Never Again
The Rwanda Project Report
July- August 2002
Kigali, Rwanda
Contents
Introduction 1
Objectives 2
Preparation 3
Itinerary 4
The Genocide: Memory and
Testimony 6
Education 12
Justice 16
Unity and Reconciliation
23
Conflict and Security 24
Budget 28
Conclusions 29
Next Steps 32
Acknowledgements 33
Appendix I: Participants 34
Appendix II: Abbreviations 35
Appendix III: Evaluation
Questionnaire 36
Appendix IV: Contact Details 37
Executive SummaryIntroduction
‘Never Again’ – An international commitment or a rhetorical sound
bite? Why doesn’t the international
community act to prevent genocide? It is universally recognized that genocide
is a crime against humanity. However, in
1994 while the world was still issuing assurances of ‘never again’ over 800,000
people were killed in Rwanda as a result of genocide.
The
consequences of genocide in Rwanda are immeasurable. Legacies of the 1994 genocide include: the
problems of orphans, widows, street children, destruction of social and
economic infrastructures, AIDS, fear, frustration and mistrust among people.
The
Government of Rwanda, NGOs and donors have contributed both their efforts and
finances in order to rebuild the country from the ashes of despair. However, the root causes of the genocide
remain latent and the protracted social conflict is unresolved. The genocide of 1994 has reframed the lives
of all Rwandans. Time in contemporary
Rwanda is considered in terms of its status as before, during or after the genocide
of 1994.
There
remains a lack of understanding in the world about what happened in Rwanda or
how it could have been prevented. The
United Nations was aware of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994; Lt. Gen. Dallaire
(head of UN’s peacekeeping force in Rwanda: UNAMIR) warned the Security Council
of preparations for genocide. Another UN
member, Dr. Gerry Caplan, has written a report of the genocide for the
Organisation for African Unity (OAU) which he titles: The Preventable
Genocide. The implication of members
of the international community in the genocide; the lack of international will
to try to prevent the genocide or stop it immediately and Europe’s colonial
links with Rwanda illustrate why the genocide in Rwanda is not simply a problem
for Rwanda, but for the world.
As
students working across borders we learn from each other and hope that together
we can help emphasise the need for a more
responsible and intelligently responsive international community.
Never
Again
Never
Again, an international student network, was founded at the Institute for
International Mediation and Conflict Resolution's 2001 Symposium at The Hague.
Never Again created a collaborative international partnership between students
from around the world. Never Again aims
to alert the international community to both the causes and effects of genocide
and facilitate the exchange of ideas between young people – those who have
lived through genocide and those who wish to learn from them. We are students from institutions including:
University College London (UK), National University of Rwanda (Butare), Harvard
University (USA), London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), School
of Oriental and African Studies (UK), McGill University (Canada), Northwestern
University (USA), and New York University (USA).
Objectives
Never
Again aims to provoke ideas and action for preventing conflict through raising
awareness about past conflicts; creating spaces for student initiatives which
search for alternatives to conflict and work for peace.
Rwanda
Project Objectives
a.
Draw international attention to the Rwandan
genocide and express remembrance;
b.
Encourage youth co-operation;
c.
Work to support the aims and objectives of existing organisations in Rwanda;
d.
Conduct
research into the genocide from a wide range of academic disciplines and use a compilation of our findings to enhance understanding in our home
countries.
The Rwanda Project
The Never Again ‘Rwanda Project’ is a
collaborative effort that brought together students from around the world. The team met in Rwanda for the first two
weeks of August as part of a project to learn about, remember and draw
international attention to the 1994 genocide.
We held discussions with organisations, groups and individuals:
witnesses to the genocide, perpetrators and those involved in the
reconciliation process. We built strong partnerships between the visiting and
host participants.
The
visiting participants were paired up with host students from the National
University of Rwanda. Each pair shared a specific research area. They introduced themselves to one another via
email before the trip and began email correspondences in preparation to
research together in Rwanda.
The
Rwandan hosts shared between them the responsibilities of coordinating the
itinerary and interpreting from Kinyirwanda and French into English at our
meetings in Rwanda. Each one of the
visiting students had their own recording responsibility: Marian wrote the minutes, Zack manned the
video camera, Tamaki took photographs,
Poppy recorded audio on to mini disk, and Tashi made cassette recordings
as back up. For the visiting students
the recording devises had a dual function.
As well as carrying out a key objective of the trip - to make tangible
records of the genocide and reconciliation process - the recording equipment
also provided a buffer between the participants and some of the horror of the
stories we heard. Furthermore the
recording devises became consistent, explicit reminders of our aims and
directed the participants to the task of recording, reinforcing our sense of
our aims for the Project.
The Report
d.This report is intended for our members, funders
and associates. The information provided is taken from transcriptions of
interviews and, while we have tried to report views faithfully, Never Again
accepts responsibility for any errors of fact or misrepresentation.
Preparation
The
Rwanda Project evolved over a year of preparation. Hearing Lt. Gen. Dallaire
speak at the IIMCR Symposium in the Hague inspired the founding of Never Again.
Regina Ingabire, a participant at the symposium, invited Never Again to Rwanda
the following summer. IIMCR provided us with a network of people who were
interested in and supportive of the Project.
The IIMCR participants returned to their home countries and successfully
increased the membership of Never Again. The London committee coordinated the
international students who would participate in the Rwanda trip. William
Patterson, founder member of Never Again, was vital to the London preparations.
The Rwanda committee identified individuals and groups with whom we should
meet.
In
London, our meetings with HE Ambassador Rosemary Museminali were productive and
encouraging. The members of Never Again also ensured there was a representative of the
organisation at relevant seminars and lectures. These events put us in contact
with the Rwandan community in London as well as experts in Rwanda, conflict and
related research areas. We organised our own meetings and received advice about
how to approach the topic of genocide in Rwanda. Linda Melvern was particularly
welcoming; giving us her time and resources, she shared her formidable
knowledge of events in Rwanda with enthusiasm and generosity.
Meeting
Caroline Phillips was hugely formative in the development of the Project. She rigorously critiqued our proposal,
helping us to review our objectives and clarify the focus of our Project. Meeting Suzanne Bargett helped us to form
ideas for a related, future project and put the Rwanda Project into a long term
perspective.
Preparatory Meetings and Events Attended:
July-August
2001 Institute
for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution 2001 Symposium.
2001
– ongoing A series of meetings with Her Excellency Rosemary
Museminali the Rwandan Ambassador to
the United Kingdom.
November
2001 The Shallow Graves of Rwanda, (St. Martins Press,
2001) Shaharayar M. Khan, book launch, School
of Oriental and African Studies.
6
April 2002 Rwandan Genocide Memorial Seminar at School of Oriental and African
Studies, Remembering Genocide in Rwanda: Building a Firm Foundation for the
Future
9
April 2002 8th Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide Memorial Service in St Margaret’s Chapel, London.
17
May 2002 Advisory meeting with Linda Melvern, author of A People Betrayed (Zed Books, 2000)
31 May 2002 Advisory
meeting with Caroline Phillips, Deputy Programme manager, Rwanda, Africa Great
Lakes &Horn Department, UK government Department
for International Development.
2
June 2002 Advisory meeting with Lord Janner of Braunstone QC, Chair of Holocaust Educational Trust.
1
July 2002 Seminar
Organised by Never Again, SOAS. Participants included members of Never
Again, genocide survivors and members of the Rwandan community in London.
12
July 2002 Meeting with Suzanne Bargett, Curator of the
Imperial War Museum’s Holocaust Exhibition and Exhibit on Crimes Against
Humanity: Conflict in our Time
17
July 2002 Organised and hosted book launch for Michael
Barnett’s Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda by
Michael N. Barnett (Cornell University Press, 2002)
Itinerary in Rwanda
The
itinerary, created by the Rwandan committee, included discussions and
interviews with a wide range of people; from NGOs and government ministers, to
survivors and perpetrators of the genocide. We also experienced the culture and
natural beauty of Rwanda and shared some group adventures; from attending a
traditional wedding in Kigali and ceremoniously drinking homebrewed banana
beer, to taking a trip to Lake Kivu and crossing the boarder into Goma,
Democratic Republic of Congo.
