JUBILEE ACTION REPORT

October 2004

RWANDA
The Killing Continues – The Legacy of the Rwandan
Genocide
 1.0 Purpose

1.1 Between Sept 26th to Oct

1st 2004, a Jubilee Action
delegation including Lord
Alton, and journalist Becky
Tinsley travelled to Rwanda.

1.2 The purpose of the trip was

to gain a fuller understanding
of the cause and legacy of the
1994 genocide, to visit sites
where an estimated 800,000
people were killed over a
period of 100 days and to
assess the prospects for
Rwanda‟s future. We listened to the testimony of survivors, and visited projects for
widows, abandoned children, orphans and people with HIV/AIDS. We also met
NGOs, leaders of civic society, religious leaders and politicians to discuss the
process of achieving reconciliation and justice, and rebuilding the nation. We
learnt more about the residual problems in the neighbouring Democratic Republic
of Congo where genocidal militias remain in exile with dire consequences for all
concerned.

Above: Jubilee Action delegation with President Kagame

2.0 Narrative and History

2.1 As Rwanda‟s colonial power, the Belgians instituted identity cards classifying
most of the population as either Hutu, who made up the majority, or as Tutsi. After
independence in 1962 Rwanda was ruled by Hutu-dominated governments,
including a period of one-party rule under the Hutu President Habyarimana
between 1972 and 1994. During this time the Tutsi minority (making up 15%)
were excluded from power, denied university education, and restricted to a few
professions like teaching and nursing. Consequently many Tutsi became
businessmen, and comprised a large part of Rwanda‟s middle class.

2.2 Discrimination and ethnic hatred resulted in widespread massacres of Tutsi in

1959 after which many Tutsi went into exile, particularly in Uganda. Further
violence followed, and as a reaction some Tutsi in Uganda, including the current
President, Paul Kagame, formed the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) and its armed
wing, the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA).
2.2 The RPA invaded Rwanda in 1990 but were halted by the Forces Armee
Rwandaises (FAR). Unrest and dissatisfaction continued, and in April 1994
President Habyarimana signed a power-sharing agreement in Arusha, but on his
way back from Tanzania his plane was shot down.

2.3 This event is widely understood to have been the pre-arranged signal the Hutu
militia, the Interahamwe, had been waiting for: roadblocks went up across the
nation, and the systematic and coordinated killing of Tutsi and moderate Hutu
began. It is thought 100,000 Interahamwe spearheaded the genocide, supported by
Hutu peasants who had been indoctrinated with ethnic hate propaganda against
their neighbours. Between 800,000 and a million people were murdered, and it is
believed at least 200,000 Tutsi women were raped.

2.4 From their base in Uganda the RPA invaded and reached Kigali by July,
fighting off a coalition of FAR, Interahamwe and supporting Zairean troops who
retreated into Zaire. Since 1994 they have used their bases in exile to menace local
ethnic Tutsi in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as
Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi. Their presence in eastern DRC has also contributed
to the continuing violence and massive bloodshed there (see previous Jubilee
Action report on DRC).

2.5 Meanwhile, in 1994, a government of national unity was formed with Pasteur
Bizimungu, a Hutu, as president, and Paul Kagame, the Tutsi commander of the
RPA, as his deputy. In effect the RPF have since dominated Rwandan government
and institutions, and when Bizimungu resigned in 2000 Kagame became
president. He was later sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Kagame
Government on allegations of inciting genocide.

2.6 In late 1996 the RPA backed a rebellion in eastern DRC (then still called Zaire)
which destroyed the Hutu/Interahamwe/ex-FAR refugee camps, and precipitated
the downfall of Mobutu Sese Seko. A million refugees returned to Rwanda, but
many „genocidaires‟, as they are known, escaped. They remained in eastern Zaire
from which they continued to attack northwest Rwanda.

2.7 In 1998 Rwanda and Uganda together backed

rebel militia in DRC ostensibly to eliminate the
Interahamwe/ex-FAR. They defeated the combined
forces of Zimbabwe, Chad, Angola and Namibia who
were supporting DRC, leading to a stand-off with
Mobuto‟s successor Laurent Kabila. By the time a
ceasefire was signed in Lusaka in autumn 1999 the
rebels had taken large parts of the north and east, at
the cost of millions of civilian lives. A further
agreement, brokered by South Africa, was needed in
2002 before Rwandan forces began to withdraw from DRC.
Left: David Alton pays his respects at the Murambi Genocide site

2.8 Rwanda continues to have interests in the vast mineral wealth of eastern DRC,
and it is accused of using local militias to impose their will in the area and to fight
against remaining Interahamwe/ex-FAR groups who are believed to number about
8,000. Equally Rwanda accuses DRC of arming and supporting Interahamwe/ex-
FAR militia and their allies who have been killing and terrorising the ethnic Tutsi
population in eastern DRC. We used most of our one hour meeting with President
Kagame to raise Rwanda‟s continuing conflict with the DRC.

2.9 The Rwandan economy is based almost completely on agriculture (coffee,

sugar cane, bananas) of which the majority is peasant subsistence farming. It lacks
the huge mineral wealth of neighbouring DRC, or an industrial base. It currently
imports goods it could be manufacturing for itself, and there is potential to develop
a more value-added agricultural export business, given effort and imagination.

2.10 Rwanda suffers from deforestation (another consequence of the war) and soil
erosion. Its economy is vulnerable to both world commodity prices, and the cost of
oil. The continuing violence in DRC restricts regional trade and discourages
inward investment.

3.0 The Consequences of Genocide: Political Freedom and Human Rights in

Rwanda

3.1 The Rwandan Government is currently struggling to strike a balance between

allowing free speech, and defeating once and for all the genocidal ideology
responsible for inspiring millions of people to participate in the murder, betrayal,
and looting of their fellow Rwandans.

