Rwandan Genocide

Rwandan Genocide.

“I was deep in prayer when the killers came to search the house a second time.”

“During that second search, the killers’ racket reached the edge of my prayers like an angry voice waking me from a dream. Then I heard four or five loud bangs next to my head, and they had my full attention. I realized that they were right there in the pastor’s bedroom! They were rummaging through his belongings, ripping things from the wall, lifting up the bed, and overturning chairs.”

“I covered my mouth with my hands, fearing that they’d hear me breathing. They were only inches from my head . . . the floor was creaking in front of the wardrobe—the wardrobe! I thanked God again for it, but my heart still thumped against my chest.”

Can you imagine being this close to death?

The italicized paragraphs above are an excerpt from Imaculee Ilibagiza’s book ‘Left to tell’. One of the most compelling books I’ve ever come across. ‘Left to tell’ tells a young woman’s view of the Rwandan genocide.

Hotel Rwanda is a Hollywood re-construction of a hotel manager’s perspective on the genocice. Paul Rusesabagina had been the manager of the Hôtel des Diplomates. He saved about 1268 people from sure death during the genocide. A true hero in my opinion.

Both stories have one thing in common, horror!

The sheer horror and spate of destruction meted out on the Tutsis of Rwanda is almost unprecedented in the history of the planet. About 20% of the country’s population was wiped out within two to three months. That is the same as saying at the end of about three months; one in every five human beings in the country was dead. Just because they were Tutsis.

A good question to ask is ‘how did all these come about’?

For centuries there had been under boiling tensions between the Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority. The Tutsis had held control for centuries through a monarchy and the Hutus had come to power in a rebellion in 1962 and had overthrown the monarchy.

The resulting government was led by Grégoire Kayibanda. Kayibanda was then overthrown by his own minister for defence, Major Juvénal Habyarimana. Habyarimana held on to power for a long time. Longest time frame in the history of Rwandan presidents as a matter of fact. His government leaned towards favouring the Hutu majority. His government was obviously not as extreme as most Hutu extremists would expect. Also seeing as he was not entirely favouring the Tutsis, he was caught in no-man’s land.  His plane was shot down on the evening of 6 April 1994. Obviously the blame was shifted from camp to camp but seeing as the majority of the government was run by Hutus, the Tutsis had to go. They had always wanted it anyway and now here was an excuse.

Théodore Sindikubwabo was installed as the head of government. British intelligence report that Sindikubwabo and Hutu hardliners organized Habyarimana's assassination due to concerns over the Arusha Accords (which would have given Tutsis more say in the government). The Sindikubwabo administration came to power and under the control of Colonel Théoneste Bagosora carried out probably the greatest massacre in our time!

How did the world let this happen? How?!

The media was highly utilized to propagate propaganda to the Rwandan populace. Especially the radio (due to the high level of illiteracy). The Hutu majority of the country was turned overnight into one big, angry, violent, blood-thirsty set of demons. And the Hutus that refused to be turned were treated like the Tutsis they refused to kill. They were butchered! And mercilessly so too!

It was sheer horror. Dead bodies littered the streets. There was no hiding place for the helpless souls who had been left to fend for themselves. Even churches were not spared. Orphanages were rampaged. I remember Imaculee saying his brother’s head was split open because the Hutu militia guys wanted to see what his brain looked like seeing he had a master’s degree! I also saw a girl’s story of living in a pile of dead people for about 43 days! Horror cannot even describe what it was like.

But in all these, what flips me out the most is the reaction of the international community. Shameful will be a ridiculous understatement. Ridiculous would be flattering to the absolutely shocking response of the major players in the international community. They simply watched people get slaughtered. There can be an argument that they did not know what was going on but there’s no way I’m buying that. If they did not know what was going on, why did they all pull their citizens and expatriates out of the country? If they were not sure what was going on, why did they shut their embassies? If they were not aware what was going on, why did they keep shutting down the African voices in the UN assembly? They knew what was happening, they just chose to do nothing. The truth is, a little while earlier, the US had been faced with a similar situation in Somalia and it had not gone well and they did not want a repeat in Rwanda. So rather than approach the situation differently, they chose to do nothing.

I really am not making that up, they chose to do absolutely nothing and watch the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives!

However, as is any story, where there are villains, there are also heroes. The UN commander in Rwanda at the time was a man named Romeo Dallaire. Some hero he was. He defied the orders to pull out all his soldiers and stayed in the country. Obviously he wasn’t able so save all the lives, but he saved as many as possible. There was Henry Anyidoho, his Ghanaian deputy. When all or at least most of the other countries pulled out their troops from the United Nations mission, Anyidoho kept his Ghanaian troops. Phillipe Gillard of the Red Cross also stayed in the country. He was backed by the Red Cross international community. And what a job he did. There was a moment he was said to have physically stood up to Colonel Bagosora. If that doesn’t say ‘BRAVE’ I’m not sure what does. Carl Wilkens was also the only American remaining in the country. He didn’t have to stay, but he did. Paul Rusesebagina whose heroics are documented in the Hollywood flick ‘Hotel Rwanda’ was also worth his weight in gold. These are heroes. But I don’t think any hero holds a candle to Captain Mbaye Diagne. He held no gun. He used no force. He confronted the killers harmed with nothing but his charm and smile. He saved many lives driving and ferrying Tutsis to safety. And unfortunately he paid the ultimate price. I ask myself, if Diagne was a Canadian or a British soldier, how much mention and coverage would he get?

