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| Rwanda Marks 25 Years Since the Genocide. The Country Is Still Grappling With Its Legacy. | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| It was a paroxysm that inscribed new chapters in the annals of genocide and turned a spotlight on the failure of international peacekeepers to come anywhere close to living up to their name. | It was a paroxysm that inscribed new chapters in the annals of genocide and turned a spotlight on the failure of international peacekeepers to come anywhere close to living up to their name. |
| Twenty-five years ago, on April 7, 1994, the dominant Hutus of Rwanda turned with well-planned violence on the Tutsi minority whom they held to be traitors. One hundred days later, when the killing finally stopped, the death toll stood at as many as one million, mostly Tutsis but also including some moderate Hutus who had opposed the bloodletting. | Twenty-five years ago, on April 7, 1994, the dominant Hutus of Rwanda turned with well-planned violence on the Tutsi minority whom they held to be traitors. One hundred days later, when the killing finally stopped, the death toll stood at as many as one million, mostly Tutsis but also including some moderate Hutus who had opposed the bloodletting. |
| [For more stories about the experiences and costs of war, sign up for the weekly At War newsletter.] | [For more stories about the experiences and costs of war, sign up for the weekly At War newsletter.] |
| The scale of the fatalities was shocking, but more was to come as the torrent of killings washed into the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, igniting years of strife in Africa’s Great Lakes region. And, along this bloodstained way, sexual violence became woven into the horrors of war. Women suffered untold rapes and gang rapes, accelerating the spread of AIDS. The offspring of these assaults were stigmatized as “children of the killers.” | The scale of the fatalities was shocking, but more was to come as the torrent of killings washed into the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, igniting years of strife in Africa’s Great Lakes region. And, along this bloodstained way, sexual violence became woven into the horrors of war. Women suffered untold rapes and gang rapes, accelerating the spread of AIDS. The offspring of these assaults were stigmatized as “children of the killers.” |
| In the same year in which Nelson Mandela was installed as South Africa’s first black president — the very emblem of a continent’s hope and triumph over adversity — Africa was also in the public eye for cataclysmic anarchy and violence. | In the same year in which Nelson Mandela was installed as South Africa’s first black president — the very emblem of a continent’s hope and triumph over adversity — Africa was also in the public eye for cataclysmic anarchy and violence. |
| But Africa had no monopoly on blame. | But Africa had no monopoly on blame. |
| The United States, scarred by the killing and humiliation of its soldiers in Somalia during the Battle of Mogadishu a few months earlier, had no appetite to intervene. President Bill Clinton, who was in office as the killings unfolded half a world away, said years later during a visit to Rwanda, “I don’t think we could have ended the violence, but I think we could have cut it down. And I regret it.” | The United States, scarred by the killing and humiliation of its soldiers in Somalia during the Battle of Mogadishu a few months earlier, had no appetite to intervene. President Bill Clinton, who was in office as the killings unfolded half a world away, said years later during a visit to Rwanda, “I don’t think we could have ended the violence, but I think we could have cut it down. And I regret it.” |
| France, a significant player in French-speaking Africa, has long faced charges that it supported the Hutu leadership before and even during the massacres. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has called French soldiers “actors” in the genocide — a charge denied by the former French prime minister, Édouard Balladur, as “a self-interested lie.” But on Friday, President Emmanuel Macron of France ordered a two-year government study of France’s role in the Rwandan genocide. | France, a significant player in French-speaking Africa, has long faced charges that it supported the Hutu leadership before and even during the massacres. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has called French soldiers “actors” in the genocide — a charge denied by the former French prime minister, Édouard Balladur, as “a self-interested lie.” But on Friday, President Emmanuel Macron of France ordered a two-year government study of France’s role in the Rwandan genocide. |
