Last February, almost 60 years after my first arrival in Rwanda and 30 years after the genocide of the Tutsis, I set foot in Kigali again, where I was the first Canadian inhabitant. I was stationed there from 1964 to 1966 as a SUCO worker. This time, I went there for the launch of my latest book, entitled Rwanda of my youth.
During the launch, a host asked me how I reacted to the genocide. I was unable to answer. No sound came out of my mouth.
What this question brought to the surface was what I felt in August 1994 when I opened a letter sent by one of my former students, a letter that listed so many of my former students who had been killed with their wives and children with machetes during this genocide which took place before the eyes of the international community which refused to intervene when it was time, that is to say from the very beginning.
Thirty years later, the vast majority of Rwandans have not experienced the genocide. The median age of the Rwandan population is only 19.2 years for men and 18.5 years for women; 41% of Rwandans are 14 years old or younger.
However, the 1994 genocide is still present in everyone’s mind. In my book, I tried to mention it as little as possible (without really succeeding) by focusing on the period 1940-1970, that of the end of the monarchy, the Hutu revolution, independence , the first genocide of the Tutsis, that of 1963-1964, and the transition from multipartyism to unipartyism.
From the reaction of some readers, I realized that they were seeking to rewrite the history of Rwanda in their own way so that new generations do not repeat the mistakes of the past and that, in doing so, they could show themselves as determined that those who motivated the genocidaires, to silence, by accusing them of racism, those who do not think exactly like them and even those who think like them without having experienced the same things.
This may be normal. But this does not bode well. Long-term peace requires listening to and tolerating those who think differently.
There’s still much to do
That said, I believe that no one could have imagined in the aftermath of the genocide that Kigali would, thirty years later, be as populated, beautiful, clean, safe and green as it is today. But Kigali is not all of Rwanda. There’s still much to do. Everyone, President Kagame included, is aware of this.
We must hope that the latter’s eventual succession will be peaceful, harmonious, democratic and above all young, very young. May the rising youth of Rwanda assert themselves with respect for each other and chase away the old demons that have caused Rwanda to suffer so much.
But, in the very short term, tensions between Congo-DRC and Rwanda are increasing, while, according to some, the Democratic Republic of Congo is negotiating a military cooperation agreement with Putin’s Russia in order to counter the action in North Kivu by the M23 rebel group supported by Rwanda. This news, which appeared in several media, both Russian and Western, has just been denied by the government of the DRC, although a draft agreement to this effect was indeed approved on March 5 by the country of Vladimir Poutine…
What North Americans generally don’t know is that North Kivu was already part of Rwanda in the 19th century.e century, before German colonization, and that this conflict is a direct product of the 1994 genocide, the Interahamwe militias who perpetrated the genocide of the Tutsis in 1994 having found refuge in Congo-DRC, where they operate freely with the complicity of the DRC and where they gave birth to several other militias, which play a major role in the current conflict.
By supporting the M23 and fighting the Interahamwe and their heirs in the DRC, Kigali seeks, among other things, to avoid their return to Rwanda with the consequences that one can imagine. All this to say that the 1994 genocide is not just an increasingly distant memory. It has given rise to an enduring conflict and two opposing narratives of Rwanda’s history, which will not fade away any time soon. Alas!