3.2 Everyday, in every encounter we had, we were reminded that people have good
reason to be apprehensive to the point of paranoia about allowing people to make
derogatory comments about the ethnic minority Tutsis, or to deny the genocide
occurred. We are also sensitive to fears that the exiled Interahamwe and ex-FAR
wish to destabilise the country by force. We met many people who either fear for
their lives, or are receiving threats, or have actually been attacked by those who
believe their testimony will put them in prison. We took evidence of genocidaires
released under the Gacaca and returning to their communities to commit revenge
attacks on those who testified against them. 30 Tutsi survivors were reported to
have been killed in June 2004 in Butare.

3.3 The aspiration of the Government, recited by all and sundry in positions of
power and by many NGOs, is that the Gacaca system will bring about justice and
reconciliation, given time. We were constantly told that the future lies in all
people regarding themselves as Rwandans first, and Hutu and Tutsi second.
Although we agree with the importance of national identity, history suggests that
trying to wish away ethnic awareness is futile and counter-productive. You can
remove ethnic identity from ID cards (good) but not from memory. Co-existence ,
mutual respect and power sharing would be a more productive course.

3.4 There has been criticism of the dominant role taken by the Tutsi minority in
government, the army and throughout society. We would question whether the
Hutu majority has a big enough stake in Rwanda‟s future, and if there is a role for
power-sharing structures, and confidence building measures to bring about
reconciliation through practical, everyday cooperation in rebuilding Rwanda.
Although acutely conscious that Britain failed the Rwandan people in 1994, we
suggest that we might now make a small contribution by sharing our experiences
of building cross-community institutions in Northern Ireland (see:
recommendations).

3.5 Human Rights Watch recently catalogued its concerns about the suppression of
the free press, the imprisonment or exile of political opposition figures, and the
96% (sic) President Kagame received in recent elections. Our impressions, from
speaking to people as varied as 14 year old rape victims, Hutu genocidaire
prisoners, town mayors, social workers, and government ministers, was that the
Kagame administration is determined to silence criticism or divergence from the
agreed path forwards. One local health worker in Butare claimed that political
dissidents are first warned and then imprisoned for criticising the government.

3.6 A vital element in this strategy is

eliciting confessions of guilt from
prisoners, and encouraging them to
provide information on who planned
the genocide, in exchange for their
freedom: the Gacaca process. In every
province, citizens are being trained to
chair Gacaca tribunals, to ensure
victims are able to confront their
attackers, and that witnesses can give
testimony. Whilst the planners of the
genocide and those who raped are considered category one prisoners, and do not
qualify for parole, the rest have the chance to confess.
Left: Category 1 prisoners in Nyanza prison responsible for the worst acts of genocide in 1994.

3.7 We visited Nyanza prison and watched in admiration as the country‟s

Prosecutor General, Jean de Dieu Mucyo, urged the five thousand genocidaires
(male and female) gathered before him in the prison yard, to confess their guilt,
submit to the Gacaca process, and go home to their families. Given his own
personal loss during the genocide, his commitment to resolving the future of the
prisoners was doubly impressive. On a practical level Rwanda cannot afford to
keep 70,000 genocidaires in prison indefinitely, and if they want to reconcile their
shattered nation, we concluded there are worse ways to go about it than the Gacaca
process.

3.8 Some doubts remain about the validity of the confessions from the point of
view of the victims and survivors. The President of the Rwandan Survivors Fund
(SURF) told us of her disappointment when she was able to confront the killer of
her husband and children, only to find he felt no remorse. We also heard prisoners
say they were under pressure from fellow Hutu not to confess or implicate
genocidaires who have avoided punishment so far. Some less skilled Hutu freely
admitted they preferred to stay behind bars where they were given three meals a
day, rather than to face the economic hardships in the outside world.

3.9 Whether the Government will succeed in persuading the majority Hutu
population that the genocide was wrong remains to be seen. Tutsi unease at the true
intentions of their fellow Rwandans is understandable, given the undercurrent of
genocide denial, and threats to witnesses and survivors. They are not allowed to
keep weapons at home, but the tension within the community was apparent.

3.10 We note the importance of learning from experiences in the former

Yugoslavia, where the International War Crimes Tribunal has been careful to hold
each community to account for the atrocities perpetrated on each other. Croatian
and Bosnian generals allegedly responsible for war crimes against Serbians have
been arrested and put on trial at The
Hague.

3.11 Until 2003, Carla del Ponte

was the Prosecutor for the
International War Crimes Tribunal
responsible for both Rwanda and the
former Yugoslavia. She believes
there was political pressure from the
Rwandan Government for her
removal because she was urging the
investigation of the members of the
RPA suspected of reprisal killings.
Left: David Alton with the Prosecutor General - Mr. Mucyo.

3.12 If this indicates a subjectivity or an unwillingness to accept that there was

retaliatory violence on Hutu civilians, then this would not bode well for the
Rwanda‟s future.
3.13 Being even handed, and being seen to be even-handed, could be an important
element in trying to assure one part of the community in Rwanda that even though
the other part of the community bore the greater brunt of the horrors of genocide,
they have not been absolved of atrocities they in turn committed, even if they were
smaller in scale. We were struck by testimony from Hutus who suffered greatly in
1994 when up to 100,000 were killed by the RPA when they invaded the country.
We also heard of mass reprisal killings in1996, and we believe that until these
events are acknowledged openly and justice is delivered, the level of resentment in
the Hutu community will severely damage attempts to unite and reconcile the
nation.

3.14 We urge President Kagame to embrace the political benefits that could accrue
from an admission that atrocities, reprisals, and large scale revenge killings were
carried out by the RPA in 1994 and 1996. We were pleased to read an interview
given by President Kagame to the BBC during the tenth anniversary
commemorations in which he accepted RPA responsibility for killings of Hutu. We
urge him to build upon this by bringing to justice those responsible for atrocities in
1994 and 1996, and so to assure the whole community of his government‟s
intention to apply justice evenly, irrespective of ethnic background.

3.15 We were concerned to learn that six well-respected NGOs who are the subject
of a Parliamentary Report have had no opportunity to defend themselves against
the extremely serious charges of inciting genocidal ideology. To accuse an
organisation of using „divisionist‟ language damages the credibility of the NGO
concerned, and the rules of natural justice require there to be a transparent and fair
means of examining the evidence and presenting a legal defence.