27th July 2002 Host
students meet international students at Kigali Airport and take them to their hotel
28th July 2002 Visit
genocide site in Kigali
29th July 2002 Visit
the National University of Rwanda
Meeting with
the University’s Vice Rector, Dr. J. Butera
Visit
Murambi genocide site
Meeting with the Scientific Co-ordinator of the Centre of
Conflict Management Mr. Eugene Ntaganda
30th July 2002 Visit
AVEGA and collect testimonies
Visit the
AVEGA AIDS centre
Dinner at
the home of Regina’s Uncle Bosco
31st July 2002 Visit
Nyrabuye Prefecture Gacaca
Administration
1st
August 2002 Discussions with Mr. Benoît Kaboyi
(Head of the Justice Department) and Mr. Philibert Gakwenzire (Head of the
Memory and Documentation Department), Ibuka
2nd
August 2002 Meeting with the Minister of Justice and Institutional
Relations, Mr. Jean de Dieu Mucyo.
3rd August 2002 Day
trip to Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
Visit to a
Solidarity Camp – Q&A, singing and dancing
4th August 2002 Visit
shelter for street children and the children of infiltrators
5th
August 2002 Discussion with the Secretary
General of the Ministry of Youth, Sport
and Culture, Madam Agnes Mukazibera and the Director of Youth in the
Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport, Mr. David Nyanshaiia
Visit Tumehere – Hope for Rwanda’s children
Meeting with British
Ambassador to Rwanda and Burundi, HE Sue Hogwood
6th August 2002 Spent
the day with widows from AVEGA
Met with a
child-headed family in a village of orphans and widows
Visit to Gikondo Prison and collected
testimonies
7th
August 2002 Meeting with the Director of
Tertiary Education, Ministry of
Education, Mr. Kayisire Callixte.
8th
August 2002 Discussion with the Director of Military
operations, Rwandan Patriotic Army,
Karenzi Karakere.
9th August 2002 Visited
the ICTR headquarters in Kigali
Meeting with
the Burundian Ambassador to Rwanda
Meeting with Mr Kanzira, Director General of the National
Unity and Reconciliation Commission.
10th
August 2002 Discussion with the Permanent
Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Joseph Mutaboba. Topic: ‘The Challenges of
Building a Democracy within Post Genocide Times’
11th August General
evaluation and issuing of press release
Thanks-giving
reception
The
Genocide Memory
and Testimony
“In
university we talk about it every day. We talk about national problems
together.”
Emmanuel Ruhara
“The international community is
interested in the living. But we don’t just live to eat, we live to remember.” Kayisire Callixte, Director of Tertiary Education, Ministry of
Education
These photos were taken at Murambi, a genocide site
that marks the deaths of 50-60,000 people who were killed there in April
1994. Before the genocide Murambi was a
technical school 30 KM from Butare in Gikongoro Province. In fear for their lives and in the hope of
safety, families gathered together in the classrooms of the school. Almost
everyone who sheltered at Murambi was massacred. Today the classrooms house
approximately 20,000 bodies, exhumed form mass graves after the genocide. They are a reminder and a memorial to those
killed. Only 4 people survived. We spoke
to one of them.
Our response to Murambi
The
stench Of corpses Covered with a crispy white preservative In positions of self
defense: Hands to heads. Heads in hands. Babies. Squashed skulls. Flattened rib
cages. Battering – holes, dents, damage. Teeth missing. And teeth.
Lives taken. Brutally.
And a Survivor. There
were 4 out of 50 – 60 thousand . He wore a blue shirt
and has a hole is his
head where the bullet entered and failed to kill him.
He fell to the ground and
lay under the bodies of his dead family and neighbors. He moved himself to the
surrounding forests Where he hid for four months.
He lives on. With no one
he loves left. Now he lives far from Murambi but returns to the site when he
needs to feel close to his family.
Ibuka
Meeting with Mr. Benoît Kaboyi, Director of Ibuka’s
Justice Department and Mr.
Philibert Gakwenzire,
Director of Ibuka’s Memory and Documentation Department.
Ibuka is an umbrella organisation for the survivor organisations in
Rwanda, representing them at national and international levels. Ibuka means ‘remember’. Ibuka was created in
1995 in order to address issues of justice, memory, social and economic problems
faced by survivors. Kaboyi and Gakwenzire talked to Never Again about the
relationship between Ibuka and the ICTR, as well describing their work building
partnerships with survivors of other conflicts.
Recent controversy with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Mr.
Kaboyi explained that Ibuka used to work together with the Prosecution Office
of the ICTR, helping them find and communicate with the victims. Last year
Ibuka suspended this collaboration in protest about the ill treatment of
witnesses. Ibuka argue that women and girls who had suffered rape were asked
inappropriate questions when they arrived at the Registration Office. Ibuka
cite the example of 21st of November 2001when a widow called T.A. was
giving testimony at the ICTR. The defense attorney asked questions that
traumatized her and her answers were laughed at[1].
Ibuka
also claim that there are security problems with the testimonies given at the
ICTR. Testimonies are given in Arusha and information given reaches the ears of
people in the home areas of the witnesses. There is a problem with the
protection of witnesses once they have returned home. There is also the problem of inequality
between the standard of care given to the perpetrators detained by the ICTR,
and their victims suffering in Rwanda. Particularly those women infected with
HIV/AIDS through rape.
Ibuka
campaigns for a reformed ICTR. Corruption is a problem and Ibuka argues that
the ICTR is like a business for many involved. Ibuka alleges that some
perpetrators are working for the Tribunal They demand a personnel change,
something that has not happened despite their demands and the fact that they
provided the ICTR with a list of those working for the Tribunal who committed
genocide. An example was given of a man called Biroto who worked for a defense
attorney. He conducted genocide in Butare and when he traveled to Butare as an
investigator for the defense a survivor recognized him. The ICTR investigated
Biroto and arrested him. But the fact still remains that he had been working
for them from 1995-2001.
Ibuka’s creates links between Rwanda and other post-genocide societies
Ibuka
has held two international conferences: in 1998 on ‘The Genocide of Tutsi in
Rwanda’ and in 2001 ‘Life After Death’.
Many experts and victims of genocide from around the world attended
including participants from Bosnia, USA, Cambodia, and Jewish people. An
international network was created of victims, experts, anti genocide
organizations. The network is designed to fight against genocide.
Mr.
Gakwenzire and Mr. Kaboyi wished Never Again a good fight. They said that there
would be those who try and make our fight hard and said that if we put together
our forces we will succeed.
AVEGA Association for the support of Widows and Orphans of the Genocide
Meeting with AVEGA’s Co-ordinatrice Madam
Consolée Mukanyiligira and a group of 20 widows.
Mme. Mukanyiligira
explained that AVEGA was founded in 1995 by a group of 50 Kigali women widowed
by the genocide. The organisation has grown phenomenally; there are now over
25,000 members. AVEGA focuses on health and social problems faced by widows;
they have programmes and trained staff who aim to treat the medical and
psychological effects of trauma. AVEGA offers financial assistance and aims to
empower AVEGA members. AVEGA also works for justice for its members.
Mme. Mukanyiligira
explained some of the challenges faced by AVEGA’s members: many
widows are caring for children orphaned in the genocide; the women often feel
that they are unable to share their experiences of rape and torture and suffer
trauma because of this; some women are now dying of AIDS contracted through
rape, AVEGA helps the children of these women; women who are standing as
witnesses against perpetrators often feel intimidated.
2 of the widows helped by AVEGA
with Poppy and Regina
AVEGA faces
severe difficulties. They are
under funded and Never Again was told that international donors are providing
less and less. AVEGA tries to help their members replace housing and
infrastructure destroyed during the genocide, but has very limited resources.
