Next week, the world will mark the 16th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 to 1 million people were killed in a period of about 100 days. The damage to human and physical infrastructure alike tore the nation apart and destabilized the entire Great Lakes region. Memorial ceremonies and remembrances of the tragedy (like this haunting piece) will be occurring throughout the next couple months. Now just throw in Hotel Rwanda, and this is where popular knowledge begins and ends about the tiny nation. But what has been going on in the sixteen years since the genocide?
Well, quite a lot.
After 1994, Rwanda has become somewhat of a development superstar for a host of reasons, some even proposing that Haiti follow Rwanda’s model for reconstruction (the completely different country contexts are a different story). Under the leadership of President Paul Kagame, the nation has taken huge steps to recovery with the goal of achieving middle-income country status by the year 2020—from instituting local gacaca (“justice on the grass”) courts that promote local reconciliation to focusing national development efforts on technology, investment, and sustainable methods for growth. Rwanda has joined the Commonwealth, restored previously broken relations with France, and efforts continue to be made to pursue perpetrators of the genocide. So what’s next?
Rwanda has been in the news for its success stories (and there are many) but there is another reason why we’ll be seeing more about this country in the coming months:
Presidential elections are rapidly approaching and very few doubt that incumbent President Paul Kagame will be re-elected. Is this due to his effectiveness as a leader? Overwhelming support by the Rwandan people? Well, unfortunately, the autocratic approach to governance means we’ll never know. In fact, pre-election intimidation of opposition parties has already begun with candidate Victoire Ingabire detained, questioned, and vilified by the pro-government national newspaper. Moreover, several recent grenade attacks have shaken this normally secure country, but there is little belief that these types of occurrences will escalate out of control.
International observers are watching Rwanda to see how this pans out. However, even if free and fair elections were to occur, it is almost certain that President Kagame would be re-elected anyways. The opposition is either too weak or too controversial. But this does highlight the broader problem of free speech in Rwanda (and it’s nothing new). Some Rwandans rebel against this (in private, of course) while others feel it is a necessary evil for the time being in order to maintain stability in the country.
A new report from the BBC on the “true price of Rwanda’s recovery” sums up the dilemma succinctly and is well worth the read.
So with all the different points of view, who should we listen to? Those like Ingabire who argue that it is high time for Rwandan democracy, those like the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs that claim it already exists, or those who maintain democracy is still too dangerous for a nation with a history of division?
The issue is complex and in the end time will tell, although most hope (as do I) that Rwandan progress will be long-lasting, despite human rights debates and a government adverse to critiques. I’ll be writing more in the coming months to keep Rwanda on the radar so that we make sure to learn from both its missteps and successes. In the meantime, we should keep in mind that the wounds from an event like a genocide run deep, and issues such as economic progress and democracy should not be taken lightly.
As I type this, ‘Aegis Students’ are walking across London from the Holocaust Memorial Gardens in Hyde Park to Speakers’ Corner, in solidarity with ‘Walk to Remember’. Walk to Remember was established by the youth of Rwanda from youth movements Peace and Love Proclaimers (PLP) and Aegis Students Rwanda, advocating knowledge as a means for prevention.
‘This year the walk has become a global event and continues to promote unity, reconciliation, and acceptance. Walks, organized by Rwandan Aegis Students will be taking place across Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Kenya.’
Raising awareness is so important.
It definitely is—both of the event itself and of the progress made since. In ‘94, a lack of global awareness played such a large role in allowing the genocide to continue. Events like these and the increasing importance of social media are going to hopefully help prevent these types of tragedies in the future.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201003080247.html
I am not sure that Rwandan progress will be longlasting, as you believe (and I wished I could). But Kagame doesn’t make the wounds of the genocide heal.
The local courts that pursue perpetrators of the genocide only focus on Hutu who killed Tutsi (which is of course the main issue and very important) but people often forget Tutsi killed many Hutu people who fled to neighbouring countries after the genocide. This is covered by Kagame which means there is justice only on one side of the genocide.
Moreover, Rwanda isn’t making progress in solving its main contradictions. And when you know that Hutu and Tutsi are living side by side in the same villages (imagine living next to the man who raped your wife and daughters), the still existing tensions can easily lead to a new outbreak of violence.
But this is a really interesting post about a topic that can’t be avoided when blogging about global development.
Hi Hanna,
Your concerns are completely on point, and I share them, too.
I didn’t want to get into it here since it is so complex, but you are absolutely correct in saying that much of the “reconciliation” is politically driven and insufficient. I think for all of the success stories, there are many counterexamples. Especially because the government no longer takes data on Hutu and Tutsi population (because ethnicity is not officially recognized by the government), the issue is much more difficult to examine, although I have heard from various sources that discrimination and ethnic tension continues.
What I think is that if economic progress continues, the costs will be too high for individuals to return to violent behavior. However, another important point is making sure that the progress reaches the poorest strata of society, which it is currently not doing. If not, then the inequality has the potential to feed resentment and another outbreak of violence.
Sorry for writing a novel! I’ll definitely be covering a lot more of these issues in the future.
I read an interesting piece on the role of the Catholic Church in the Rwandan Crisis. It opened my eyes to a new perspective on how we deal with the tragedies of our past. If anyone is interested, I can pass on the link. (I tried to past it in but the server wouldn’t let me).
Great post Maria.
An in-depth analysis from Philip Gourevitch is worth reading. His book entitled “We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families” is brilliant. You might like it.
@Clare: Thanks! There has been more in the news lately about the Church’s complicity in the genocide. One article I can remember highlighted the fact that the Pope was able to apologize for the current child abuse scandals but has still had not apologized for the Church’s role in the genocide.
@Luan: I own it.
Thank you, though! I also highly recommend Romeo Dallaire’s book Shake Hands with the Devil for reading up on the genocide (it’s a brick, though), but there are many others. Stephen Kinzer has a more recent book out called A Thousand Hills for which he spent a lot of time with Kagame, but it is unfortunately pretty biased toward the government.
@ Luan, are there any other books you can recommend? Thanks!
@ Lara: One that I would really like to read is called “Pure Massacre” (Kevin O’Halloran) which documents the experiences of peacekeepers who witnessed violence against innocents perpetrated by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (now, Rwandan Patriotic Front). Since the RPF is the current ruling party, they are generally portrayed as the “good guys” who stopped the genocide even though there is evidence of their violence, too. It will be really interesting to see how the government reacts to this.
For more general lists, the links below seem pretty comprehensive and the second one includes some movies and docs. Hope it helps!
http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/10824563964.htm
http://blog.mawbooks.com/2008/06/11/a-look-at-genocide-part-3-rwanda-book-recommendations/
Lara, I only know those which Maria has already mentioned. Sorry
Brilliant, thanks guys!