3.16 In discussions with officials at the Commission for Human Rights, and with
Jean de Dieu Mucyo, the Prosecutor General, we raised this issue, and urged them
to allow a full and open judicial process, giving the NGOs concerned the right to
defend themselves. Officials were unwilling to explain exactly what the individuals
at the NGOs are alleged to have said or done, and we remain concerned that well-
intentioned NGOs or other groups in civil society will be subject to harsh and
arbitrary punitive measures. We hope Rwanda will study the ways in which Britain
is currently legislating against the incitement to racial and religious hatred. We also
trust that reference to our anti-discrimination laws, evolved and refined over
decades, might be of some use. We were also concerned that if every criticism of
the government were to be labelled as inciting genocide, it would devalue the use
of the word and minimise the enormity of what actually took place.

3.17 Similarly, we are alarmed by reports from Human Rights Watch about
opposition politicians, who have not previously promoted ethnically divisive
views, now being accused of „divisionism‟. The most startling example of this is
the former president of Rwanda, who is in prison awaiting Gacaca, although he
was a military supporter of President Kagame during the Genocide. We have also
heard of other long-standing members of the RPF and RPA, who faithfully served
their cause throughout the years of struggle, and whose credibility has suddenly
been challenged, and who are now accused of promoting genocidal ideology.

3.18 Human Rights Watch has catalogued the cases of a number of democratic
politicians who have expressed criticism of the Government, and who are now in
exile, fearing for their safety and liberty. HRW also questions the reported
crackdown on press freedom, and the suppression of healthy, pluralist dissent.

3.19 We were told by the authorities that they come down on genocidal ideology
swiftly and surely. While we are sensitive to the reasons why any ethnic slurs or
genocidal denial must be firmly dealt with, we are concerned that genuine free
speech may be sacrificed, and a system of informing and the censorship of well-
intentioned political criticism and debate may arise as a consequence.

3.20 We are pleased there are now several independent radio stations in Rwanda,
but were dismayed to learn each station had been required to sign a commitment to
avoid political subjects. We are acutely aware of the role played by the media in
disseminating hate ideology and propaganda during the genocide. For the future,
we hope Rwanda will gradually appreciate the benefits of allowing free speech
within a framework of legal guarantees for the respect of minority rights, human
rights, anti-discrimination and mutual tolerance.

3.21 As friends and admirers of Rwanda we hope our concerns about the slide
towards repressing free speech will be taken as they are meant: constructively. We
are hugely impressed by the way in which Rwanda is being reconstructed, by the
lack of corruption, and by the efficiency of the Government which is an example to
all in the region. We share the Government‟s aspirations to pull all Rwandans
together, emphasising what they share, rather than what divides them. But we are
also concerned about the potential backlash from an overzealous rewriting of
history, and from denying fair comment. From our meetings with politicians,
religious leaders and activists across Rwanda, we are confident Rwanda is strong
enough to allow full and informed national political debate.

3.22 In Butare we were deeply impressed by the personal friendship and public
leadership of the Catholic and Episcopal (Anglican) bishops, Bishop Msgr.
Philippe Rukamba and Bishop Venuste Mutiganda. They are both involved in
reconciliation and social projects. In Kigali we visited the Catholic Cathedral, met
with Protestant church leaders and talked with faith-led individuals and groups
about a whole host of impressive initiatives.

3.23 As mentioned above, we met Antoine Rutayisire of African Enterprise whose

book, “Faith Under Fire”, details the stories of individual Christians who resisted
the genocide. We heard of pastors who lost their lives , and of a group of nuns who
refused to abandon the children in their care, and were brutally murdered.
3.24 Antoine Rutayisire is involved in a coalition seeking to encourage Christian
dialogue and engagement. He also told us that “the position of the church is very
complex: it has taken many different positions and reconciliation is not a popular
concept. It often sits on the fence.”

3.25 It is also clear that during the genocide individual pastors, priests, and
Christian leaders either collaborated in the killing or failed to speak out
prophetically against the
slaughter.

3.26 Fatuma Ndagije,

Executive Secretary of the
National Unity and
Reconciliation Commission,
alleged that the deceased
Catholic Archbishop,
Nsengungiyuva, had been
involved in planning the
Hutu attacks on the Tutsis.
At Nyanza Prison we talked
to one of two Episcopal
priests who are prisoners,
Musominali Paulin, who
was accused by a parishioner of betraying her husband. He has been waiting for
seven years to be tried for a charge he strenuously denies. He told us that at
Nyanza there is a Baptist pastor, and two Seventh Day Adventist pastors, and that a
Catholic priest had been in the prison, but under the Gacaca system he had been
released (and is back in his post in his parish). Musominali raised an interesting
aspect of Gacaca when he said, “some confess to things they have not done in
order to secure release. Why should a man confess to a crime he did not commit?”
Left: Murambi Genocide site in South-West Rwanda.

3.27 Notwithstanding individual acts of bravery during the genocide, the failure
of the church to be more outspoken is partly to do with the over-identification of
individual denominations with one ethnic group of the other, and the failure to
inform individual believers and parishes/fellowships in the duties that go with
Christian citizenship. In facing the future the church must learn hard lessons from
this experience.

3.28 Our visit to the Murambi Genocide Site in the south west of Rwanda served to
remind us of the hellish reality of Rwanda‟s recent past. Murambi was a technical
college, to which children from a nearby orphanage, went there to take shelter.
They believed the French garrison there would protect them. Instead, so we were
told, the French soldiers stood by and watched as the Interahamwe hunted down
local Tutsis, as they are reported to have done throughout the country, delivering
them to what became the mass graves of Murambi.

3.29 Fifty six thousand bodies were found there, and we walked from classroom to
classroom, viewing 852 remains that have been disinterred. Within a few days of
the massacre, a volleyball court had been built on top of one of the mass graves
which, we were told, the French then used in their leisure time. We saw the site of
where the French raised their flag while the killings proceeded without
impediment. Meanwhile, at the UN, French diplomats were working in concert
with Secretary General Boutros Ghali (cf family connections) to withhold any
information about the genocide from the Security Council as it occurred.

