During my 2-night visit to the country’s beautiful capital, Kigali, I learned and fell into a deep interest in the country’s history. Here’s what I learned, and what I feel my (few) readers should as well.
For 100 agonizing days in 1994, there was a mass murder in the East African
country of Rwanda, killing more than a tenth of the population. Belgian and
German colonial powers were met with a monarchy of Tutsi rulers despite the
Tutsi tribe (and Twa) being a minority and the Hutu being the majority. The 2
colonial powers catalysed political division in many manipulative and deceptive
manners inclusive of the enforced record keeping around ethnic identity and
public narrative that cast Tutsi as elite rulers and Hutu as ordinary farmers,
planting a lethal seed of political hostility and widening the divide.
In 1959 colonial powers withdrew from the country, leaving
nothing behind but unrest and lingering hate that fuelled a Hutu revolt forcing
Tutsi leaders to flee the country. In the subsequent decade, Rwanda became an
independent republic with a Hutu government that rather explicitly argued that
as the majority, they deserved political power. They intentionally excluded the
Tutsi minority and prohibited the return of Tutsi families that had fled in the
previous years. Hutu extremists circulated propaganda that pinned the country's
economic, social, and political problems on the Tutsi.
Discontent with their uncomfortable life in exile, Tutsi
insurgents invaded Rwanda in 1990 which set off a 3-year-long civil war that
was eventually resolved by the Arusha Peace Agreement ( which intensified
political polarisation ). What was considered the peak of Rwanda’s violence was
triggered by the assassination of the Hutu Rwandan president in 1994. Hutu
officials decided to assert their dominance through government-funded militia
that were operating according to a list of targets, committing gruelling acts
of physical and sexual violence against Tutsi political enemies and civilians.
Eventually, around 1 million Hutu Civilians joined the violence, most by way of
coercion and to carry out personal agendas. The Tutsi sought refuge at churches
& schools where they were, more often than not, faced with only more
physical and sexual violence.
The crisis in Rwanda was ignored by international organizations and UN soldiers
who oversaw the peace accord were maliciously instructed to abandon Tutsi
civilians. UN leadership didn’t recognize this devastating conflict as a
genocide, which only concluded in mid-July after the Tutsi army that had
instigated the previous civil war seized back control over the country. This
genocide killed a heart-breaking 800,000 Rwandans.
The UN established a tribunal in Tanzania to try those they concluded were the
key perpetrators but there was a massive problem - Hutu civilians from quite
literally all levels of society had committed some form of a crime, 120,000 to
be specific, were awaiting trial. The unhygienic and claustrophobic conditions
of the prisons killed prisoners. It was estimated that it would take nothing
short of 100 years for prosecution in the national court.
Then Kachacha was introduced, Rwanda’s local method of
addressing criminal offenses, and loosely translating to justice on the grass.
Here were the basics of it: Testimonies were offered speaking for or against
the accused and appointed judges would determine an appropriate sentence. With
time, Kachacha was adopted in place of formal court despite there being no
professional attorney or judges, or evidence outside the spoken word of
civilians. The charges were split into 4 categories:
1)
Masterminding
the genocide and sexual violence
2)
Participating
in killings
3)
Physical
assault and violence
4)
Damage
to Tutsi property
Perpetrators who fell into the first 2 categories were
entered into the traditional court system, while other crimes were penalized -
which could be reduced if they pleaded guilty. By 2002, thousands of Kachacha
courts were occurring per week and they certainly proved faster than
conventional courts. There were mixed responses to the courts: some people
didn’t want to accuse their neighbours in a public setting and some witnesses
had been intimidated into silence. What the trials did show is that not all
Hutu participated in the violence but the court ignored all Hutu victims and
casualties. The courts finally concluded in 2012 convicting 1.7 million
individuals. For most, the verdicts helped restore dignity to the victimized
families, and for the rest, the trials were a decade-long reminder of the
traumatic past they would have rather buried. The loud echo of Rwanda’s silent
fall, serves as a constant reminder of the heavy impact of humanity turning its
back.
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