AVEGA also argues that the Rwandan state does not provide enough support to
survivors, again because of a lack of finance.
A few of the widows
present at the meeting shared their horrific experiences during the genocide.
A Survivor’s Testimony
Almost immediately after the shooting down of the
plane of the former president Habyarimana my neighbours and I were chased from
our houses by members of the Interahamwe militia. The extremists caught me and cut my private
parts into two pieces. They raped me
using sticks and some poles. I was
rescued by RPF soldiers before I was going to be killed.
In 1997 I went to the ICTR to testify what
Kashileshe and the Interahamwe forces had done to me. I gave my testimony of rape and mutilation of
my private parts. The court asked me to explain what rape is and to explain how
I was raped. From the trauma of my experience during the genocide I was not
able to describe rape or my experience of it – all I could say was ‘where the
male and female organs meet’. After giving the testimony I returned to
Rwanda. After a few days I received a
note form the Ruhengeri court requesting me because someone in Ruhengeri was
holding the transcript of what I had said to the ICTR in Arusha. I was convicted in Rhuengeri because they
said I lied to the ICTR. On reaching the
court in Ruhengeri everything I had said in ICTR was repeated to me. I went home where I received a note saying
that I would be killed within a few days. I reported all of this to the ICTR in
Kigali. They told me to report to my local Ruhengeri defense section. I was
threatened again. So I returned to AVEGA, as it was AVEGA who told me to go to
ICTR to testify. AVEGA sent for my
children and now looks after us.
Testimony of
a widow at AVEGA recorded by Never Again 30th July 2002
Meeting with Cicyukiro Branch of
AVEGA
AVEGA
has done research into violence carried out against women during the
genocide in 1994. In 2001 they took a sample of 215 women and found that 66.7%
had been infected with HIV as a result of rape. Following these finding AVEGA
started a project to help those infected with HIV. It also supports AIDS
orphans. AVEGA gives seminars on sexual help for those infected in order to
explain how to prevent further infections. They also provide drugs to help cure
S.T.Is.
This
branch of AVEGA particularly focuses on helping women infected with
HIV/AIDS. The Centre provides medical
care and takes care of orphans when a widow dies. Their main difficulties are a lack of money
and medical supplies. This branch of AVEGA is currently helping 512 ladies in 6
provinces. They do not only support widows, but also married women and
girls. They have a staff of 2 nurses, 2
councilors, 2 social assistants, 4 community development workers.
§They also support children, by paying
school fees. Some children are also infected with HIV/AIDS. When asked about
the issue of unwanted children as a result of rape, Never Again was told that
this problem was often displaced by the worries of HIV. AVEGA also have cultural troops for children
and hold fundraising events.
An
orphan looked after by her older brother in a child-headed family assisted by
AVEGA
Education.
National University of Rwanda
Meeting with the
Vice-Rector of the National University of Rwanda Dr. Jeanbosco Butera.
The
Vice Rector explained that the genocide was organised by the government; the
politics of the day supported the genocide. He believes that if the Catholic Church had spoken out against
the violence, then genocide would not have reached such a magnitude.
Some
of the thinkers behind the genocide were members of the university. Hatred existed even within the walls of the University;
students killed students and staff killed staff. Rwanda was let down by the international
community and also by the moral leaders within the country.
To
achieve ‘Never Again’ is to help people to understand and to give more
democratic powers to the people, to work for good governance and the
establishment of mechanisms and rules.
One of the hardest challenges is finding
how to live together again. In the University now everyone enters equally –
who you are or where you come from is not relevant.
|
Bilingual Studies: Since 1995 Rwanda has
had three official languages: KinyiRwanda, French and English. English was
added to cater for the returnees from Rwanda’s bordering Anglo-phone
countries such as Tanzania and Uganda.
Now tertiary education is entirely bilingual in French and English. A
professor may lecture in French and answer questions in English. Bilingual learning plays a role in
reconciliation in the National University of Rwanda. “In my class of second year medicine we are 108. 20 are Anglophones and 88 are Francophones.
Now in Rwanda we have a system of bilingualism. We have to study in French
and we have to study in English. French is very difficult, so as we are
around 20 Anglophones in that class and at times the Anglophones find it
difficult to discuss the classes taught in French, so most of the time we are
running after the Francophones to explain it for us, we make appointments,
please – find me in my room; I make sure I am there so that we can discuss
the topics. So there is one now – her
father is in prison, he was implicated in genocide, he was a doctor. That
girl – we happened to talk – she opened up to me, she told me that her father
participated in genocide, she told me each and everything. Irrespective of what happened, we make
friends.” Joseph Nkuziza, student, National
University of Rwanda. |
The
Vice Rector hopes that the students are given personal strength to
reject leaders who try to lead them and terrible things and to feel the
obligation to respect each other. The
Vice-Rector said that Never Again and the National University of Rwanda could
work together by building partnerships between students and teachers. Taking it
to a further level would involve administrations in international universities
building links as well as collaborative research projects between international
universities and the National University of Rwanda.
The
Ministry of Education
Meeting with the
Director of Tertiary Education in the Ministry of Education, Mr.
Kayisire Callixte.
The responsibility of the education
system – then
In
the Second Republic after independence (1973-1994), under President
Habyarimana, discrimination was based on ethnic and regional groupings and was
part of the political and educational structures. Organizations such as the World
Bank, IMF, the United Nations and individual countries reinforced Rwanda’s
institutionalized discrimination; they were involved in funding schools that
would only recruit students from one ethnic group. Division was indoctrinated.
Education
pre-1994 did not teach people to think with a long-term perspective, having
enough to eat was the first priority. Very few were educated – enough to
fulfill government recruitment requirements. People were taught to be inward
looking. People were not encouraged to look beyond Rwanda’s borders and very
few passports were granted. Moreover, for many years education was seen as
useless if one did not own land.
People were told that they should kill for economic reasons – they were told
Tutsi’s planned to claim land.
The responsibility of the education
system – now
Therefore
today Rwandans need to put more emphasis on the different uses of land and
alternative resources in order to avoid further disputes or killings. Reconciliation
is very possible. The most essential thing is to teach people how to live
together. This involves a lot of effort. Long-term indoctrination demands
long-term teaching of reconciliation. From Primary, Secondary to Tertiary, all
institutions are revising syllabuses according to new guidelines. Students at
whatever level will achieve what he is capable of in order to contribute to the
development of the country.
There
is emphasis on teaching science, technology and languages in order to solve the
problem of people not wishing to travel outside the national boundaries. To
achieve all this, Rwanda requires time and financial backing from aid agencies.
There is a lack of schools and teachers.
The role of the government is to give a vision of a united country, but
it does not dictate policy. Reconciliation must come from living together;
government must not impose it.
“The government is encouraging mass education: in the National
University we are now 6,000, there has never been so many students in Rwanda.
The government is saying what you are doing at the National University is you
are studying to get a degree, you follow your calling, you are studying skills
and knowledge and are not interested in segregation”
Emmanuel Rurhara
Not teaching history
International
history is taught from Primary to University level. However, modern Rwandan
history is not being taught because those teachers who taught division before
1994 are still in schools. The government plans to re-train these teachers,
replace the syllabus and textbooks. A group of academics were asked by the
government to highlight the contentious issues within the teaching of history.
They identified 22 points of controversy.
These included how Rwanda was first settled; the ethnicity of Tutsi, Twa and
Hutu; and the Hutu revolution in 1959.
Teaching Human Rights
Every
Rwandan will be taught about human and personal rights. From 1962 Rwanda has
been a member of the UN and has signed all Human Rights legislation. People
must know what these conventions are. This is education for all.
The Ministry of
Youth, Culture and Sport
Meeting with the Secretary General of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and
Sport, Madam
Agnes Mukazibera and the Director of Youth in
the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport, Mr David
Nyanshaiia.