3.30 The French position was unquestioningly supported by Britain‟s

representative to the UN and in the House of Commons by the Foreign Secretary at
the time.

3.31 France‟s role in allegedly training FAR, and supplying them with satellite
telephones with which to coordinate the killing from community to community,
deserves special mention, but equally we were constantly aware on our trip around
Rwanda that Britain‟s record in 1994 is nothing to be proud of. However, while the
UK is now the biggest donor to Rwanda (£37m in 2003-4), France has given very
little, has refused to examine its role in the run up to the genocide and during it,
and denies any moral responsibility. We agree with President Clinton‟s reflection
that the failure to act in the Rwanda genocide was „the greatest regret of my
Presidency‟ – a view shared by the British Aid Minister of the time, Baroness
Chalker.

4.0 The Consequences of Genocide: HIVAIDS

4.1 “We are a generation in transition, carrying the wounds of the past, and trying
to shape the future.” (Antoine Rutayisire)

4.2 With every personal connection we made in Rwanda we were reminded that
the consequences of the 1994 genocide are still making a profound mark on almost
all aspects of life. There is great continuing hardship for widows who survived the
war, in particular those who were raped and are now HIV positive. However,
because of the genocide women in Rwanda are more aware of HIV/AIDS than
elsewhere in the region, and we trust this will assist the spread of awareness about
the need for testing. In many respects, the fatalities of HIV/AIDS represent a
continuing genocide in Rwanda.

4.3 There are 260,000 orphans in Rwanda, of whom 65,000 are HIV positive, and
the President‟s office told us they classify one million children as vulnerable.
Given that the total population of Rwanda is eight million, it is clear the country
faces an enormous challenge. Every year, 40,000 children are born to HIV-
infected mothers.

4.4 Of the 100,000 Rwandans who need HIV treatment, only 4,000 are currently
receiving anti-retro viral (ARV) medicines. Disgracefully the international
community decided to prioritise the treatment of HIV positive prisoners, most of
whom participated in the genocide, as their victims died of AIDS or struggled to
survive, the perpetrators of the genocide received three meals a day and
ARV. This perverse situation was compounded by the knowledge that those who
could testify against them would die before they could go to trial. This grotesque
iniquity is finally being corrected, and the President‟s office told us they hope to
have virtually everyone who needs treatment receiving ARVs within five years.
However there are only 274 doctors serving a population of eight million in
Rwanda, and we applaud efforts to train survivors and victims to administer home-
based care.

4.5 In our meeting with the Minister for Health for HIV, Dr Innocent Nyaruharira,
we agreed that a campaign to help school children become AIDS-aware would
provide a great opportunity to explain that in the case of consenting sex, AIDS is
100% preventable but 100% fatal. We gave the Minister to “Towards an Aids-
free generation”, a primary school level book produced in Africa. It was agreed
this book would be highly appropriate for distribution to every pupil in Rwanda.
We also gave the Minister a copy of the secondary school level book, “Aids and
You” with the same purpose in mind.

4.6 We also met Colette Cunningham of World Relief who is responsible for
delivering World Relief‟s portion of the US President‟s Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief (PEPFAR). Colette told us that „for once, thanks to the US, there is money.
It will change the face of AIDS in Africa.‟

5.0 The Consequences of Genocide: Orphans

5.1 Forty per cent of all 10-14 year olds in Rwanda

are orphans. 26% of all children in Rwanda are
orphans and the UN forecasts this will rise to 32% in
2005. There are 6000 child-headed households in
Kigali alone. The Rwandan Government is
encouraging a policy of allowing extended orphan
families to live together and manage their own lives,
with modest financial support, rather than putting
children in orphanages. Many live a hand-to-mouth
existence, and are burdened with remarkable
responsibilities at a young age, but we were
impressed by how optimistic and ambitious the children we met were.
Left: Two orphans at Kabuga.

5.2 We spoke to children as young as 14 who were running households of four or

five, at the same time as attending school, earning money to support their families,
and coping with the legacy of having lost their parents either to AIDS or the
genocide.

We visited the Peace Village, just outside Kigali, where 52 children live in a
community of ten simple but well-built homes. Gratien Gatete, age 24, told us his
“mission” was to have a career in which he could create jobs for as many people as
possible. During the genocide Gratien‟s life was saved by a Hutu man who
recognised him and told the Interahamwe he was his brother. The man hid Gratien
and five other people for days until he could escape. Of Gratien‟s nine siblings,
three survived. One of his sisters, Marie Rose, has saved when a Hutu priest
rescued her and took her to a doctor: she had been cut with a machete twice on her
head, and on her back and arms, and left for dead. The priest‟s mother took the
girl over the border into DRC, cared for her for two years and on her return re-
united her with her brother. Gratien now lives with his surviving siblings and
cousins, and they help each other to solve daily problems and to make sense of
their experiences, he said. “We have formed a community, and we stick together”.

5.3 Gratien spoke for many we met when he told us he was glad the truth was
finally coming out through the Gacaca system of local truth and reconciliation
trials. “At least now I know where my parents were killed, and where they are
buried.” However it disturbs him to see his brother‟s killer on the streets, and
wishes the „genocidaires‟ were still in prison. (Under the Gacaca system, prisoners
who confess before village trials are released from prison, unless they are the
highest category of killer who planned the genocide or committed rape).

5.4 When we met Jean-Pierre Kanyandekwe at his home in the Peace Village he
was still badly bruised from a beating the previous week. He feared his mugging
was part of a pattern of attacks on Tutsi survivors who know the identities of
genocidaires and might therefore testify against them at Gacaca hearings. The shy,
thin 26 year old told us he had faith that the rule of law would deter wide scale
reprisals, but, as he said, “We live together in our country but we don‟t love each
other.”

