During the Belgian occupation the Belgians divided this population basically on their wealth. If one owned 10 or more cos you were deemed as Tutsi, supposedly smarter and superior. The rest of the population, sizeable 84% were named Hutus and deemed to be less intelligent and less successful. The Belgians installed the minority Tutsis as the ruling class and this kept the majority Hutus downtrodden.
After independence Hutus ruled Rwanda excluding all Tutsis from any position of power or influence. Open conflict ensued frequently but in the lead up to 1994 the Hutu backed army and militias planned a sophiscated operation to exterminate Tutsis drawing up a well researched hit list of victims. At that stage there was a peace plan drawn up by Hutu president Habyarimana to reintegrate the Tutsi minority into one state, one peoples.. On 6 April 1994, he and the president of Bujumbura were shot down in a plane flying back from a signing ceremony in Dar es Salaam. Bizarrely the aircraft crashed into the palace grounds killing all. Even more bizarrely the missile was shot from the Hutu army barracks clearly from his own side but unhappy at the prospect of reconciliation with the Tutsis.
Overnight a bloodthirsty, murderous Hutu force was unleashed. The Rwandan media repeatedly urged listeners to “kill the cockroaches (Tutsis)” One million were killed in 3 months until the Tutsis RPF forces could enter the country and establish order and and end to the bloodshed. It is not only the sheer scale of death but the obscene sick and violent modes of killings that is so disturbing. Also worth mentioning shame on the UN for withdrawing its peacekeeping force at the start of the genocide. Similarly the duplicitous French armed the Hutus and as the tide turned used their troops to ensure the safe passage of the inhuman Hutu murderers.
The Rwandan capitol of Kigali is all about the genocide monuments ranging from the museum to the Hotel Mille Collines featured as the Hotel Rwanda in the eponymous movie to the nearby genocide sites both churches that used to be safe havens for all inside it and now turned into killing fields in the most barbarous manner by the Hutus. Once again visiting these sites of barbarity reduces me to tears.
We are sitting enjoying a drink at the bar of the “Hotel Rwanda”. I have long wondered how this country can have victims and perpetrators of the genocide coexist. Anyone over the age of 35 must have some memory of the violence and bloodshed. How does one live with that? Maybe the answer to my question has emerged from the mouth of our drinks waiter who the group engages to talk about his hotel’s humanitarian achievement in 1994. When asked directly his response was “We are not allowed to talk about the genocide”. So suppression is the answer for these peoples. I hope it works for them.
