This week, on 7 April, the world marked the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda. In Rwanda itself, the country celebrated a national holiday. What happened during those 100 days in 1994, and what is the political legacy of the genocide today?

 

Twenty-six years ago, in April 1994 – the same year that Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president, and fifty years since the Holocaust – over 800,000 Tutsi Rwandans were brutally murdered by Hutu Rwandan militia. Hutus and Tutsis do not differ on religious, cultural or racial grounds, but instead on economic-based class divisions. Traditionally, Hutus farmed crops, while Tutsis tended the more profitable livestock. Over time, these class divisions became ethnic designations, exacerbated by Germanic imperial and Belgian colonial rule. In the 1930s Belgian rulers introduced the classification of Tutsi or Hutu on Rwandan ID. Although only 10% of the population, the richer Tutsis became local rulers and thus aligned as a symbol of colonial rule. The country’s first post-independence elections in 1961 were won by nationalist majority Hutus, who remained in power until the genocide. 

 

The politics of the genocide was rooted in this ethnic division. Between 1990 and 1993, the Hutu government had been engaging in a war with the Ugandan-based Tutsi rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). In early 1994, the Hutu government’s target widened from this group to the Tutsi minority within their own country. Hutu President Juvénal Habyarimana had agreed to a UN-enforced peace agreement with the RPF in Uganda, and soon after his government began arming paramilitary gangs to prepare to attack his own people. The most infamous of these government-backed Hutu militias was a group called Interahmanwe, who used guns and machetes to carry out their attacks. 

 

On 6 April 1994, President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down over Kigali, the Rwandan capital. The culprit remains unknown today. Hutu forces used this moment as scope to begin the pre-planned genocide. It began on 7 April for approximately 100 days, where on average five Rwandans were violently killed every minute. 

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the only way the genocide was quashed was through more violence: namely by revenge killings from the RPF. Led by Paul Kagame, an offensive aimed at toppling the Hutu government was successful after the 100 days, but killed a further 200,000 Hutus in the process. Kagame became vice-president, controlling the army. In 2000, he was elected president, a role which he retains today. 

 

It is also important to note what didn’t happen during those 100 days in 1994: international intervention. Global leaders could see the horrific acts unfolding, and yet did almost nothing. The UN did not permit General Roméo Dallaire to increase his 2,500 troops in Rwanda after reporting the Hutu government’s plans, instead, encouraging him to focus on implementing the peace agreement. Moreover, the US actively discouraged UN Security Council involvement – perhaps due to the human-loss and humiliation suffered by the US army in the Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia, the previous year. Bill Clinton has deemed this inaction one of the greatest regrets of his presidency. Samantha Power, the Irishwoman who would become Obama’s human rights advisor and ambassador to the UN, was partially spurred to the humanitarian cause because of Clinton’s action during this time.  

 

More recently, in 2019, Emmanuel Macron ordered a two-year study of the French government’s role in the Rwandan genocide after allegations of complicity with the Hutu-led government. 

 

The political legacy of the Rwandan genocide is difficult to overstate. In the immediate years following, the violence directly contributed to conflict in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, which became the deadliest war since World War II. Two million Hutus fled Rwanda after the genocide, who then attacked Tutsis in the DRC. 

 

As mentioned, Paul Kagame became president of Rwanda in 2000. A 2015 constitutional referendum means he can now stay in office until 2034. In the 2017 elections, he won a staggering 98.8% of the votes. Yet Kagame’s shaping of Rwandan politics in the shadow of the genocide has been exceptionally mixed. 

 

Let’s look at the good first: Rwanda has been known as the ‘Sweden of Africa’; boasting a growing economy, almost 100% school enrollment for children, and an excellent health insurance scheme for all citizens. It is one of the few East African countries where same-sex relations are not criminalised. More women make up its parliament – 61% – than any other country in the world. Kagame was voted “African of the Year” at the 2018 All Africa Business Leader Awards. He has removed all references to ethnicity from passports, and implemented article 16 into the Rwandan constitution, which states: “All Rwandans are born and remain equal in rights and freedoms”. 

 

Furthermore, many key figures involved in the genocide have been brought to justice through the UN Security Council’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), but also through the country’s local gacaca courts, which have trialled almost two million genocide cases. The ICTR indicted 93 people, including the first woman convicted of genocide crimes – former minister for family and women’s affairs, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, for planning and ordering genocide and rape – and convicted media figures for war crimes including incitement of genocide and persecution, the first conviction of the sort since Nurenberg trials in 1946. 

 

And now, the bad: the ICTR’s decision not to prosecute war crimes committed by the RPF in the toppling of the Hutu government has undermined the justice garnered for Tutsi victims. In addition, according to Human Rights Watch, Kagame’s ‘ethnic autocracy’ RPF government in recent years have illegally detained street children in Kigali, targeted and killed refugees from the DRC, and several opposition members and one journalist have been found dead or disappeared ‘in mysterious circumstances’. The government is currently made up of 10% Tutsi members, yet they occupy almost all official positions. A divide remains, if not in name. 

 

The Rwandan genocide remains one of the most chilling and horrifying crimes against humanity since World War II. A mere year later, in 1995, 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were brutally murdered in the Srebrenica genocide, proving that when the world does not respond to such actions, they are condemned to be repeated. A full generation has come to adulthood since the genocide in Rwanda. Perhaps they can guide the country into a more hopeful future. 

 

 

Photo by Sebastiao Salgado

 

 

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