5.5 Jean-Pierre was 13 during the genocide. He escaped by carrying a sack of

cooking charcoal on his back for miles, past Interahamwe checkpoints, pretending
to be a trader heading for Burundi. Jean-Pierre does not know who killed his
parents, but he understands that the man who killed his brother is in prison, waiting
to be released. “He confessed at Gacaca, and he told them how and where he killed
my brother, but he did not apologise or ask for forgiveness.”
5.6 Life has been particularly harsh for orphans like Jean-Pierre who were between
the ages of 10 and 15 during the genocide because they had to quit school to care
for their remaining young family members. Now they have no skills to sell, and
cannot afford to go back to school to get an education. Jean-Pierre sells cabbages
in the market, but when he was younger he had wanted to be a teacher.

5.7 At the Peace Village we also met Gihozo Christian (aged 4) who is the first
child in the village to be born to an orphan. Perhaps Gihozo represents new life for
such a traumatised country.

5.8 Every person we met had their own traumatic story of bereavement. Nineteen
year old Constance works at a garage during the day to provide for her four
siblings. At night she attends computer classes and hopes to one day have an
information technology career. Constance was nine at the time of the genocide, and
she survived by hiding beneath the body of a dead boy. As she was escaping the
militia, she came across the corpses of her father, aunt and two sisters, but she
never found her mother‟s body. Constance and her four siblings lived with another
aunt after the war, but the aunt got married and the new husband beat the children
and eventually threw them out. Constance had heard about the work of the Solace
Ministries in Kigali and approached them for advice. They found her a house
where she now lives with her family.

5.9 Constance is grateful for having a roof over

her head, but she told us it was more important
that she had dependable adults she could come to
for support. She also finds it invaluable to discuss
everyday problems with other child heads of
households, although she insisted the most
„healing‟ benefit of her involvement with the
Solace Ministry was finally being able to tell her
story.

5.10 Another orphan survivor, John Bosco

Gasangwa, from Butare, agreed. “After the
genocide no one wanted to talk about what had
happened, and we children went around with a
huge pain in our hearts. For years I felt so
depressed and despondent, and I didn‟t know what the point of living was. Then I
was able to talk to others who had experienced the same horrors, and it was
amazingly healing.”
Left: Constance was nine years old when she survived the genocide.

5.11 Although the Rwandan Government favours the creation of child-headed

households, the scale of the orphan problem means there are still many
orphanages, some of which cater for abandoned babies too. Despite the difficult
circumstances at Reverend Ngondo‟s Foundation in Kigali, we were struck by the
determination of the children to make the most of school and become professionals
such as lawyers and doctors. Ngondo‟s orphanage has 41 children, most of whom
are genocide survivors or the offspring of people who have died of AIDS. A few of
the children are HIV positive, and we were concerned that there appears to be no
special provision in Rwanda for dealing with the medical problems of child AIDS
sufferers, or their eventual demise. Although the other children at the orphanage
are supportive of the ones with AIDS, we wondered how they were expected to
cope with their medical needs.

5.12 There is currently only one hospice in Rwanda with just 10 beds and no
children‟s hospice, something World Relief‟s Colette Cunningham hopes to
change in the future. However next year World Relief hopes to train church
volunteers in palliative care and to support Home based palliative care with HBC
kits and volunteer training. She explained that $28m from the PEPFAR has been
allocated to the Community Based NGO partners in Rwanda, one of which being
World Relief. Initially the church, which is still greatly respected in Rwandan life,
was reluctant to get involved in AIDS, but it has now committed itself to using its
pivotal position in the community to „mobilise for life‟. Increased financial
assistance is being used to train pastors and volunteers in each province to identify
orphans and vulnerable children and to make sure they are tested, given nutrition,
support and treatment within the community. However Colette Cunningham
warned us that Rwanda has a very young population, growing rapidly, and already
16% of the 20-24 age group are HIV positive.

5.13 Another challenge presented by the growing population, and the huge number
of orphans, is in education. Before the war teaching was one of the few professions
open to Tutsi, and they were wiped out en masse during the genocide. As a
consequence there is a now a severe shortage of both educators and school places.
Rwanda recently made primary education free for all, and classes of 30 suddenly
became classes of 200.

5.14 Many people we spoke to expressed reservations about the quality of the state
system. “If you pay $2 a year to go to the village school, what do you expect?” said
one parent who prefers to make sacrifices to send her children to private schools.
There are not enough places in state schools, so there is a large private sector. We
were told a reasonable education would cost $200 a year, a huge sum, given that
average earnings are $280 a year in Rwanda.

5.15 Church groups running orphanages or supporting child headed households

had no choice but to pay for their children to go privately, and to supply uniforms,
books and transportation costs. This is a financial burden on already overstretched
NGOs caring for orphans, and we hope the international community will earmark
funds to enable the Rwandan Government to provide free education of orphans, a
vulnerable group which, as has been mentioned, often selflessly put the needs of
their extended families before their desire to go to school.

5.16 The Government ministers we met, such as Angelina Muganza, Minister of

State for Public Service, Skills Development, Vocation training and Labour, were
acutely aware of the need to skill their young people and encourage them away
from the belief that they can work on the land as their parent‟s generation had.
“Educate the women and you educate the nation,” she said, describing initiatives to
get girls to study science subjects in particular.

5.17 The United Nations estimates that 98% of children witnessed someone being
killed during the genocide. We cannot begin to adequately evaluate the long term
repercussions for both the survivors and those who perpetrated the murders. Ben
Kayumba of Solace Ministries put it, “I used to look at every face I passed on the
street or in a crowds and wonder if they had killed my family. It took me a long
time to stop thinking everyone was evil.”

5.18 Antoine Rutayisire believes many young people are burdened by feelings of
great anger that they have been unable to express, not least because others,
particularly adults, have wanted to avoid the subject. Groups like Solace Ministries
organises forums where survivors can give testimony, but generally there are very
few arenas in which young people can confront the past, grieve or express their
resentment.

5.19 “How are the children of the generation who committed the atrocities going to
make sense of the behaviour of their parents?” Rutayisire wonders. “What are we
going to do with children who were so brainwashed by propaganda that they killed
their own mothers and desecrated their bodies?”