Mme. Mukazibera explained that young
people were both victims and
perpetrators of genocide. Many of them
helped to destroy the infrastructure of Rwanda and now young people are
rebuilding it.
Genocide
took place as a direct result of a loss of culture
and the loss of human values. The government is aiming to rebuild culture and
rebuild human values. Cultural activities such as choral and dance groups aim
to portray Rwanda as something other than a country of killers.
The
Government of National Unity aims to
give youth channels through which to combat problems, such as poverty and AIDS,
rather than being involved in politics. The government is training the youth in
vocational skills in 20 centres around the country. Those who graduate from the
centers are helped to start their own businesses. The government also works
with young people in prisons.
The
government is trying to give the youth a voice. They put in place a National Youth Council. This Council
helps the government implement youth programmes such as the Programme of Unity
and Reconciliation. Other youth programmes include Youth
co-operation projects. Youth from the north meeting youth from the south. There
are also sports programmes that bring the youth together. Developmental
programmes are encouraged, for example the youth help the old in their
communities. The Ministry of Youth Culture and Sport also works closely with
the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC). The Ministry began the
Solidarity Camp programme, which is now directed by the NURC with technical
support given by the government.
“Let me tell you one thing, before the genocide the people who were very
dangerous were those people who were educated.
But now, because of the education provided in solidarity camps, in primary
schools, in secondary schools, we are realising the difference between being
educated and illiterate. Now educated
people are not passive in front of evil. Now in our university when we see
someone doing something bad, people object.
At least we are starting to realise that educated people are playing an
important role as far as positive values, educated people are trying to be
educated in the real sense of the meaning.”
Emmanuel Ruhara
“All
university students have been to a solidarity camp. At the solidarity camp they sleep together,
they eat the same food, they have the same lessons, they share the same rooms
so as to discover the humanity which is someone else. Together they are given
lectures, so as to discover that being a Hutu or a Tutsi – it has no
importance. Practically thinking, these
ethnic labels were used by political activists, ethnic activists or political
entrepreneurs. There are some things
that the new government is proposing which allow people to live together:
reconciliation, unity and education itself.”
Emmanuel Ruhara, student, National University of
Rwanda
Justice
Ministry of Justice and
Institutional Relations
Meeting with Mr Jean de Dieu Mucyo Minister of Justice and
Institutional Relations
Minister de Dieu Mucyo began with an anecdote from
his school days. The teacher asked the class to stand in two lines face to
face. He asked if they looked the same, the children laughed because they had
the same life, traveled to the same school, wore the same clothes. The teacher
told them they were not the same: he compared their heights and noses. Then the
class was divided: long noses on one side, flat noses on the other. The
children had not been aware of their ethnic identity. The teacher taught history
from an ethnic point of view. After this incident the children no longer played
together with banana leaf footballs.
The
Minister started to work for the Civil Service in 1980, although he then
stopped to continue his studies. In 1995 he was appointed Director of Police.
State genocide
The
minister said that during the genocide of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s there had
been a culture of impunity. The
state had been involved. This situation contributed to the 1994 genocide:
people were used to committing crimes without receiving punishment.
Society was polarised
In
schools people were divided according to ethnicity. Division was implemented
within the civil service and other areas of life. ‘History’ was used as a means of
indoctrination. The Minister said that
the killing started before 1994. Political parties were divided according to
ethnicity. When the parties demonstrated
civilians hid to avoid being killed. All the political parties were organized
nationally and at provincial and village level. The parties trained youth
militarily. These young people committed crimes. They had been successfully
indoctrinated were loyal to the parties.
Newspapers and Radio Millie Collines
The
media in Rwanda began to raise awareness of the ‘enemy’. News circulating that the extremists had a
list of people they wanted to kill. People thought that it would not be
possible to kill so many people because there were some members of the RPF in
parliament. The national radio told
people to stay in their homes. Radio was a very important method of
communicating with the largely illiterate population of pre-1994. Radio played
a crucial role in the genocide. It helped create a system to rally for the aims
of the orchestraters of genocide.
Roadblocks
were everywhere, so although one might have escaped the first one, it was impossible to escape the second or the
third. ID cards had to be shown. The ID cards stated Tutsi, Hutu or Twa. Some
people managed to change their cards. Others threw their cards away. But people
were also judged on their physical appearance.
People
take the ethnic group of their father. In some cases of intermarriage, if
children resemble their Tutsi mother they would be killed anyway. Statistics say now that more than a million
people were murdered in 3 months. A
large number of Rwandans were involved. The State encouraged killers: saying
there would be immunity in numbers. In some areas the population refused to
kill. In those areas the Interahamwe would carry out the genocidal killings.
|
Problems of Infrastructure |
Challenges for Justice |
|
Lack of Prisons |
In Rwandan culture there is no concept of
prison. The colonizers introduced the few prisons that existed. There was a
problem of where to imprison perpetrators. In 1995 there were 60,000 prisoners. Prisoners increased in number when refugees
returned from the Congo. The number of prisoners rose to 130,000. There are
presently 105,000. However there are still many perpetrators who remain free. |
|
Lack of foundation
for genocide law |
Initially the laws regarding genocide had been
ratified but not incorporated into Rwandan law. So people were in prison, but
there was no means to prosecute them. The judgment of prisoners caused problems, as
there was no clear way of working. Many perpetrators participated in the
genocide as members of a group: individual judgments were difficult so there
had to be a way of trying groups. Law was not able to be successfully adapted to
the unique cases of state incited genocide. The situation in 1994 was such
that not to kill was to be killed. The law needed new procedures. |
|
Implementing justice
|
Using the normal judicial procedures 1,000
prisoners are judged in a year. At this rate it would take 100 years to judge
100,000 prisoners. There was no way that capital punishment could be meted
out to so many thousands of people. It is even impossible to imprison for
life those thousands that participated in genocide. As genocide had been planned by the state and
the population had been told that they would not be punished for their
involvement. There was no way everyone could stay in prison, but at the same
time they could not be released. |
|
Objectivity |
Those in the civil service have either had members
of their families killed or they have members of their family in prison.
However, when there is security people try and overcome these problems. Then
there is insecurity; objectivity is more of a problem. It is a fragile
society. |
The present government’s responses
The
aim was to prevent genocide happening again. Before the genocide there were
things that separated people (ID Cards, etc.). In the post genocide society the
aim is to unite people. In 1996 the laws
regarding genocide were added to Rwandan national law. As means of dealing
with the scale of this genocide, there are special laws that reduce sentences
if perpetrators confess. There was a
responsibility to rebuild the nation and eradicate the notion of impunity. So
the Government started to put mechanisms in place e.g. NURC. The government
aimed to have a justice system that was both participatory and something that
would reduce prison sentences.
Disunity
was the legacy of the old regime. Now the government uses the youth and the
media in a positive way. The move between theory and practice is an important
shift to make. Reconciliation is not
simple – it is an ongoing process. There were cases of parents killing
children. In these special cases, who is to reconcile with whom? Consequences
of the genocide are high – people are traumatized and families disintegrate.
There are cases of women living near their rapists. There are many difficult
cases.
Gacaca is a system of justice where people can vote for
their own judges. Punishments are reduced according to when and if the accused
confesses. A law of compensation has been drafted, but is was hard to know who
to give compensation to, as there are large extended families. In the Gacaca system there is less
confidentiality and secrecy than in other courts. This means that the whole
community will hear testimo nies, any one who seeks revenge or tries to
intimidate witnesses will be punished.
The
Minister commented that the ICTR
will be able to judge a very limited number of people. Not more than 100. There
are four key problems with the ICTR: witness protection, recruitment of
personnel, corruption and delayed trials. The Minister said that the ICTR did
not help to reconcile Rwandans. He said that it would be better if the ICTR was
in Rwanda, because then the people could be more involved.
