Remembering Rwanda's Merciless Genocide

“Nationalism of one kind or another was the cause of most of the genocide of the twentieth century. Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead” — Arundhati Roy

The United Nations (UN) has marked April 7 as the commemorative date for the 1994 Rwanda genocide, when the Tutsi were targeted in one of the century’s most brutal episodes of violence, that lasted for over a hundred days and ended in mid-July 1994. Andrea Dworkin best describes genocide in the following terms: “genocide begins, however improbably, in the conviction that classes of biological distinction indisputably sanction social and political discrimination.”

The biggest failure of mankind is cultivating arrogance and chauvinism as privileged characteristics, especially in terms of birth, status, ethnicity, tribal affiliations or for any other conceivable reason. There are various shades of arrogance—extreme to low—that can be found in different cultures. Where there exists moderate to low levels, one may find freedom of association, inter-marriages, and a general attitude of love and tolerance for others. Where arrogance is on the higher side, there is little to no acceptance of those belonging to outside groups. This is fine as long as the policy of live and let live works, but where conceit reaches its peak, the outcomes can be disastrous. Mankind’s history is tarnished by many episodes of genocidal violence and pogroms, but were they successful in wiping off a particular class of people?

These figures portray a very bleak picture of cruelty unleashed by one group of humans on another. Not that the world today has rid itself of these merciless killings. Even right now, people living in Sudan, Palestine, Kashmir and Myanmar are being targeted by those who want to eradicate their existence from the face of this earth. Knowing that such atrocities are being committed on a daily basis, international organizations appear completely helpless, acting like silent spectators. If they were really serious in doing something substantial, by this time the violence would have been controlled and peace would have prevailed. Alas, sanctions for disobeying the earthly gods are quickly imposed, but when it comes to saving precious lives they just look the other way.

The UN, our largest consortium of nations, with its extensive network of institutions and entities, may be contributing tremendously in terms of improving living standards for the world as its motto “peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet” suggests, but it has failed in preventing countries from killing specific members within their population. However, one cannot but help appreciate that the UN is adept in assigning a day to observe certain grave issues. Thus April 7, is dedicated to the 800,000 Tutsi slaughtered in the span of a 100 days in 1994 in Rwanda.

Rwanda is predominantly Hutu, who make up 85% of the population, but the Tutsi minority controlled the affairs of the country. This was so because they were better educated and more cultured compared to the Hutus as a consequence of the legacy of colonial divisions. In 1959, the Tutsi monarchy was overthrown by the Hutus, forcing them to flee to neighboring countries where some of the people formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) that invaded Rwanda in 1990, which erupted in a battle that continued until 1993 when a peace deal was made. Unfortunately, on 6 April 1994, a plane carrying then President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down, killing all on board and this was attributed to the RPF by Hutu extremists.

Soon, in their rage of vengeance the Hutus immediately started a well-organized and meticulous plan to eliminate Tutsis, who on the other hand claimed that the plane was deliberately shot down as an excuse to start one of the most heinous genocides ever, where even priests and nuns were later convicted of killing people, including those who had taken refuge in churches.

Whatever may have been the situation then, the fact is that UN and Belgium had forces in Rwanda, but the UN mission was not given a mandate to stop the killing. The French, who were the allies of the Hutu government, sent a special force to evacuate their citizens, but did not do anything to stop the killing. On 4 July 1994, the RPF with the aid of the Ugandan army, captured Kigali, the capital, and once again the Tutsis got a hold of the country, resulting in two million Hutus fleeing across the border into Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Post genocide, six African countries were at war with each other because of the subsequent political upheavals with one faction taking over power in Kinshasa, capital of Zaire. Consequently, eastern DR Congo had to suffer decades of unrest leading to the death of some five million people until 2003.

In 2002, the International Criminal Court was set up long after the Rwandan genocide which meant that those who were actually responsible could not be tried. Merely 93 persons, all of them Hutus, were indicted and convicted of genocide. After decades of bloodshed and devastation, Rwanda is now being led by President Paul Kagame, who has transformed his country into one that is witnessing rapid economic growth and in the process of becoming a technological hub. Its capital is considered as one of the cleanest cities in Africa. The genocide is a highly sensitive topic in Rwanda today and any discussion about ethnicity has been declared as illegal.

Despite the tight control being exercised by the President to stifle any uprising, embers of hate may still be simmering below the ashes of genocide and God forbid that in the future some hot-headed remnants of the genocide do not contemplate another phase of terror. In the words of James Lovelock, “there aren’t just bad people that commit genocide; we are all capable of it. It’s our evolutionary history."