5.20 John Bosco Gasangwa is a survivor, now at university, who found it changed
his life to meet with other orphans to talk about his experiences. He felt profoundly
empty and alone until he heard what another boy his age went through. “This boy
hid behind a fence when the Interahamwe came for his father. His father was a
very tall man, and so the militia first cut off his legs, then cut him in half at the
middle, and finally cut off his head. Then the boy watched as the same men
attacked his pregnant mother and cut her open.”

5.21 In Rwanda every orphan has a similar horror story, but Rutayisire, who runs
African Enterprise in Rwanda, is optimistic, and believes young people are now
growing up in a much less corrosive environment, without ethnic labels. “Now
they may discriminate in private, but hopefully the next generation will put it
behind them. We are a generation in transition, carrying the wounds of the past,
and trying to shape the future.”
6.0 The Consequences of Genocide: Widows

6.1 The story of one woman we met represents the dire consequences of the
genocide still being visited upon Rwanda‟s women. The past ten years of Bertrude
Mukandigo‟s life encapsulate all that has flowed from the 100 days of murder. On
the day when the genocide reached her town of Guro, Bertrude was raped by eight
different men. On subsequent days she was raped again repeatedly by soldiers who
tormented her as if returning and violating her were a game. She became pregnant
and HIV positive as a result, and the baby she gave birth too was also HIV
positive.

6.2 The men who raped her

escaped across the border. One of
them returned from the refugee
camps in 1996, and when she
passed him in the street he was
initially afraid she would report
him to the authorities. Due partly
to the stigma attached to rape in
Rwanda and due to her decision to
forgive her perpetrators, Bertrude
told him he had nothing to fear.
Left: Bertrude's story encapsulated the plight
of Rwanda's widows.

6.3 She married a man who, it emerged was also HIV positive, and they had two
children, one of whom has Downs Syndrome, and other of whom is HIV positive.
Her husband has now died, leaving her with three children, and no extended family
nearby. As if that were not bad enough, the man who raped her began to threaten
her, fearing she would go to the Gacaca to denounce him. His threats have become
more frequent and frightening, made worse for her by the knowledge that genocide
survivors across Rwanda are being hunted down and intimidated and in some cases
killed.

6.4 An example of this intimidation is the story of one of Bertrude‟s friends who
was attacked and raped with a stick and who is still in hospital. Bertrude is terrified
because she is receiving threatening letters, and wants to move to an area where
she is among friends and feels safer. Sadly she lacks the money to relocate at will.
When asked what the police were doing about the intimidation, she explained that
in country areas there are too few police to respond. Jubilee Action has committed
to raise the funds to re-house her, but we are acutely aware her plight is shared by
many thousands of genocide survivors.

6.5 The Interahamwe systematically used rape as a weapon of war throughout the
genocide period, knowing it would shame and humiliate their victims, particularly
in a traditional society in which rape stigmatises the female victim. Human Rights
Watch estimates that more than 200,000 women were raped in the course of the
100 days, and many more were made widows. The rate of HIV/AIDS among
widows is twice the national average as a result of the genocidaires programme of
ethnic extermination.

6.6 At Solace Ministries in Kigali we attended a widows‟ support meeting at which

women listened to each others‟ testimony about their experiences during the
genocide, and the hardships since. Many had scars on their arms, heads and faces
from machete cuts, and some were missing hands. Each had an extraordinary story:
witnessing their husbands, siblings and children killed; hiding from the murderers
who were often their neighbours and friends who had suddenly turned on them,
calling them snakes and cockroaches; travelling across country to try to find
refuge; and being raped by genocidaires. Since the killing stopped, some of them
they have suffered from the stigma of rape; some have become HIV positive,
infected by the men who raped them; most have had trouble finding somewhere to
live and work; and all have struggled financially.

6.7 Another feature common to the widow‟s lives is the difficulty in coming to
terms with what they saw, and talking about their experiences. Solace provides a
supportive forum for widows to come together, as well as practical help, training
women in handicrafts such as soap-making, toy-making and weaving to help them
generate income. They also have a bakery and a pineapple plantation producing
12,000 fruit a year currently, and aiming for 50,000 next year. In addition Solace
has fields outside Kigali in which they grow mushrooms, beans and sweet
potatoes.

6.8 We met Patricia, a tall, elegant woman with a quick smile, who is the president
of the community association of 35 widows in Kabuga. There the widows make
soap and weave baskets to support themselves. They said they feel safer living
together in the same community, and they were very aware of the threats to
genocide survivors who witnessed killings and are potential witnesses at Gacaca
hearings. As she said, “The devil of death is still operating in this region.”

6.9 Jean Gakwandi, who started Solace in 1995, recognised an enormous need for
comforting and understanding, putting people in touch with deeply suppressed
emotions. He now runs special camps for the most profoundly traumatised, and has
found it is only with time that the widows are able to admit what had happened to
them. Often it takes months or years before it emerges they were raped, and them
Solace arranges HIV testing.

6.10 Those who test positive receive nutrition, and as much medical treatment as
Solace can afford. Currently, 23 out of a total of 350 HIV positive widows are
getting ARV, with 49 on the waiting list. They all attend twice monthly meetings
to share their problems, fears and experiences of living with HIV or AIDS. The
cost of treating people is falling, and will be further reduced due to Kenyan-
produced generics, but the current $160 a month for ARV alone is a fortune in a
country where the average annual income is $280.

6.11 Solace is also training widows to provide counselling and health education to
other women in the same situation. In addition they have collected testimony, an
activity we increasingly realised is vital to countering genocide-denial charges (see
below: Human Rights). Solace make a point of integrating HIV positive sufferers
with healthy women in each of their work and training areas, aiming to build
support mechanisms for when they become ill and need help. They have found
that HIV sufferers survive longer when they live and work with uninfected people,
and healthy people in turn lose their fear of HIV and AIDS. Solace also has a
home-based programme of support for AIDS sufferers. We were both moved and
impressed by the work being done at Solace, and by the commitment, efficiency
and humanity of Jean Gakwandi, Ben Kayumba and the others.