Perpetrators
“There was fearfulness
and guilt related to Tutsis. Fear of Tutsis returning. Guilt about what has been
done to them. They couldn’t imagine Tutsis not wanting revenge.”
Kayisire Callixte
A Prisoner’s Testimony
It all started when I was in Shorongi and it ended when
still in the same place. It started when
they were looking for Tutsis. Local authorities
had sensitised us to look for Tutsis.
The radio had requested for no-one to leave the house after the death of
Habyarimana. The local authority had trained Interhamwe and they set up
roadblocks. These roadblocks were for
capturing and tracking down Tutsis.
Whoever skipped one roadblock would meet another roadblock. On reaching the roadblock you would be asked
for ID and if you were Tutsi you would be killed on the spot. They had been sensitised to kill each and
every Tutsi. If a Hutu was found hiding
a Tutsi then he or she would be killed.
The Interhamwe who had been trained by the
government joined with the former Rwandan army EX-FAR. They went to each home and searched the
house. If they came across a Tutsi they’d
kill them, if they came across a Hutu they’d tell them to join them. They continued to look for Tutsis. I was found in this way. They would force us to kill the Tutsis. I killed, but I was forced to kill them.
In the group that I was in we killed three
people. We were taken to a family. Each and everyone was given a person to kill
but I had spent some time in a hospital so I was not all that strong to
kill. So our whole group beat the family
and looted their property. We made the
family members get out and lie outside the house and started beating them. As each one had looted something, I thought I
should too, so I took the iron sheets from the roof and picked up a goat.
I met the girl I was supposed to kill and she was
already beaten up. So I got a machete
and cut her on the neck. Fortunately she
survived. She was picked up by some good
Samaritans. Their neighbours had gone
into hiding. The neighbours returned and
took the girl to the hospital and up to now she is alive. My relatives informed me she had survived. And she even conveyed some greeting to
me. The current local authorities came
here to visit the prisoners. So the
prisoners requested the local authorities to go and to convey their confessions
to the relatives and survivors to whom they had done all sorts of
violence. I feel very ready to get out
of this place to ask for forgiveness to those whom I committed acts of genocide
against.
I was imprisoned on 2 September 1994. We’ve spent
five years being de-sensitised in order to ask for forgiveness. The government first sent us booklets which
encouraged us to confess and say what happened.
We got training from the government to confess. On 28th January 2000 I decided to
confess. I gained a mind of peace the
day I confessed. I was paralysed sitting thinking of what I had
done. At first the prisoners confessed
to the general prosecutor through writing and asking for forgiveness. But then we were told that Gacaca would
come. Now we confess to our local
residential area.
I wrote to the cellule. In 1996 I heard that only that girl had
survived. I reported those others who killed other
members of her family. The whole rest of
the family was killed. The father of the
girl survived. He is a witness. He reported the rest of the group. Some of the other members of this group are
in the same prison. All the group
confessed. But the leader refused to
confess. The leader belonged to a
political party known as the MDR, at sector level. He is here in the same prison. His brother had a gun and they used to share
it.
From what I have read and from what I have been
told I have hope that Gacaca will solve some of our problems. There are suspects who never committed
anything. I will ask for forgiveness
during Gacaca in order to give some contribution to a better society. Before I was brought here he was in a prison
in Remera so that’s where my wife came to visit me. Four years ago my wife died. We had seven kids. One is working in town and one came to visit
me and other relatives come once a year.
We should come together as Rwandans and look at what
should be done and we should run from the past and see how we can work to the
betterment of the future. The government
cannot continue keeping us inside because it doesn’t have resources to maintain
us inside for a long period. The government should heavily punish those who
forced them and spread the gospel of killing Tutsis.
Testimony of
a prisoner at Gikondo Prison recorded by Never Again 6th August 2002
Gikondo
Prison
Not
one member of our group, including the Pauline and Sylvie from AVEGA who lead
us to Gikondo, had ever visited a prison in Rwanda before. Some of us were astonished by the lack of
security: as we approached in the mini-bus we saw the prisoners dressed in pink
linen uniforms wandering along the road supervised only by an older woman
carrying a stick. No one tried to escape
- if they did - where would they go? The
local nature of the genocidal killing means that they cannot return home
without real fear of revenge attacks by family or friends of those killed.
Our
presence in the prison was announced over a loud speaker. Those prisoners who had confessed and were
taking part in the Gacaca process (see below) were invited to come and speak to
us. Over 40 prisoners queued up around
us to tell us their experiences. Given
our time we spoke to eight, recording their testimonies.
We
were given a tour of the prison. Gikondo is home to over 6,293 men, 85% of whom
are genocide suspects and 2,307 of whom have confessed. Conditions are poor: bunk beds stacked up to
the ceilings, tuberculosis quarantine tents, and hundreds of men standing
around. The experience though unnerving
was a hugely important aspect of our Project.
Gacaca
Meeting with Mr. Félicien Munyurangabo,
Director of Gacaca jurisdictions in Kibungo Province
Gacaca,
meaning ‘on the grass’, is a traditional form of justice used in Rwanda
during pre-colonial times. It is a participatory system; the whole community
is involved and the judges and administrators are also members of the local
population. The formalisation of this traditional practice is the Rwanadan
government’s response to the problem of trying the thousands of prisoners
accused of participating in the genocide. At present Gacaca is operating on a
trial-basis in twelve sample courts around the country. Mr. Munyurangabo told
us that the sample courts have been in session for two months, beginning on the
19th June 2002. It was estimated that the process would take two
months, however the cases are not yet closed. The Gacaca process is comprised
of a series of meetings when different activities are carried out:
Meeting
1 Elected officials meet together and fix days for
convening of the meetings.
Meeting
2 Elected officials count the people who
were settled in that sector before and after genocide.
Meeting 3 Elected
officials make a list of those killed during the genocide.
Meeting
4 Lists of those that lived in the area
but were killed outside the area is compiled.
Meeting
5 Elected officials meet and make files
of those victims requesting compensation.
Meeting
6 A list is compiled of those suspected
of participating in the genocide. The suspects are asked to plead for
forgiveness – give their testimonials of how they were involved. The moment
someone confesses the punishment is decreased. The longer they wait before
admitting guilt, the severer the punishment will be.
Meeting
7 The assembly court meets and arranges the files of the
suspects. This meeting decides which category the suspects are placed in. There
are four categories of accused:
Category
One: The authors and planners of
genocide, the supervisors and leaders (these will not be tried within the
Gacaca system, but referred to the national judicial system)
Category
Two: Those people who were
perpetrators, conspirators or accomplices of intentional homicide or serious
assault against a person - causing death. Rape is included in this category.
Category
Three: People, who are guilty of
other serious assaults against a person, but did not kill.
Category
Four: Those who committed crime
against property: looting etc.
Mr
Munyurangabo explained that each court has a three-tier structure. There is the
General Assembly, an Assembly Court and a Co-ordination Committee. The General
assembly is made up of all the population of that sector who are above 18 years
old. The Assembly Court is elected – 19 people (they have to be above 21 years
old). They meet among themselves and elect 5 people: a president, two vice
presidents and two secretaries – they comprise the Co-ordination Committee. The
Co-ordination Committee then in turn elects a chairman and a secretary who hold
a one year renewable mandate. They must know how to read and write.
These
three key institutions – the General Assembly, Assembly Court and Co-ordination
Committee will be replicated at the four levels of administration throughout
Rwanda: at cell, sector, district and province level. The Gacaca courts at
these administrative levels will have the following responsibilities:
-Cell Jurisdiction Drawing
up lists of victims and perpetrates of violations at the cell level;
Receiving
accusations and testimonies;
-Carrying out investigations;
-The carrying out of trials and sentencing for
persons accused of offences in the fourth category. The accused in the fourth category do not have
the right to appeal to a higher court;
-Forwarding case files to the Sector jurisdiction
for accused in the first second and third categories.
