Kigali, Rwanda and the Genocide Memorial
Loading ...After a short 2-hour mini bus ride from the border on very nice new roads we made it to the charming Rwandan capitol of Kigali, set among the hills of Rwanda. I found the countryside and landscape of Rwanda to be as beautiful as southern Uganda and among the nicest landscapes in all the countries I have visited in Africa. After a local showed us the way we found rooms in a guest house, down a steep hill from the city center. Kigali is very modern and clean by African standards, a testament to the massive influx of International aid and assistance that has flowed into Rwanda the past 14 years since the horrible atrocities of the Rwandan genocide. While people still stared at us and street touts tried to sell us trinkets and phone cards the level of hassle was extremely lessened from the rest of Africa (and not even on the same scale as Egypt and Tanzania).
After the first night the English couple took off for the airport to meet some friends and head out to see the gorillas, while I changed to an even nicer place (the only motel I have seen in Africa) and ventured to the ORPTN (Rwandan Tourist Organization) to inquire about a permit to visit the gorillas (I had contacted them a week earlier by email but they never responded and I was worried that my procrastination was going to prevent me from seeing these amazing creatures). Fortunately they had one space just a few days away and after paying up the massive $500 extortionary fee (at least some of the money goes to help preserve the mountain gorilla) I was issued a permit to my relief. I had briefly considered visiting the gorillas in Uganda or even Democratic Republic of Congo, but the former was more commercialized and harder to obtain permits for and the latter is still downright sketchy so I was most happy to find a way to visit them in Rwanda which was my first choice. Fortunately it is still about 2 weeks away from the start of the high season (July – September), during which I would not be able to find a permit in any of these countries any more than 3 or 4 weeks in advance.
After a short 2-hour mini bus ride from the border on very nice new roads we made it to the charming Rwandan capitol of Kigali, set among the hills of Rwanda. I found the countryside and landscape of Rwanda to be as beautiful as southern Uganda and among the nicest landscapes in all the countries I have visited in Africa. After a local showed us the way we found rooms in a guest house, down a steep hill from the city center. Kigali is very modern and clean by African standards, a testament to the massive influx of International aid and assistance that has flowed into Rwanda the past 14 years since the horrible atrocities of the Rwandan genocide. While people still stared at us and street touts tried to sell us trinkets and phone cards the level of hassle was extremely lessened from the rest of Africa (and not even on the same scale as Egypt and Tanzania).After departing the tourist authority I flagged down a moto-taxi and agreed on a price. After some harrowing, danger-fueled trips on moto-taxis in Kampala I was happy to see all the moto-taxis in Kigali were regulated (the driver all had uniforms and the bikes were well maintained) and even better they had helmets for both the driver and passenger. My level of potential anxiety was further reduced when I realized the Rwandan moto-taxi drivers drive quite conservatively, with no wild weaving in/out of traffic and on the well maintained roads the 10 minute trip was both safe and pleasant, which was a welcome emotion as the moto-taxi dropped me off at the Kigali Memorial Center (the museum of the genocide). Having visited some of the most horrible genocidal sites of the 20th Century (Dachau, Auchwitz, Burkenwald and Phnom Phen and the Killing Fields) I was prepared for a heavy and emotionally wrenching visit but not for the fantastically organized but unbelievably real museum that chronicled the Rwandan genocide in modern textual, photographic and even video detail. The buildings were quite modern and very nicely landscaped with a view overlooking central Kigali and upon entering the grounds I came upon a beautiful fountain built around an Eternal Flame, in remembrance of the 2,000,000 victims of the modern genocide.
Once inside the building I was both fascinated and horrified by the incredibly well organized and detailed exhibits that were laid out in a circular fashion with lots of gritty photos. The text was written in the first person in Rwandan Kinyarwanda, French and English and explained how the division of tribes was arbitrarily imposed by the German and Belgian colonialists, where the people of Rwanda were divided ECONOMICALLY into two tribes of Hutus and Tutsis, based only on their financial situation (5 cows or more made them Tutsis). Then in the early 20th century the Belgian colonial government favored the Tutsi minority (who were genetically no different from their Hutu brethren) with key positions of power and privileges while the Hutu majority seethed with resentment. On top of this when the Rwanda called for independence in the mid 1950s the Belgian Colonial government switched their allegiance from the Tutsi to the Hutu and all power after Rwanda gained its independence in 1960 was in the hands of the Hutu majority, which turned the tables and started to issue all kinds of travel and work restrictions on the Tutsi. Fighting between the 2 arbitrary groups continued through the 1970s and 1980s and when a Tutsi led guerrilla force invaded from neighboring Uganda in 1990 and French, Belgian and DR Congo troops were flown in to help repel them. Then the Hutu government went on a rampage against any Tutsis or Hutu collaborators, where thousands were killed or arrested and tens of thousands fled to neighboring Uganda and Burundi. The rebel forces of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (the Tutsi led force of exiles invading from Uganda) attacked again in 1991 and by 1993 were within 15 miles (25 Km) of Kigali, at which point peace negotiations were started in Arusha, Tanzania, which soon stalled and the RPF launched another massive operation. At this point the Hutu president called for a cease-fire and began to discuss a power-sharing coalition government at a conference in Arusha, but upon his return in April, 1994 his plane was shot down with a missile killing him and the president of Burundi and igniting the plan for ethnic cleansing that had been discussed by Hutu extremists for years. Over the next 3 months nearly 2,000,000 Rwandans were killed or starved, mostly Tutsis, mixed families, or Hutu sympathizers.
