On the occasion of the thirty-year anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, The Economist featured an article about the efforts made by the current leader, Paul Kagame, to help the country overcome the trauma of the genocide.
In Rwanda, there are three ethnic groups: the Hutu (85%), the Tutsi (14%), and the Twa (1%).
The horrific events are a result of the colonial policies of the Germans and Belgians, who historically dominated the country. In 1916, the Belgians decided that the Tutsi were superior to the Hutu, issued identity cards based on ethnicity, and the Tutsi minority, along with the Belgians, ruled the country.
When Rwanda gained independence from the Belgians in 1962, the Hutu rebelled and took power from the Tutsi. This led to a devastating civil war and the genocide of mainly the Tutsi ethnic group, whom the Hutu referred to as “cockroaches to exterminate.”
The article describes the experiences of a Tutsi, Kizito Mihigo, who witnessed his Hutu neighbours slaughter his father when he was 12 years old.
He managed to escape from his home, crossed into neighbouring Burundi, and survived by hiding under piles of dead bodies.
80,000 people were killed in one hundred days. He returned to his country when the groups of the Patriotic Front of Rwanda prevailed. Kizito Mihigo became a songwriter, and in 2014, he wrote a song called “What Does Death Mean,” which referred to the crimes of the genocide.
Authorities arrested, tortured, and imprisoned him, and in 2020, he was found dead in his cell.
The narrative of the Patriotic Front after 1994 dictated that there were no longer Hutu or Tutsi, only united Rwandans with dignity. In the capital, Kigali, a memorial was erected to express this path.
While in the city of Nyamata, south of the capital, authorities preserved on church benches – inside which 5,000 Tutsi were murdered – the skeletons of the people who were massacred. “We need to heal,” said a tour guide.
Today, three-quarters of Rwandans choose the radio station established in 2004 called “The New Dawn.” It represents all residents, while the country’s President actively promotes unity over division.
He supports and promotes arts and traditions regardless of ethnicity, and he is present in villages to empower every effort for change with clear speech, without implications or queues.
Through his speeches, he avoids blaming others and proposes ways for a hopeful future for all residents. A massive undertaking that requires courage, perseverance, and above all, sincerity.
Because things are certainly not rosy in the African country. The people are still afraid to speak freely, to express themselves, and to believe that they will not relive the catastrophe they experienced 30 years ago.
You may wonder why I write all this and what relevance a European Cyprus has to an African country. It does, because for catharsis to occur in our own country, painful and sincere preparation is needed, starting with education and becoming part of daily life.
This change will not come as a bolt from clear skies; it will be a daily joint effort, not communicative, but real, to prepare a new generation whose future could be bright, rather than burdening them with our collective mistakes, insecurity, and defeatism.
We have the example of the 2004 referendum! Ignorance and insecurity led to the result, aided by tears and ecclesiastical anathemas.
Steps are being taken, fortunately. We see programs that address the past where events that were previously hidden and confidential are rightly highlighted.
Publications circulate that try to shed light on difficult times, like the recent book by Takis Hadjidemetriou, “Cyprus Republic 1964-1967 – From Militarisation to Stratocracy – The Cypriot and the Greek labyrinth,” a period “full of events, loaded with declarations and heroic decisions, where celebrations and patriotic speeches obscured reality and cultivated myth,” as the book’s back cover writes.
We continue to hide truths. We learned to operate without the Turkish Cypriots because of the doctrine of necessity. Fortunately, we did not reach the levels of genocide, but the fifty years that have passed have entrenched in the minds of a large majority of the people the notion of the existence of a northern and a southern Cyprus, as two separate entities, as two worlds that lack cohesion between them.
If this mindset does not change, division is the logical conclusion.
I write this for an additional reason: I believe that the President should avoid attending events that signal division and discord. Instead, he should actively support and praise those that promote reunification.
“We need to heal,” as the young Rwandan said, from the illness of division. And yes, we should proceed with the creation of a Truth Commission. We should seize this last opportunity offered to us, with courage and passion, not superficially with secret agendas.
Yes, the photograph accompanying the text is nightmarish!
Elefthera, 14.4.2024