-Sector Jurisdiction Receiving
case files from the cell level;
-Putting the accused into categories;
-Forwarding the files of those accused in the
fourth category;
-Caring out trials and sentencing of accused in the
third category.
-District Jurisdiction Carrying
out trials and sentencing those accused in the second category;
-Forwarding files of those accused of the first
category of offences to the Office of the Public Prosecutor;
Forwarding appeal cases to the province level.
-Province Jurisdiction Receiving
appeals from District level;
Controlling
District Jurisdiction activities.
The
perpetrators we spoke to on our visit to Gikondo prison, Kigali, were all
willing participants in Gacaca. Out of a prison population of 6,293 over 2,300
prisoners have confessed to their crimes and hope to be tried in Gacaca
courts. One prisoner said that he was glad to be admitting his crimes as he
would be able to apologise to the family of his victim in public. He also said
that his motivation was the hope of a reduced prison sentence or perhaps
a community service order. Gacaca can be seen as Rwanda’s answer to South
Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission: public proclamations of guilt as
a means of national catharsis. Currently survivor organisations such as AVEGA
and Ibuka support Gacaca as a means of achieving justice but whether Gacaca
will prove satisfactory for the survivors of genocide remains to be seen.
Unity And Reconciliation
National Unity and Reconciliation
Commission
Meeting with the NURC’s Director General Mr.
Hilderbrand Kanzira, Alex Ingando, and Omar, the Acting Director of the Community Initiatives
Programme
Rwanda
has had a troubled past caused by internal division. It all began when the
colonial administration divided the society along ethnic lines in order
to weaken it and thereby make its dominance possible. The post-colonial
Kayibanda and Habyarimana administrations intensified this policy of divide and
rule, devising policies to marginalize and disenfranchise large sections of the
community.
Upon
assuming office, the Government of National Unity began the challenging task of
reversing the effects of decades of division. A national commission charged
with the responsibility of educating and mobilizing the population for
unity and reconciliation was established in 1998. Since then the Unity and
Reconciliation Commission has conducted seminars, debates and courses across
the country aimed at fostering these ideals of reconciliation and re-building confidence
and trust within and between communities.
Rwanda
has already begun harvesting the dividends of its policy on unity and
reconciliation. Across the country, rural and urban communities now live
together in greater harmony and with more mutual respect than ever
before. The March 1999 grassroots elections in which all Rwandans voted for
leaders on the basis of merit not ethnicity, is a testament of the success of
the unity and reconciliation programme.
“Can you allow 50,000 perpetrators
to be killed? If there is one who killed your family, there are also some
others who killed other families, so if I say I want the government to kill
that who killed my family, someone else also will say, ah, let him be killed
also because he has killed my family. So
here we should reason very well and dominate our emotions and probably to have
a foresight for this country, if you have 50,000 perpetrators of genocide, tell
me, if they kill them all will it be a society that is preparing an effective
solution for all of us, for our children? No. So I do not think killing all
perpetrators is a solution, it will be a way of creating more discontent.” Emmanuel Ruhara
Conflict and
Security
Centre for Conflict Management
Meeting with the Scientific Co-ordinator of CCM Mr. Eugene Ntaganda
The Centre for Conflict Management started in 1999. It was
the brainchild of the Director of the National University. Now the National
Univeristy’s Vice-Rector Butera is the director of CfCM. The Centre’s aim is to
understand the causes of genocide. Particularly why intellectuals planned and
participated in it. The Centre was launched with the help of $US 300,000 from
UNDP.
CfCM’s work
The
Centre has tried to tackle and disprove arguments that the genocide was solely
caused by spontaneous anger of the Hutu after the death of President
Habyarimana. The Centre has analysed
various explanations of the genocide.
They have looked at the root causes of the genocide: questions of
citizenship and over population. They have also examined the social and
psychological problems related to trauma.
CfCM conducts research into people’s attitudes towards Gacaca: they
found that there were differences of opinion between educated and non-educated
Rwandans. Also geographical trends: in the North of the country Gacaca is not
popular, whereas in the South it is. From these findings they looked
specifically at the role of Gacaca in national reconciliation. Alice Karekezi
heads the Gacaca department.
CfCM’s challenges
Mr
Ntaganda explained that there are several challenges faced by the Centre. Capacity building: allowing
participants to gain PhDs in foreign institutions. They are also very focused
on maintaining people-centred research: it is not easy to know the needs of the
Rwandan population. It is important to make the research relevant. The Centre
aims to expand research to other regional conflicts (e.g. the DRC). External
and internal problems are interrelated.
Mr
Ntaganda said Gacaca is a dynamic
social reality and opinions of it will be changing. He believes the Gacaca is a
good thing but it will also lead to tensions, psychological problems and
exacerbation of conflict. It may also force people to lie before the courts and
lead to human rights abuses. For these reasons the Gacaca process has to be
closely monitored. In answer to the allegations that some judges are
perpetrators he said it is very hard t find anyone without a bad background.
The system requires 25,000 judges and it is not easy to find so many clean
people.
The
Centre works with different government institutions including the NURC. They
are also working with the Constitution Commission, Human Rights Commission and
the Ministry of Justice. He also said they use epistemology to break prejudice. Research is done using
Kiyirwanda. They aim to produce qualitative and quantitative research. One of
the problems they face is that people are tired of being asked questions about
identity and ethnicity.
We
asked Mr Ntaganda whether the
funding CfCM received from the Ministry of
Justice meant they ran the risk of lacking objectivity.
He answered that the majority of funding came from international institutions
and governments. He added that all the results collected from their studies
were show to the people who participated. They are all translated into
Kiyirwanda.
The
Centre is working in partnership with the University of Berkley, USA looking at
Education for Peace within communities that have experienced conflict such as
Rwanda or Bosnia. Since 1994 no history
has been taught in schools (and there is only one course at the university).
This is because history was manipulated by power in the past. Now people are looking
at how to have an objective history. CfCM with the
Ministry of Education, NURC and civil societies are working on what the
teaching of history should and should not include.
The
significance of identity differs
between the rural and the elite. The rural population do not identify
themselves in terms of ethnicity except during a period of crisis. The
neighbourhood is the means of survival so ethnicity is not so important. The
educated elite on the other had think according to their ethnic identity.
Mr
Ntaganda stated that is recognised by many scholars that the international community left the
Rwandan population in the hands of murders and perpetrators of genocide. He
said that the international community primarily came to Rwanda in 1994 to aid
their nationals to escape the country. After the genocide the international
community tried to help Rwanda, but they did so ineffectively. Much money was
spent on issues that were not the central problems of the Rwandan community.
However the failures of the international community should not be an excuse for
the Rwandans not to rebuild their own country. Rwandan people have a duty to
rebuild their country without the help of the international community. Rwandan
people do not trust the international community or the ICTR.
We
asked Mr Ntaganda whether Rwanda had a plan to strengthen the international community so that it
would act to prevent genocide in the future. He answered that genocide is a
crime of a state not a crime of the people. The international community is too
weak – it does not have the tools to prevent future genocide. Peacekeeping
forces are not designed to prevent genocide.
Never
Again expressed a wish to work with CfCM in future
projects. Mr Ntaganda said that the Centre would be happy to collaborate,
perhaps in publishing joint research. He added that the Centre has internships
that international students are invited to apply for.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Co-operation
Meeting with the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation
Ambassador Joseph W. Mutaboba, Permanent Secretary
Ambassador
Mutaboba, former ambassador to the USA, presented Rwanda’s path to democracy. The postcolonial authorities did a worse job
than the colonial authorities. A mono-party system evolved. Dissatisfied
citizens asked that they should not be ostracized because of who they were or
where they came from. The political parties, policies and educational system
were exclusionary. Tutsi and some
Hutu were discriminated against. And the RPF was born from this.
