Jenocide, Wasted Lives

“That place was where they killed people? Genocide! ” these were the words I heard when I informed people that I am heading to Kigali, Rwanda. That’s what they heard and what they believed?  Me! What did I believe? Did I have any preconceived notion before coming to Kigali? For the life of me I won’t know what to answer. I am still searching to solve the puzzle of what Rwanda is made of? Is it even possible to truly know a country after a lifetime much less for 10 days? 

I do not know who I am writing to; I do not even know why I am writing to tell of the country of thousand hills. Why am I so determined to write? I do not really know but I have made it my duty, an obligation, a promise. 

So even though I have problems writing like a sleepwalker, or a blind man advancing slowly in the darkness, I write.

Genocide! This is the word that is synonymous with Rwanda. What does it actually mean? What are its consequences? And is it possible for a person who has not experience it to be able to understand it?

“We say to the Inyenzi [croakcroaches] that if they lift up their heads again it will no longer be necessary to fight the enemy in the bush. We will start by eliminating the internal enemy. They will disappear” Hassan Ngeze, Janvier 1994

This led to streets littered with corpses, dogs eating the rotting flesh of their owners, country smelt of death, the stench of putrefaction that enters not only through the nose but the mouth invading one’s guts. Genocidaires were deemed successful in 1994 in their evil aims than anyone would have dared to believe. Rwanda was dead. 

Garden of Divide: Kigali Memorial Centre

Even though Rwanda was not officially colonised by any foreign power it was part of the trusteeship of the Belgians, which is tantamount to colonization. In immediate post-colonial context, when the so called “new world” was formed, the issue of identity arose.  Governance and new actors in the political arena reinforced the division between the Tutsis and Hutus.

The genocide can be traced back to divisionalism. They planted the seeds of a kind of tropical Nazism.  This is manifested in the Garden of Divide in which 4 elephants surround the stream and then water breaks through it showing the division of the Rwandan people.
 Many African countries are celebrating their 5oth independence anniversary this year from their colonial masters such as Britain, France, Germany and the other countries that were scrambling for Africa in 1884.

This reminds me of history lessons with Mr Kennedy who is very knowledgeable but has a weird sense of dress style. This was a teacher who you either hated or loved; no in betweens. But let me continue.

Does gaining independence mean better and improved lives for Africans? Maybe. This however did not happen in the case of Rwanda. As someone observed;

“Independence when it came did not improve Rwandan’s future, it destroyed it instead”. 

Genocide does not happen in a day. They are never spontaneous. They are intentional act of multiple murders aimed at destroying the presence of the victim group. When the former president, Habyarimana was assassinated when his plane was shot down, this became a starting point of the mass killing. 

 1 Million People! 100 Days

The murderers had huge human power. They did not kill with guns which is obviously easier but instead used machetes, clubs and sticks which takes more energy making it more brutal. The killers had killed with such savagery not because they were out of their minds, amid confusion perhaps, they were efficient, obedient bittered-players, poor devils and ridiculous puppets conned. 

 

Women were raped, tortured, beaten and discarded. They were not humans any more and even less soul. From having their breasts cut off with machetes, forehead slashed, hands split between the fingers and then left alone

 

1 million dead, 77% of the population targeted

 

Where was the international community? Did the world just stood by and watch? 

Walking through the Kigali Memorial Centre with tears in my eyes I felt anger, bitterness, and despair. How could the world stand back and watch a million people killed? Men, women and children: 3 months old babies to 12 year olds. Looking at their pictures mounted, a time when they were happy. Innocent children that did not know what was happening nor are to be blame for the tribe they were born into. Those pictures were frozen in time. A hopeful time when they could have had a future. The hope of Rwanda lost. 

Less than 5000 troops could haven being able to stop it but the UN Mission were recalled instead. With the former UN Secretary General saying;

“No reconnaissance or other action including response to request protection should not be taken by UNAMIR until clear guidance is received from HQ”. They never did anything, the world stood by and watched. 

This is not new or relative to Rwanda. Genocides could have being stop, but everyone stands back and watches as in similar cases of the Holocaust,   and in countries such as Namibia, Armenia, Cambodia, Treblinka and Bosnia

Too many unanswered questions still remain. Why are men so brutal? Is it human nature?

I do not have the answers, I am still searching. But as the elephant with the mobile phone in the Garden of Reconciliation depicted, is to pass the lessons learnt around the world for a better future. We need to remember the events of the past, know what is happening in the world:  Pakistan, Jamaica, Cyprus, Nigeria, South Africa, we do not think about it, because it is none of our business, we are so caught up in our own world, our own bubble that we do not even know what is happening with our neighbour that is the attitude we must change.

One lasting impression of the Memorial Centre is the 3 Rooms. I was so moved when I entered the gallery and the display of pictures of people killed in the genocide row after row. It is said that life is not measured by the number of breathes we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away. This was indeed that moment.  The second room containing their remains such as skulls and other body parts and the third with their artefacts and belongings found on their persons. It was a kind of descent into hell. A curious journey. What was it like for these people? A generation’s dream stolen: wasted lives.

Because of what happen, do I see Rwanda as a country of genocidaires, killers, and slaughterers? Or as a country with a unique quality and a special learning point. 

Before I leave, I may have the answers to these questions. With such soul searching, our character changes. Our whole being changes, you cannot be the same again. Our attitude towards live changes.