Rwanda and the world commemorate genocide against the Tutsi

By Gerald Mbanda

In 1994, more than one million people were brutally killed constituting the genocide against the Tutsi. The 7th of April is a day of commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. In 2003, the United Nations General Assembly also designated the 7^th of April as an International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Today, Rwandans and well-wishers commemorate the death of more than one million innocent souls simply because they were Tutsi. 

Government forces and Interahamwe militia participated in the mass murder under the supervision of public officials from the highest to the lowest levels. Ordinary citizens were also encouraged to kill their Tutsi neighbors; men who married Tutsi women were encouraged to kill their wives and children. During the commemoration period, testimonies given by genocide survivors sound like horror scenes in movies, yet these are lived experiences. 

There had been all signs that the government in power at the time was preparing to commit genocide against the Tutsi, but the international community did not take the warning seriously. More disappointing was that the United Nations Peacekeeping force (UNAMIR) that was in Rwanda, was down sized and later completely withdrawn at the height of the genocide leaving thousands of Tutsi who had taken refuge in UMAMIR compounds in the hands of the killers.  

Through radio- RTLM, and publications such as Kangura, journalists publicly incited people to hunt and kill the Tutsi people. Although radio RTLM was disguised an as independent radio, it was a government project designed to spread hate and genocide ideology against the Tutsi. In Rwanda, radio was the source of official messages especially from public officials and what was said through radio, was considered as official and the truth. Hate messages against the Tutsi were quickly disseminated and Interahamwe militias and government forces constituted the killing machines. 

The genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda was the fastest mass murder ever recorded in human history where more than one million people were killed in only one hundred days. This is evidence that the genocide had been planned for a long time. There is no genocide that has ever taken place without involvement of state machinery. Those who claim that the genocide against the Tutsi was cause by the shooting of the president’s plane are simply trying to cover up the truth. 

Since 1959, through the 60s and in 70s, Tutsi people were being killed in different parts of the country and this was probably a trial period of the genocide against the Tutsi that was realized in 1994. The Tutsi had for many years been discriminated against, in schools and public service. From primary schools teachers would read names of Tutsi students and asked to stand up so that other students could ridicule them. 

In 1959, after the first wave of mass murder against the Tutsi which was supervised by the Belgian colonialists, thousands of Tutsi left Rwanda and lived in exile as refugees. In fact, some historians suggest that in 1959, the first genocide against the Tutsi was committed, but since it was the colonialists who kept records or who gave the outside world information on what was happening, the truth was concealed. From 1959, the Tutsi who remained in Rwanda lived more or less like second class citizens with no equal rights. 

In 1994, after the genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda as a country almost became a failed state. Everything came to a standstill. The RPF government which stopped the genocide inherited an empty treasury. The country was not easy to govern with hundreds of thousands who participated in genocide. The genocide survivors needed justice; the society needed healing, and the country needed to be resuscitated from the brink of a failed state. It was a delicate balance that required visionary leadership, dedication, sacrifice and conviction.  

Today, as Rwanda and well-wishers commemorate 31 years after the genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda is a country that has turned a new page. It’s no longer a country remembered for the brutal mass murder that happened, but a country that keeps improving itself in all spheres of life. It is a country that has given hope to its citizens who were hopeless in 1994. Rwanda is a country where positive change is visible, socially, economically and politically.  We commemorate the genocide against the Tutsi, lest we forget. We can forgive but we cannot forget. “Remember – Unite – Renew”.