he Great Lakes region, before any military mission, needs a coherent international policy, which takes care of the people’s suffering and that has peace and justice at heart,”: so said a Rwandan witness – as reported to MISNA through Sister Teresina Caffi, Xaverian – in occasion of the 12th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.
The Hutu and Tutsi population has no problem living together, but politics has not stopped to fuel tensions
During the night of April 6 and 7, 1994 – after the downing of the aircraft of president Juvenal Habyarimana (with his Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira in Kigali) – the massacres that killed hundreds of thousand of dead in three months started, The dead, mostly Tustis and moderate Hutus are said to have killed up to 800,000 people, while President Paul Kagame’s government estimate is of
937,000.
But 12 years later the road to reconciliation, despite progress, is long: “The Hutu and Tutsi population has no problem living together, but politics has not stopped to fuel tensions,” said the witness. “Segregation in many areas of life. Only Tutsis are considered ‘survivors’. Whoever dares criticize the regime is threatened”.
For over a year, the activity of the local courts known as Gacaca has been pursued. “The ‘Gacaca’ are the terror of Hutus: the regime says it has forgiven, but if anyone – admits to having participated in the massacres, he is sentenced to serve thirty years in prison in inhumane conditions”.
Rwandan jails are still filled with tens of thousands accused of having participated in the genocide, no less than
60-70,000 according to MISNA sources. Many, in fear of being judged based on revenge criteria, flee toward Burundi. “Our country – wrote the witness – has no wealth: our wealth is peace, national unity”.
(From MISNA)