What I was astonished to learn was the complicit place the French government had in both securing the loan and actually helping orchestrate the largest arms deal to date for the Hutu-led Rwandan government (the arms themselves were from Egypt). In addition, Koffi Annan and the UN recklessly disregarded eye-witness intelligence of a highly placed Rwandan presidential adviser (before the presidents assassination) that the president had lost control of the Hutu extremists and that they were planning some secret campaign where death lists were created of every Tutsi, mixed race and Tutsi-sympathizer in Rwanda. The already-meager UN ‘peace-keeping’ forces were actually reduced just prior to the start of the genocide in April 1994, despite intelligence reports that the extremists were planning some large-scale operation.
Once the genocide began in mid-April 1994 the French government continued to support the Hutu-led government and pressured the UN and International Community to stay out of what was played in the media merely as ethnic strife. The French government also sent troops in to protect and evacuate the Hutu-led government leaders/diplomats and it is estimated that the amount of troops used for this evacuation could have instead stopped the killings and reestablished the peace had that been their mandate. The leader of the UN forces requested 5000 men and promised to restore the peace but was denied the additional support and ordered to stand by. The rest of the International Community (including the US which was just coming off a humiliating retreat in Somalia) stood by during for the first few months, blinded by the disasterously misguided believe that Rwanda was undergoing mere racial clashes. It finally took 2 months for the International community to come to grips with the genocidal killings and to mount support and then it took another month to send a force, by which time the rebels (led by now President Paul Kigame) were able to take Kigali and the Hutu extremists fled to neighboring Congo.
The Kigali Memorial Center (genocide museum) was very modern and quite professionally organized and I spent 3 hours wandering the relatively small museum and the 3 main exhibits. The history of the Rwandan genocide exhibit was extremely informative and helped me understand much better what went on and the impact of the information, visceral photos, displayed bones and survivors video interviews were like emotional shots that caused me to break down on multiple occasions as I followed the atrocities.
The second, smaller musuem exhibit, was a study of historic genocide and included summaries and photos of all of the major genocides of the 20th Century (The genocide of The Herero Tribe in Namibia in 1904, The Armenian Genocide in Turkey towards the end of WWI, The Nazi Holocaust in WWII, The Cambodian Khmer Rouge in the mid-late 1970s and more recently the genocide in Bosnia & Herzogovenia and Croatia in the late 1990s).
The third and smallest exhibit was on the child victims of the genocide. This was by far the most disturbing exhibit even though it did not have any graphic photos and was quite short. In this exhibit there were about 30 large placards which contained a large photo of the young kid and toddler, then went on to explain the childs favorite foods (e.g. mothers milk, or french fries), best friend (mother/father/sister/brother), favorite toy (toy car, doll, etc.), disposition (happy/quiet/energetic), and last how they were killed (machete, bullet, bludgeons, etc.). I was so affected by these displays I was barely able to continue and was literally shaking with emotion until finally I staggered out of the exhibit, down the stairs and out of the museum to walk alone with my thoughts among the 12 or so mass graves that have been left intact but covered over with cement and tastefully landscaped around.
Upon leaving the museum I felt physically and emotionally drained but proud to have heard the real story by those who went through the genocide (on both sides) and to have stood in on one of the International Tribunals in Arusha a few weeks before. I will never forget. One of the quotes from a plaque in the museum read, “When they said ‘Never Again’ did they mean for everyone but us?” The sad truth is that genocide can and most likely will happen again some time in the instability and infighting in some developing county. In the unrealistic event that the entire population of the world were to visit the Kigali Memorial Center I firmly believe there would never be another genocide again.