Rwanda’s
political history has never seen a system where power moves from bottom
upwards. The post 1994 system attempts to break from the cyclic past. It allows
people to chose their own leaders – beginning at village level. There may be
problems of illiteracy, but people know what they want – it is a question of empowerment.
The
country now waits for parliamentary and presidential elections. The Constitution
has to be changed. The government visited many countries – South Africa,
Eritrea, Mozambique – to examine their constitutions after a difficult history,
and look at how they were designed to prevent further conflict. The game is the
elections, the game are the political parties. But people have to play by the
rules of the constitution. The constitution will be there forever and not
changeable with a change of government.
Where
are we today? The Ambassador said that we have gone a long way forward. We can
elect our leaders. We can sack our leaders.
He said that democratization should also involve decentralization. Power should not be focused on one group of
people in Kigali. There must also be decentralization of funding.
National Security
Meeting with Brig.
Gen. Karenzi Karakere, Head of Military Operations, and Maj. Jill Rutaremara,
Rwandan Patriotic Army
The security situation
in Rwanda was extremely unstable in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. Almost
the entire population was displaced, creating a volatile situation
inside the country. Remnants of the murderous Interahamwe and ex-FAR (former
Rwandan army) roamed the country looting property and harassing, raping and
killing survivors of the genocide. On the western border, the ex-FAR and
Interahamwe carried out cross-border attacks on a daily basis from the
DRC. The Prefectures of Gisenyi and Ruhengeri were so badly affected by
insurgency between 1994-8 that normal economic and social activity ground to a
halt.
When the government of
national unity took office in July 1994 it immediately set out to establish peace
and security in all parts of the country. Peace and security had to
underpin the political, economic and social recovery of post-genocide Rwanda.
With the exception of
Ruhengeri and Gisenyi, peace and security was restored to all other parts of
the country by September 1994. The security situation remained volatile in
Ruhengeri and Gisenyi because ex-FAR and Interahamwe militia continued to make
cross-border attacks from their refugee settlements in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire).
When the refugee
settlements were dismantled the security situation improved slightly. However,
it was only when the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA) began operations to seek and
destroy Interahamwe and ex-FAR bases in the DRC in 1998 that peace and security
were fully restored. The two Prefectures have been totally peaceful now since
the last quarter of 1998.
The RPA has
politicized, re-trained and absorbed 15,000 men from the ex-FAR. Recruitment
into the army is carried out on the basis of merit. Recruits are drawn from
all parts of the country and all ethnic groups. The RPA also has active
programmes for rehabilitation of casualties and demobilization. Those due for
demobilization are given intensive courses in carpentry, tailoring and animal
husbandry at a school in Nyagatare, Mutara. They are also given financial
packages to enable them start small businesses and lead productive lives in the
community.
The Head of Military
Operations, Karenzi Karakere, assured us that the RPA
maintains a high standard of discipline and ensures that its officers and men
are well trained and equipped to face the challenges that lie ahead for Rwanda.
The
Never Again group with Brig. Gen. Karenzi Karakere, Head of Military
Operations, and Maj. Jill Rutaremara, Rwandan Patriotic Army
Budget and
Donations
|
Expenses |
Description |
Amount |
|
Transportation |
Airfare 5 members Within Rwanda |
£3,500 £138 |
|
Accommodation Food and Drink |
Hostel for 5 members for 16 nights Lunch, Supper and drinks for the entire group for
16 days |
£635 £760 |
|
Communications Photo Exhibition TOTAL |
Local calls for administrative
purposes as well as email access in Rwanda Photo processing, enlargement and mounting |
£40 £300 £5,373 |
Amahoro Foundation
Donated £228 to help the Rwanda Committee cover
travel and administrative expenses during the preparation of the Project.
Michael Conschafter
Donated the use of video recording equipment.
The Rt. Reverend Richard Harries,
Bishop of Oxford
Donated £300 that was used to print and mount the
photographic exhibition and cover the costs of producing and distributing the
report. £80 was allocated to the Never Again Rwanda Committee to cover
administrative costs.
National Unity and Reconciliation
Commission
Donated £732 that covered the costs of lunch and supper for the entire group.
National University of Rwanda
Donated the use of a minibus for 2 days which
substantially reduced our costs
SOAS Student Union
Donated £100 to help cover the cost of the
photographic exhibition.
Teppei
Tsuchikura
Donated
the use of audio recording equipment.
Travel Grants Committee, University
College London
Donated £600 to 2 members of Never Again. This was
spent on airfares.
Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida
Donated £100 to help cover the costs of the
photographic exhibition.
Conclusions
During the trip the group examined the limitations
of the Project and formed conclusions. Below we chart the extent that the
Project met with our objectives, and the future possibilities that the Project
provided.
a. Draw international attention
to the Rwandan genocide and express remembrance.
The
first aim of the Never Again Rwanda Project was to draw international attention
to the genocide and express remembrance. The trip itself heightened our own
awareness and drew the attention of those around us; it was our own expression
of remembrance, but the trip itself had no international impact. However,
through the Project we were able to create the seeds for a future project which
will support this aim. Our involvement
in the Rwanda Project lead us into a relationship with the Imperial War Museum.
We are currently using our UK-Rwanda link to enable the Museum’s new Women
in War exhibition to feature artifacts and testimonies from Rwanda. The
strength of our Project and the energy it has given us has enabled Never Again
to become partners with the Imperial War Museum in creating a high profile
event in London in 2004, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
genocide. Never Again is organizing the
commemorative forum and the IWM are hosting the event and providing the
venue. The event will take place in
association with Remembering Rwanda, an umbrella organization which is drawing
together the world wide efforts to mark the 10th anniversary.
b.
Encourage youth co-operation
One
of the clearest and most remarkable findings from the trip was how our focus on
a human tragedy was made possible through working together closely as a group,
and embracing each other as friends. Exploring the inhumanity of the events of
1994, and working over sixteen hours a day on occasion in order to make the
most of our time together, was enjoyable and uplifting thanks to relationships
formed in that time.
While
there were the inevitable misunderstandings which come from working across
cultures and dealing with intense and
emotive issues, as a whole the dynamics between the group were brilliant. We
supported each other and built strong friendships. As well as seeing first hand some of the
consequences of genocide, the growth of these friendships reinforced the
group’s sense of the importance of our Project. This has provided us with a
secure foundation for Never Again. With a basis of mutual understanding and
shared achievement we can work towards future projects.
While
in Rwanda together our Project received considerable attention. The international participants were greeted
at the airport by a journalist and camera crew from the national television
station who interviewed some of the hosts and visitors. Our interviews were shown on the news and as
we traveled around Kigali and Butare we were greeted by students of all
different backgrounds who had seen the feature and expressed interest and
enthusiasm for our Project. In the
future we hope to be able to create a system of membership and form a broader
network of students.
c.
Work to support the aims and objectives of existing organisations in Rwanda.
Caroline
Phillips from DFID had advised us that our Project should complement the work
of existing organisations in Rwanda at all times, by adhering to processes
already taking place rather than imposing our own. This proved to be excellent advice. Most of the testimonies we recorded were done
within an organized structure, mostly by listening to sessions held by AVEGA
and being escorted by AVEGA to meet people from other organisations. Working in
this way the risks of negative repercussions on interviewees were minimized.
We
realized however, that because a long-term international perspective concerning
conflict prevention framed our main objectives, there was little we could do to
actively help the immediate aims of the organizations we met in Rwanda. We learnt that above all else AVEGA is in
need of funds but there was little we could do to support them apart from
publicizing their work and posting up their details at our photographic
exhibitions beside the materials we collected from our meetings with them.
d.
Conduct research into the genocide from a wide range of academic disciplines
and use a compilation of our findings to enhance understanding in our home
countries.
Our time together in Rwanda was brief. While we
managed to visit a wide variety of places and talk to many individuals and
organisations, two and a half weeks did not allow us to carry out much in the
way of academic research. The complexity of issues surrounding the genocide in
Rwanda and its aftermath at times felt infinite and the shortage of time
inevitably meant that some of aspects of our chosen research topics could only
be touched on briefly.