Mbaye Diagne: True hero

The genocide is gone and somehow the country has survived. Fortunately with a Tutsi currently in power. Justice is still being sought in some quarters I can imagine but can there really be justice for such a wide scale of destruction of human lives and souls?

PATRICE LUMUMBA

PATRICE LUMUMBA: A TRUE AFRICAN HERO OF PAN-AFRICANISM.

(2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961)

“If you have nothing to die for, you have nothing to live for”

Not sure where I heard it or if those are even the exact words, but the above line is one of the many sayings that live in my head. Many times when I see myself pushing enthusiastically for what I want and making big sacrifices that can have long-term effects, the line comes to my head.

And history has a long list of people who have laid down their lives for what they believe. Stephen around 34AD, Bhai Dhayala in 1675, Maximilian Kolbe in 1941 and on and on. People of ilk. Men of men. Human beings of class and repute. And recently I came across another. Patrice Lumumba.

Lumumba was the first prime minister of the DRC. Like many other African states, the rich nation of the Democratic republic of Congo had been under colonial rule of the Belgian nation. And like so many other colonial authorities, Belgium was not in a hurry to let this country so rich in natural resources out of its grasp.

DRC was under Belgian rule. The indigenes were oppressed. But somehow in 1960, there was an election where Lumumba’s party won control of the parliament. He was appointed prime minister at the age of 34. But did he step up to the plate or what?

Patrice Lumumba

Now let’s get something straight, the country had a vast reserve of natural resources. The colonial powers certainly wouldn’t let him have all the control where they had no say whatsoever in the expending of the reserves. How can a black man rule over his own country without their supervision? No way! How can this young country have control over its own affairs? Lumumba wouldn’t play ball and they wouldn’t let that happen. Or maybe they’ll just wait and see how ‘sensible’ this new kid on the block would be.

Well, any lingering doubts as to whether Patrice would be a puppet were erased at the very celebrations to mark the independence of the country. Some Belgian dude had gone on the podium to give a speech about how magnanimous Belgium had been to the DRC. He had spoken in glowing terms about how the independence was all a part of the grand plan of the Belgian nation. It was all lies of course. Everyone knew he was lying, but they all kept quiet in the name of diplomacy. No one wanted to spoil the celebration. No one except our young prime minister. He walked up to the microphone without being scheduled to and just spoke.  He spoke nothing but the truth. The truth about Belgian oppression. The persecution of the native African indigenes. He spoke of how the independence of the Congolese nation was not a magnanimous act but a struggle. Young Patrice spoke his mind. He spoke the truth and his fate was sealed.

No way would they have this smart, intelligent boy running the show without them. Patrice had to go.

But Lumumba was popular. The people loved him. He was intelligent. He gave rousing speeches and there was no way they could turn the Congolese people against him. So they had to use the Congolese politicians. They had to turn to the greedy ones. The ones who didn’t care what the average person thought.

They instigated a secession movement from the southern part of the country. The Katanga province led by one Moise Tshombe declared a republic. And the whole world watched as Lumumba desperately sought help to put his country back together. At least he was just some black kid who was prime minister over a country a couple of weeks old. Who cared what he thought. There was this particular occasion when he visited the United States and the president wouldn’t even receive him talk less of listening to what he has to say. The only country willing to lend a helping hand was the USSR. And again, Lumumba’s fate was sealed a second time. There was no way the US would let their cold war enemy have such a rich country on the African continent.

The CIA and the Belgians set out to ‘work’. The UN did nothing meaningful to help the poor Lumumba. UN resolutions were carefully grafted, in my opinion with the US pulling the background strings, to frustrate all his efforts.

One thing stands out in my mind. Through it all, the youthful prime minister remained graceful. The western media made him look evil. He was painted as ‘anti-western’ when all he wanted was to have one independent country. With every move made to frustrate his efforts, he never lost the affection of his people.

His government was toppled by his onetime chief of Army staff, Joseph Mobutu (later Sese Seko Mobutu). He was finally captured on the first of December 1960. He was humiliated in front of the world press. He was tied with ropes and made to sit on the floor of an open van. They had him. They had his body, but his soul was unbroken.

Openly Humiliated

Lumumba was killed on the 17^th of January the following year. He was shot. His body was exhumed by the Belgians and cut to pieces. Burnt. And dipped in acid. Let me say that again. The illegally deposed prime minister of a country was killed, cut to pieces, burnt and decimated with acid by a foreign power. If that’s not a crime against humanity then the holocaust was nothing more than a civil disturbance!

Lumumba lost his life and on the long run we all know what Mobutu did to the country of Zaire as he later called it.

In the death of Lumumba, Africa lost a hero. We lost someone who could stand up to the powers that be harmed with nothing but the truth and sheer will. We had lost someone who wasn’t going to sit in his revolving chair being fed grapes by pretty girls while his people died and suffered for lack of basic amenities. We had lost someone who saw true and good human values and was going to stick up for them even when it seemed fool hardy. Lumumba’s death marked the end of a life spent showing us we don’t have to lick the feet of those more powerful than ourselves even if they are more threaten us with fire and brimstone.

Patrice is no longer with us but what he stood for lives on!

Well done sir and like you said all those years back when in the dungeons of the evil ogres “Congo has a bright future!” I guess we can look forward to a bright future for our dear green continent. You’ve shown us it’s possible to get to where we want.

In the words of Malcolm X “Lumumba is the greatest black person to ever walk on the African continent!” Maybe some will disagree, but I’m sure no one will disagree Lumumba was some hero and a shining light even in this dark times.