| The United Nations, which had a modest force of some 2,500 troops in Rwanda in the days leading up to the killings, was accused of refusing permission for its local commander, the Canadian Maj. Gen. Roméo Dallaire, to raid a Hutu arms cache that had been set aside for use in the atrocities. At the time, Kofi Annan, who later became the secretary general of the United Nations, was in charge of peacekeeping operations. Years later he said of the killing, “All of us must bitterly regret that we did not do more to prevent it.” | The United Nations, which had a modest force of some 2,500 troops in Rwanda in the days leading up to the killings, was accused of refusing permission for its local commander, the Canadian Maj. Gen. Roméo Dallaire, to raid a Hutu arms cache that had been set aside for use in the atrocities. At the time, Kofi Annan, who later became the secretary general of the United Nations, was in charge of peacekeeping operations. Years later he said of the killing, “All of us must bitterly regret that we did not do more to prevent it.” |
| History suggests, however, that Rwanda’s lessons were an insufficient deterrent. Just a year after the Rwandan genocide, events far away in Europe — in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica — offered another alarming example of the toxic combination of genocidal urges and United Nations caution: 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were murdered despite the presence of Dutch peacekeepers. | History suggests, however, that Rwanda’s lessons were an insufficient deterrent. Just a year after the Rwandan genocide, events far away in Europe — in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica — offered another alarming example of the toxic combination of genocidal urges and United Nations caution: 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were murdered despite the presence of Dutch peacekeepers. |
| And, for its part, an African panel found many culprits for Rwanda’s agony, from the Roman Catholic Church to Belgium, a former colonial power. | And, for its part, an African panel found many culprits for Rwanda’s agony, from the Roman Catholic Church to Belgium, a former colonial power. |
| The ostensible trigger for the genocide came on April 6, 1994, when an airplane carrying the country’s Hutu president, Juvenal Habyarimana, and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of neighboring Burundi was shot down as it approached Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. It has never been clearly established who brought the plane down or whether the genocide had been planned well in advance and needed only a spark to ignite its lethal tinder. | The ostensible trigger for the genocide came on April 6, 1994, when an airplane carrying the country’s Hutu president, Juvenal Habyarimana, and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of neighboring Burundi was shot down as it approached Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. It has never been clearly established who brought the plane down or whether the genocide had been planned well in advance and needed only a spark to ignite its lethal tinder. |
| But within hours, the killing had started. Elite government forces, supported by a dreaded Hutu militia, the Interahamwe, which translates roughly as “those who work together,” rounded up and executed Tutsi military and political leaders. Roadblocks were thrown up to filter out Rwandans whose official ID tagged them as Tutsis — a distinction introduced in the 1930s by the Belgian colonial authorities. Like their imperial German predecessors, Belgian officials had favored a Tutsi elite until the Hutu majority rose up in 1959. | But within hours, the killing had started. Elite government forces, supported by a dreaded Hutu militia, the Interahamwe, which translates roughly as “those who work together,” rounded up and executed Tutsi military and political leaders. Roadblocks were thrown up to filter out Rwandans whose official ID tagged them as Tutsis — a distinction introduced in the 1930s by the Belgian colonial authorities. Like their imperial German predecessors, Belgian officials had favored a Tutsi elite until the Hutu majority rose up in 1959. |
| In rural areas, where Hutus and Tutsis had intermingled and sometimes intermarried, pervasive government propaganda in radio broadcasts and newspaper articles urged Hutus to take any weapon they could find — machetes, clubs — to kill or maim their neighbors. Foreigners working in the country were evacuated, but not their Rwandan staff. People were massacred in churches and homes, fields and roadside ditches, stadiums and checkpoints. | In rural areas, where Hutus and Tutsis had intermingled and sometimes intermarried, pervasive government propaganda in radio broadcasts and newspaper articles urged Hutus to take any weapon they could find — machetes, clubs — to kill or maim their neighbors. Foreigners working in the country were evacuated, but not their Rwandan staff. People were massacred in churches and homes, fields and roadside ditches, stadiums and checkpoints. |