6.12 Women have a tough enough time in Rwanda because in their traditional role
they carry the burden of working in the fields, walking miles twice a day to fetch
water, raising the family and taking care of their house and husband. We were told
on many occasions that women are not given enough say in whether or not they
consent to sex or marriage or the use of condoms. In some areas custom has it that
a widow can be claimed by the male relatives of her dead husband‟s family and
forced to marry one of them. There is also pressure on young girls to become
sexually active at puberty, with little consideration given to their wishes. The fight
against AIDS in Rwanda has not been helped by hostile male attitudes to
abstinence, monogamy and condoms, nor by a reluctance to discuss such
previously taboo subjects.

6.13 Josephine Uwamariya of Health

Unlimited runs a weekly radio soap opera,
called Urunana (hand in hand) which is
modelled on the Archers, in which social
problems such as HIV/AIDS, rape and
domestic violence are dramatised. It is a
hugely popular programme – reaching 60% of
the population - although men are known to
confiscate the household radios in annoyance
at its message.
Left: Rwandan Warriors in Butare.

6.14 A member of our delegation, Dr Richard

Rowland of Judah Trust, has run AIDS
awareness programmes across Rwanda in
which sensitive subjects are broached through
drama. Despite these excellent initiatives, and the wholehearted commitment of the
Rwandan Government to tackle AIDS, general ignorance and truculent male
attitudes make it an uphill struggle at a grassroots level. It is very encouraging that
Rwanda leads the world in female parliamentary representation (48%) and women
government members (30%), and we trust and believe their influence is already
being felt throughout society. This partnership of men and women will be required
to re-shape attitudes and behaviour.

6.15 When we met President Kagame we asked him if he would spearhead a public
information campaign to educate Rwandan men about HIV/AIDS and sexual
health. Given the respect in which President is held across the country, we felt it
could be invaluable to use his standing to get the message across. He agreed with
this suggestion. He was also supportive of an initiative to put primary school books
designed to teach children about HIV/AIDS in schools. Dr Richard Rowland gave
him an example of the book produced and used in Zimbabwe towards an AIDS-
Free generation.

7.0 The Consequences of Genocide: the Democratic Republic of Congo

7.1 Another lasting and devastating consequence of the genocide is the ongoing
violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (see opening narrative). Our
meeting with the Rwandan president was timely because Prime Minister Bernard
Makusa had just signed an agreement with DRC‟s President Kabila at the
59th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

7.2 When we met President Paul Kagame at his offices in Kigali, we encouraged
him to pursue and persist with his attempts to build a personal bridge to DRC‟s
President Joseph Kabila. We referred to the lessons of Northern Ireland peace
process, and urged him to put in place confidence building measures such as
exchanging diplomatic representatives with Kinshasa. He was receptive to attempts
to establish and maintain dialogue with Kabila personally, and DRC, and we hope
to propose a tri-partite Inter Parliamentary Union dialogue, bringing politicians
from DRC and Rwanda to Britain.

7.3 We also met the Hon. Evariste Kalisa, a member of the Rwandan Parliament
who chairs the Human Rights Committee. He told us of the Amani Forum (the
Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum on Peace) which he helped found in
1998. Based in Nairobi, the Forum includes Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzinia, Kenya,
Zambia and Burundi – but not yet DRC. President Kagame told us that he strongly
welcomed such initiatives and said that the ideal way forward would be a bilateral
DRC/Rwandan military force to deal with the militia and to assist DRC restore
sovereignty over its territory. We were impressed by the President‟s commitment
to forging a personal and close working relationship with President Kabila.
7.4 Although we are acutely conscious the UK did nothing to help Rwanda when it
needed it in 1994, President Kagame made it clear to us that he values the
friendship and active help of the United Kingdom.

8.0 Recommendations:

8.1 Conflict

8.1.1 Rwanda deserves the support of the international community in their concern
for the rights of the ethnic Tutsi population in eastern DRC. We call upon the DRC
(as we have Rwanda) to commit itself to stopping the flow of arms and support to
militia within eastern DRC which continue to harass and kill the ethnic Tutsi
population. We also call upon the international community to respond to Rwanda‟s
concerns.

Specifically we urge the UK government to use its role as a permanent member of

the UN Security Council to demand the clarification of MONUC‟s mandate in
DRC. We call for a consistent mandate to be acted upon and publicised sufficiently
to let the local population know what they can expect from UN peacekeepers.

8.1.2 We urge Rwanda and DRC to establish embassies in each other‟s countries as
soon as possible. We also urge them to begin a process of constructing confidence
building measures and joint institutions between the two nations, their politicians,
business leaders, civil society groups and churches. Moreover we urge the
leadership of both Rwanda and DRC to develop the personal relationships from
which so much reconciliation and practical progress can flow.

8.1.3 We welcome the Amani Forum initiative and hope the DRC will support it.
We believe it provides a very helpful model of building multinational institutions
which can further mutual understanding, air differences and lead to constructive
engagement.

8.1.4 We commend Rwanda for being the first nation to send peacekeeping troops
to Darfur. We urge the Rwandan army to maintain its high levels of
professionalism.

8.1.5 We commend the British Government for its overall support for Rwanda, and
for maintaining relationships between the two countries through regular ministerial
visits. However we think it is vital for the Foreign Office to recognise the scale and
impact on the region of the conflict in DRC, and therefore to visit DRC and
establish equally strong ties.
8.1.6 Leading on from recommendation 5) above, we believe Britain is uniquely
placed to act as an honest broker between DRC and Rwanda. Just as an outsider,
Senator George Mitchell, helped to make the Northern Ireland peace process work,
so it may be that Britain could play a useful role in facilitating dialogue between
DRC and Rwanda. The British Government should commit itself to playing this
role, recognising how interconnected so many of the region‟s problems are.

8.2 Advocacy:

8.2.1 We applaud the training of judges and court officers throughout Rwanda to
handle the huge backlog of Gacaca trials. We recognise the enormous strides that
have been made in rebuilding the nation‟s system of justice. We therefore urge the
Rwandan Government to strive to protect the human rights of all its citizens
through a legal system that is transparent and fair.

