7TH APRIL & THE GENOCIDE IN RWANDA: LET'S MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE
7TH
APRIL & THE GENOCIDE IN RWANDA: LET'S MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE
Guess what friends? April 7th, 2017 is my 3rd anniversary in Sterling Bank Plc.
If the truth is to be told, it has been a fantastic journey thus far and I have
to state with all sincerity that I have not regretted my decision to leave my
job at the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives for Sterling
Bank at any time in my eventful and educative journey so far. I would have love
to give you guys a full gist of my highs and lows at Sterling Bank but
something more important is happening today - 7th April is the International Day for the Remembrance of
the Victims of the Rwandan Genocide. This article would discuss in
extensive details, the historic event and its implications to our continued and
collective existence.
Rwanda is a very small
country, located near the center of Africa, a few degrees south of the Equator.
It is separated from the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) by Lake
Kivu and the Ruzizi River valley to the west; it is bounded on the north by
Uganda, to the east by Tanzania, and to the south by Burundi. The capital,
Kigali, is located in the center of the country. According to the 1991 national
census, the total population of Rwanda was 7.7 million, with 90% of the
population in the Hutu ethnic group, 9% Tutsi, and 1% Twa. The Rwandan Genocide
itself began with mass killings in Kigali, but over the course of its 100-day
duration, killing spread to all corners of the country.
(Luke Walker -
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) is a partner of World Without
Genocide. February 21st, 2017)
The Rwandan
genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi was a genocidal mass
slaughter of Tutsi in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority government. An
estimated 800,000 - 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed during the 100-day period
from April 7 to mid-July 1994, constituting as many as 70% to 80% of the Tutsi
population. Additionally, 30% of the Pygmy Batwa were killed. The genocide and
widespread slaughter of Rwandans ended when the Tutsi-backed and heavily armed
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) led by Paul Kagame took control of the country.
An estimated 2,000,000 Rwandans, mostly Hutus, were displaced and became
refugees.
The genocide took
place in the context of the Rwandan Civil War, an ongoing conflict beginning in
1990 between the Hutu-led government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF),
which largely consisted of Tutsi refugees whose families had fled to Uganda
after the 1959 Hutu revolt against colonial rule. Waves of Hutu violence
against the RPF and Tutsi followed Rwandan independence in 1962. International
pressure on the Hutu government of President Juvénal Habyarimana resulted in a
ceasefire in 1993, with a road-map to implement the Arusha Accords, which would
create a power-sharing government with the RPF. This agreement was not
acceptable to a number of conservative Hutu, including members of the Akazu,
who viewed it as conceding to enemy demands. The RPF military campaign
intensified support for the so-called "Hutu Power" ideology, which
portrayed the RPF as an alien force who were non-Christian, intent on
reinstating the Tutsi monarchy and enslaving Hutus. Many Hutus reacted to this
prospect with extreme opposition.
On April 6, 1994, an
airplane carrying Rwandan President Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart
Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down on its descent into Kigali. The assassination
of Habyarimana ended the peace accords.
Genocidal killings
began the following day. Soldiers, police, and militia quickly executed key
Tutsi and moderate Hutu military and political leaders who could have assumed
control in the ensuing power vacuum. Checkpoints and barricades were erected to
screen all holders of the national ID card of Rwanda in order to systematically
identify and kill Tutsi. These forces recruited and pressured Hutu civilians to
arm themselves with machetes, clubs, blunt objects, and other weapons to rape,
maim, and kill their Tutsi neighbors and to destroy or steal their property.
The breakdown of the peace accords led the RPF to restart its offensive and
rapidly seize control of the northern part of the country before capturing
Kigali in mid-July, bringing an end to the genocide.
During these events
and in the aftermath, the United Nations (UN) and other world powers - the
United States, the United Kingdom, and Belgium were criticized for their
inaction and failure to strengthen the force and mandate of the UN Assistance
Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) peacekeepers. Other observers criticized the
government of France for alleged support of the Hutu government after the
genocide had begun.
(Source:
Wikipedia.com)
Effects of the
Massive Atrocity
The Genocide may
have ended some 23 years ago but the pathetic truth is that the effects of such
disasters are always long lasting and ever evident. The genocide had a lasting
and profound impact on Rwanda and its neighboring countries.
"Immediately following the RPF takeover in
July, 1994, around 2 million Hutus (perpetrators, bystanders, and resistors to
the genocide) fled into the neighboring countries to avoid potential Tutsi
retribution. Thousands died of epidemics, which spread like wildfire through to
overcrowded refugee camps”. (Luke Walker of the Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies - February 21, 2017).
The
RPF military victory and installation of an RPF-dominated government prompted
many Hutus to flee to neighboring countries, particularly in the eastern
portion of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), where the Hutu
genocidaires began to regroup in refugee camps along the border with Rwanda.
Declaring a need to avert further genocide, the RPF-led government led military
incursions into Zaire, including the First (1996–97) and Second (1998–2003) Congo
Wars. Armed struggles between the Rwandan government and their opponents in DRC
have continued to play out through proxy militias in the Goma region, including
the M23 rebellion (2012–2013). Large Rwandan Hutu and Tutsi populations
continue to live as refugees throughout the region.
Additionally,
the pervasive use of rape as a weapon of war caused a spike in HIV infection,
including babies born of rape to newly infected mothers; many households were
headed by orphaned children or widows. The destruction of infrastructure and
the severe depopulation of the country crippled the economy, challenging the
nascent government to achieve rapid economic growth and stabilization.
Conclusion
In a paper titled;
"Observations from the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda" written by a World Without
Genocide Associate. The author (exact name unknown) explained in explicit
details our individual and collective contributions to a better world. The
author summed up his/her experience at the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda which was established to try the perpetrators of the war crimes in 1994.
Excerpts from the article;
"It is really difficult to see something you
know needs to be resolved and want to help out so badly but feel like there is
no solution. Such a feeling of uncertainty has almost driven me away many
times. I remember thinking how easy it would be to pursue a lifestyle that
ignores all of this inequity. I have a privilege to do that – but how could I
live with that when I know that not everyone is in a situation to do that, and
that because of our interconnectedness I would somehow be benefiting from
others’ pain. Many people choose to take this life of privilege without looking
back. It is so easy to do, and this is where greed comes in, this is where
genocide and violence happens – in forgetting the other, in thinking only of
oneself, of one’s own survival. But what would the world be like without the
other? Don’t we all shape each other? Aren’t we all apart of each other? As my
host brother said, “It seems key to always think about the other as your own…if
you think about him and he thinks about you, then you have 2 people looking out
for yourself rather than only 1, and soon the whole world is looking after each
other.”
"To me, justice is denying the option of
turning the other way, acknowledging our own personal involvement in every
situation, and working to end the negative ramifications of our individual
actions. Above all, the experiences at ICTR and in Rwanda emphasized that we
should always strive to question what is before us and to embrace those who are
around us."
Oh, would anyone
want to wish me a happy 3rd anniversary in Sterling Bank?
#LetsMakeTheWorldABetterPlace
God Bless Us All
Oluwole Olusanya
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