Despite
several generous donations, the Project was almost entirely funded by the
visiting participants. Fewer financial constraints would have meant our Project
could have been more ambitious in scale and may have enabled us to lengthen our
stay.
Transport
for ten people is particularly costly so further funding may have enabled us to
travel outside Kigali more often. Despite the work of the host students as
interpreters, language barriers were unavoidable. Interpretation doubled the
length of time of meetings and when we heard testimonials from survivors there
was a time lag between the hosts responses and the response of the non-Rwandan
participants which created an unexpected dynamic.
Instead
of being a project of intense academic research, the trip was more of a fact-
finding mission. For the visiting participants almost all of the information
was new and gave them an opportunity to begin to understand some of the
experiences surrounding the genocide in Rwanda and allowed them to look at the
work of the international community, international organisations and national
governments from new perspectives. For the host participants, much of this
information was already familiar.
However the Project gave them opportunities to ask questions of key
members of the government and NGOs.
There were a few elements to the trip that were
new to the hosts. Some members of the group had not visited Murambi memorial
site before. The evidence of the brutality and scale of the genocide was as
shocking for them as for the non-Rwandan participants. Our visit to the prison was the first time
any of the Rwandan hosts had taken an opportunity to talk to and even shake
hands with other Rwandans who had confessed their participation in the
genocide. These situations, when the
group as a whole was processing new experiences, were some of the most powerful
and creative moments of the trip. The Project provided all the participants
with refreshed understanding and the motivation to continue to work towards our
objectives.
We did however manage to
collect materials that we could use to raise understanding in our home
countries. In London, Never Again has held a photographic
exhibition of the Rwanda Project at the School of Oriental and African Studies’
Student Union, opened by HE Rosemary Museminali on November 11th
2002. The exhibition moved to Hendon
Secondary School for Holocaust Memorial Day 2003 and more recently to the UCL
South Cloisters on May 12th-13th 2003. We gave a slide show presentation of our trip
at UCL to a group of academics and students.
Next
Steps
We
are currently coordinating and fundraising for a commemorative forum: 10th
Anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda: International Response and
Responsibility, which will take place on March 27th 2004 at the
Imperial War Museum, London. We hope
this will be an event which will draw international attention to the genocide
in Rwanda and generate critical thinking about the international response. We
are also looking forward to reuniting the 10 participants of the Rwanda Project
and other members of Never Again at this event.
Acknowledgements
Never Again would like to thank the following
organisations and individuals for their support:
Shadi Affraim
Amahoro Foundation
AVEGA
Suzanne Bargett, IWM
Andrew Blum,
IIMCR
Uncle Bosco
Gerry Caplan
Naomi Gryn
The Rt. Reverend Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford
Ibuka
Institute
for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution
Linda Melvern
National Unity and Reconciliation Commission
National University of Rwanda
Caroline Phillips, DFID
Marcel
C.A. Smits, IIMCR
University College London
Patrons
Lt. Gen. Dallaire
Lord
Janner of Braunstone, QC
Associates
Genocide Watch
Leo Kuper Foundation
National University of
Rwanda
Prevent Genocide
Remembering Rwanda
Rwanda United Kingdom
Goodwill Organisation (RUGO)
University Women
Students Association, Rwanda
Advisors
Dr.
Gerald Caplan, Founder of Remembering Rwanda and author of the OAU report, Rwanda:
The Preventable Genocide.
Lord Janner of
Braunstone QC, Chair, Holocaust Educational Trust
Linda Melvern,
investigative journalist and author, A People Betrayed
Sponsors
Amahoro Foundation
Michael Conschafter
The Rt. Reverend Richard
Harries, Bishop of Oxford
National Unity and
Reconciliation Commission
National University of Rwanda
SOAS Student Union
Teppei Tsuchikura
Travel Grants Committee,
University College London
Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida
Appendix
I
Participants
Regina Ingabire
Faculty of Economics and Management, National
University of Rwanda
Founder member of Never
Again. Chair, Never Again Rwanda. Invited Never Again to Rwanda. Created the
itinerary and Group Co-ordinator.
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore
Department of History, UCL
Founder member of Never
Again. Chair, Never Again London. Conceived and organized the Rwanda Project.
International Team Co-ordinator and
recorded sound.
Marian Hodgkin
Department of History, UCL
Joined Never Again in
2001. Treasurer of Never Again. Organiser of the Rwanda Project. International Team Co-ordinator, managed the
finances of the trip and took minutes.
Joseph Nkurunziza
Faculty
of Medicine, National University of Rwanda
Organised the itinerary. Interpreter.
Zack Schram
Nothwestern University Law School, USA
Co-founder of Never Again. Cameraman.
Emmanuel Ruhara
Department of English, National University of
Rwanda
Member of Never Again. Interpreter.
Tamaki Yoshida
Faculty of Humanities, School of Oriental and
African Studies
Member of Never Again. Photographer.
Charles Rutikanga
Department of Political Science, National
University of Rwanda
Member of Never Again.
Rose Mutesi
Department of Sociology, National University of
Rwanda
Member of Never Again.
Tashi Radha
MA Human Rights, Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Member of Never Again. Recorded sound.
Appendix II
Abbreviations
AVEGA Association des Veuves du Génocide
Agahozo/ Association for the support
of Widows and Orphans of the Genocide
DFID Department for International
Development
ICTR International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda
IIMCR Institute for International Mediation and
Conflict Resolution
IWM Imperial War Museum
NUR National University of Rwanda
NURC National Unity and Reconciliation
Commission
RPA Rwandan Patriotic Army (Rwanda’s
national army)
RUGO Rwanda United Kingdom Goodwill
Organisation
SOAS School of Oriental and African
Studies
UCL
University College London
UN United Nations
UNAMIR United Nations Assistance Mission for
Rwanda
UNDP United Nations Development
Programme
Appendix III
Evaluation
Questionnaire for Participants in The Rwanda Project
- To what extent do you feel that we have
fulfilled our aims and objectives?
a. Draw international attention to the Rwandan genocide and express remembrance.
b. Encourage youth co-operation through collaborative research.
- Work to support
the aims and objectives of existing
organisations in Rwanda.
- Conduct research into the genocide from a
wide range of academic disciplines
and use a compilation of our findings to enhance understanding in our home countries.
- In what ways will this Project help us to
further the completion of our aims and objectives?
- How did you feel about the pace, variety and
organisation of the itinerary?
- How well prepared did you feel for this trip?
- How could you have been better prepared if
you were not prepared enough?
- What do you feel that you personally have
achieved form this trip?
- What has Never Again achieved from this trip
in your opinion?
- What was the most meaningful part of the trip
for you?
- What was the most difficult part of the trip
for you?
- Please
write about anything that surprised you.
- Please write about anything that disappointed
you?
- How
did you feel about the dynamics between the members of the group?
- What was the most difficult aspect of working
in this group?
- Was
there any part of the trip where you felt that time was misused?
- How would you characterise the challenges:
physical, emotional and mental?
- What
were your expectations for the trip?
Were they met?
- How conducive to work was the atmosphere of
the group?
- What were the limitations or shortcomings of
the trip?
- What have you learnt that was new?
- What were the funniest things that happened
on the trip?
- How do you see the future of Never Again?
- How do you see your involvement in the future
of Never Again?
Appendix IV
Contact
details
Never Again – London
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore
Marian
Hodgkin
43A Stroud Green Road
London, N4 3EF
U.K.
+44 7779 727993
Never
Again – Butare
Regina
Ingabire
Faculty of Economics and Management
National University of Rwanda
ingabreg@post.com
+250 08422669
Nkurunziza
Joseph
Faculty of medicine
National University of Rwanda
josephnr@doctor.com
+25008451287
Butare
•
Chicago •
Kigali •
London •
New York •
Toronto
