Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

RWANDA: SAVE THE REMINANT AFTER THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE OF 1990s

By Saliu Emmanuel
Digital Journal
November 7, 2009

Photo:
During the 1994 genocide, Ugandan fishermen found themselves pulling dozens of bodies out of Lake Victoria. The badly decomposed bodies had traveled hundreds of miles by river from Rwanda.

[According to Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, "Rwanda did not suffer from “ancient hatreds” between Hutu killers and Tutsi victims. It suffered from modern demagogues, from the ex-FAR [Forces Armees Rwandaises], from the Interahamwe, from Radio Mille Collines. It suffered from those who were willing to kill in the warped name of ethnic difference, from those who saw division and death as a path to power". See the blog post "United States Remembers 1994 Rwandan Genocide" ===MK/HTPJ]

The 1990 fight between Rwandan Patrotic Front (RPF), a rebel group, composed mostly of Tutsi refugees that invaded northern Rwanda from Uganda, the Rwandan Civil War between Hutu regime, with support from Francophone nations of Africa and France itself, and the RPF, with support from Uganda, led to the ethnic unrest including the displacement ofnumbers of Hutu in the north by the rebels and periodic localized ethnic cleansing of Tutsi to the south.

A brief cease-fire took place in 1993 due to pressure on the government of Juvenal Habyarimana. Thus the preliminary implementation of the Arushs Accords.

Mass killings of Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus resurfaced in April, 1994 when Juvenal Habyarimana was assassinated that claimed lives in their thousands{500,000} and millions {1,000,000}, the estimated death toll, which account for 20% of the total population.

THE MISUSE OF POWER AMONG RWANDAN POLITICAL CLASS, REPUBLIC AND THE MONARCHY

The Publication "Bahutu" manifesto in 1957 by Hutu Emancipation Movement called Parmehutu alleged that Tutsi minority monopolized power.

In 1960s the claim led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic headed by Gregoire Kayibanda, the regime that persecuted the Tutsi severly.The situation became unbearabl, and were forced to flee. The persecution persisted under the regime of Juvenal Habyarimana who had seized power in 1973 and promised progress and reconciliation.

In 1980s a coherent political and military organization led by Tutsi refugee diaspora. A reasonable number of Tutsi refugees in Uganda had joined the victorious rebel National Resistance Movement during the Uganda Bush War and made themselves a seperate movement. In order to restore themselves within the nation,thew RPF in October 1990 invaded Rwanda.

The BIG QUESTION is why the fight, why the killings, why the war, why the counter attack between the Hutus and Tutsis? It is all about "POWER CONTROL", MISUSE OF POWER AND RARE PRIVILEDGE.

"POWER CORRUPT,AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPT ABSOLUTELY"

Every group (Hutus and Tutsis) were neither figthing for the good of the common Rwandan nor for downcast in the society, but for selfish control of power.

I advise that African Political class, and indeed Rwandan leaders should look before they leap, not leap before they look.

Consequently,what they lost was much, much more than the so-called power control: Lives of people were lost in their thousands and millions, properties worth millions of dollars were destroyed, young girls were rapped at random. What a great loss to Rwandan, African and the world in general.

There is no problem without solution

Let African leaders embrace dialogue rather than war all the time. So that we can use the monies for rehabilitation of Refugees and their camps after war be channelled to precautionary measures and infrastructural projects.

A word, they say is enough for a wise. I rest my case.

Related Materials:
On The Legacy of Numerous Genocide Memorials in Rwanda

Tanzania : Genocide remains discovered

Massacres at the Kagera River in 1994 Rwanda genocide

The Rwandan Genocide: The Bodies That Were Floating In The Kagera River Were Victims Of The RPA

During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Kagame massacred both Hutu and Tutsi

Uganda to rebury Rwanda genocide victims

The truth about the Rwandan genocide

International Private Inquiry on Rwandan Bodies That Were Found Floating on Kagera River and Victoria Lake - From May 1994 to July 1995

The Legacy of The Crematoriums of Rwanda

UGANDA-RWANDA: FINALLY UGANDA’S MUSEVENI OFFICIALLY ACCEPTS HIS ROLE IN THE MASS KILLINGS IN RWANDA FROM OCTOBER 1st, 1990 to DECEMBER 31st, 1996

Beyond Ethnic Politics and Fear: Hutu, Tutsi, and Ethnicity in Rwanda

posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 6:01 PM