –
it was supposed to be a humanitarian mission
but it did not save a lot of lives
(too late?)
the international world,
failed again.
(history repeats itself – )
UNIMAR had the information
but didn’t act.
the French and Belgian forces
focused on higher up officials and high
profile members, and the tutsi they rounded up
in evacuation trucks were often stopped down the road
and slaughtered.
the U.S. also reportedly had intelligence
of the plan for mass genocide
but haunted from the history in Somalia
did nothing.
…. afterwards, investigations on human rights
violations began, and the Rwandan government
set up gacaca courts to begin the trials for those
involved in the genocide.
gacaca in Kinyarwanda means “a bed of soft green grass”
in which ancient communities sat and gathered
to discuss and resolve conflicts within the village
local courts throughout rwanda
to “find the truth” in each case.
in rwanda and the international community
the courts are still controversial
though at the museum and to many rwandans
these courts paved the way for reconciliation between
neighbors, friends, and families.
it is unique in the sense it was rwandan led,
sped up the trials
and promoted a culture of
asking for forgiveness
the country has gone to great lengths to promote
reconciliation, with programs that set up villages
for perpetrators and victims to live side by side
and umuganda, every able bodied Rwandan
18 – 64 takes part in community service for
3 hours a month, so that all Rwandans can work
side by side for the rebuilding of their country.
i hear story after story of hutu people
asking for forgiveness and tutsi survivors
not only forgiving, but r e c o n c i l i n g –
their kids play together.
they live side by side.
“i don’t have it in me for revenge,”
one woman says and –
over and over and over, the people say
we must forgive.
we are all r w a n d a n .
it’s different here. you feel it in the air.
the way people go out of their way to help
you, and the way they smile and invite
you into their home.
i can’t understand it –
i know Jesus and the power of
forgiveness and still i can’t understand the
healing over this land in which blood
c r i e s out from the ground –
(it’s fragile but – )
this land of reconciliation.
a people who refused to let tragedy,
horror, and atrocities define them
or their nation.
who recognize power in the words
“you are forgiven.”