8.2.2 We urge the Human Rights Commission to establish and maintain a proper
dialogue with human rights NGOs, recognising that an exchange of views can be
invaluable for both sides, and that Rwanda‟s friends around the world need to be
reassured about the country‟s commitment to democracy, human rights, and
fostering an open society.

We also urge the Human Rights Commission to demonstrate its independence from
government by questioning the suppression of constructive dissent and political
opposition within Rwanda, and by pressing for the prosecution of those responsible
for crimes against all parts of the community during and after the genocide.

We urge them to benefit from decades of trial and error in Europe by examining
existing European Union and British laws which guarantee human rights, and
balance freedom of speech with the need to prevent ethnic hatred and
discrimination.

8.2.3 We applaud the decision by the international community to provide funding

to develop an infrastructure to provide HIV/AIDS treatment for women who were
raped and infected during the genocide, however late it might be.

8.2.4 We commend President Kagame for agreeing to spearhead a public

information campaign to educate Rwanda‟s men about HIV/AIDS and sexual
health.

8.2.5 We applaud NGO‟s such as World Relief for providing books appropriate for
secondary schools.

8.2.6 We urge the Prosecutor General and the Ministry of Justice to bring to justice
perpetrators of genocide from all parts of the community and to apply justice, and
what is more, be seen to apply justice equally. We commend the work of the
International War Crimes Tribunal in the former Yugoslavia in striving to hold to
account members of all sections of the population who violated the human rights of
others, and we believe their work should be of interest to the Rwandan
Government in its attempts to bring true reconciliation to Rwanda.

8.2.7 The central role of the church in promoting national cohesion, reconciliation,
and a recognition of human dignity should both be recognised and encouraged. The
courage of those who resisted the genocide should be celebrated and taught as an
inspiration to others, and where the church failed, appropriate public admission
should be made and lessons learnt.

As a priority, western churches should devote resources to helping the Rwandan

church, and parish-to-parish, fellowship-fellowship relationships should be forged.

8.2.8 The Governor of Butare province told us that he would like to see Butare city
to twin with a British city. Since an admirable proportion of the Rwandans we met
are ardent supporters of Liverpool Football Club, Liverpool would make a good
choice. Its association with Africa and its own suffering during World War II
commend it but there are other obvious cities such as Coventry. The Foreign and
Commonwealth Office might like to facilitate this request.

8.2.9 We commend the efforts by SURF and the Solace Ministries to compile an
archive of testimony from genocide survivors, so long as they reflect the suffering
and experiences of the whole community.

8.3 Children:

8.3.1 We encourage NGOs to actively promote

African solutions to Rwanda‟s problems, pointing
out African success stories and projects appropriate
to Rwanda. For instance we commend the Scripture
Union of Zimbabwe‟s primary school textbook,
“Towards an Aids-free generation”. On women‟s
issues, we also urge that the success of projects run
by African women should be a model for initiatives
in Rwanda. For instance we commend the work of
Dr Phylista Onyango in Nairobi as a model to
create self-help commercial initiatives.
Left: Child born inside Nyanza Prison.

8.3.2 We commend to Dfid the application of the

women‟s organisation MOGAR, whose President is Josephine Irene Uwarmariya
of the proposed project to redress and prevent acts of sexual gender violence.
8.3.3 We applaud the Rwandan Government for making primary education free to
all. We urge the international community to direct its resources to programmes
aimed at providing free education, books and uniforms to Rwanda‟s orphans. We
believe this would remove a great financial burden from overstretched NGOs and
church groups struggling to provide for orphans.

8.3.4 We applaud the enthusiasm of the Rwandan Government for cultivating

computer literacy. We urge the international community to focus its programmes
on supporting and enhancing the teaching of information technology to both
children and adults in Rwanda.

8.3.5 We recognise that the genocide and the fast rate of population growth have
placed great burdens on the Rwandan education system. The decision to make
primary education free has meant that classes of 30 have grown to 200. We urge
the international community to direct its aid at programmes for training many more
teachers, retraining existing teachers, and enhancing the quality of education.

8.3.6 We recognise that the medical profession was decimated in the genocide and
we urge the international community to prioritise programmes aimed at training
new doctors and retraining existing medical professions to prepare for the
challenges of a rapidly growing population, HIV/AIDS etc.

8.3.7 We recommend that World Relief incorporates the cost of printing “Towards
an Aids-Free generation” into the current PEFFAR programme, so that every
schoolchild in Rwanda may receive a copy; and that the proposal for a children‟s
AIDS hospice in Rwanda and the development of palliative care be made an urgent
priority.

8.3.8 We welcome the Rwandan Government‟s commitment to provide AIDS

treatment to street children, and we will be recommending to Jubilee Action that
they support the work of the Catholic
and Episcopal Bishops of Butare in
relation to their work with street
children and commercial sex workers.

8.3.9 We recommend Jubilee Action

responds practically to assist the
orphans of genocide by supporting
education, health, housing and IT
projects; in addition should continue to
promote dialogue internally in Rwanda
and externally in the DRC.

9.0 Conclusion
9.1 We re-iterate our enormous gratitude to our hosts and for their commitment in
facilitating our visit and in patiently answering our inquiries.

9.2 We were visiting the country just after Rwanda had commemorated the
10th Anniversary of the genocide.
Left: David Alton with the first child of an orphan at the Peace Village.

9.3 At many of the sites where the killings occurred, we saw the words “Never
Again”.

9.4 Rwandan people need to forgive one another, if the country is to be healed and
enabled to move on, and if such shocking events are not to be repeated in a future
bloodbath. But Rwanda should never be asked to simply “Forgive and
Forget”. Rwanda does need to forgive but it must also remember. The
international community also needs to remember.

9.5 If we learn nothing from our failure to prevent the deaths of 800,000 people –
and from what we saw in DRC and later in Darfur that seems to be the case – it
truly will be unforgivable. It would also make a mockery of the cry of the dead
that such crimes against humanity should never be allowed to happen again.

10.0 Contact Information

Jubilee Action

St. Johns, Cranleigh Road

Wonersh, Surrey

GU5 0QX

Tel 00 44 1483 894 787 Fax 00 44 1483 894 797

www.jubileeaction.co.uk