| As in Cambodia after the atrocities by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, future generations inherited a national nightmare, memorialized in the exhibited skulls of victims stacked in rows. | As in Cambodia after the atrocities by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, future generations inherited a national nightmare, memorialized in the exhibited skulls of victims stacked in rows. |
| In 1994, the genocide also ruptured a cease-fire in a civil war that had been raging since 1990 between government forces and insurgents from the Rwanda Patriotic Front, led by the Tutsi Mr. Kagame (who was to become Rwanda’s president). | In 1994, the genocide also ruptured a cease-fire in a civil war that had been raging since 1990 between government forces and insurgents from the Rwanda Patriotic Front, led by the Tutsi Mr. Kagame (who was to become Rwanda’s president). |
| The Patriotic Front launched a broad attack to take the capital, Kigali, in early July. The killing in Rwanda itself came to a halt, but not the ethnic recriminations. With the land ruined, crops untended and the population diminished by the killing of Tutsis and the subsequent flight of Hutu refugees into Congo, Rwanda entered a new, gradually prospering but ambiguous era. The following years raised questions about post-genocide justice and the price Rwandans paid for well-being and stability under Mr. Kagame. | The Patriotic Front launched a broad attack to take the capital, Kigali, in early July. The killing in Rwanda itself came to a halt, but not the ethnic recriminations. With the land ruined, crops untended and the population diminished by the killing of Tutsis and the subsequent flight of Hutu refugees into Congo, Rwanda entered a new, gradually prospering but ambiguous era. The following years raised questions about post-genocide justice and the price Rwandans paid for well-being and stability under Mr. Kagame. |
| Internationally, the Rwandan leader, who took over the presidency in 2000, became a darling of Western leaders and donors, including Mr. Clinton and Bill Gates. His cities boasted clean streets and low crime. His economy grew rapidly. Admirers compared him to Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporean leader who fused authoritarian rule with prosperity. | Internationally, the Rwandan leader, who took over the presidency in 2000, became a darling of Western leaders and donors, including Mr. Clinton and Bill Gates. His cities boasted clean streets and low crime. His economy grew rapidly. Admirers compared him to Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporean leader who fused authoritarian rule with prosperity. |
| And, as Mr. Kagame’s regime grew ever more entrenched and ever more intolerant of dissent, he often got a pass. “Western states that did nothing to prevent the massacres have treated Rwanda with kid gloves ever since, in part out of a frequently acknowledged sense of guilt,” the author and journalist Michela Wrong wrote in The Guardian. | And, as Mr. Kagame’s regime grew ever more entrenched and ever more intolerant of dissent, he often got a pass. “Western states that did nothing to prevent the massacres have treated Rwanda with kid gloves ever since, in part out of a frequently acknowledged sense of guilt,” the author and journalist Michela Wrong wrote in The Guardian. |
| Mr. Kagame was limited to two terms in office, but like his regional peers in Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo — and rulers much farther afield — he chafed at the restriction. A referendum in 2015 changed the Constitution, enabling him to remain in office until 2034. In elections in 2017 he won with a staggering 98.8 percent of the vote. (Of his two major opponents, Diane Rwigara was disqualified, later to be jailed, and Victoire Ingabire was already in prison.) | Mr. Kagame was limited to two terms in office, but like his regional peers in Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo — and rulers much farther afield — he chafed at the restriction. A referendum in 2015 changed the Constitution, enabling him to remain in office until 2034. In elections in 2017 he won with a staggering 98.8 percent of the vote. (Of his two major opponents, Diane Rwigara was disqualified, later to be jailed, and Victoire Ingabire was already in prison.) |
| Rights groups have chronicled abuses inside Rwanda and have accused the authorities of hunting down adversaries and critics in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and Europe. In 2014, Patrick Karegeya, Mr. Kagame’s former chief of external intelligence and a known dissident, was found murdered in a luxury hotel in Johannesburg, although the government in Kigali has denied suggestions that it was behind the killing. | Rights groups have chronicled abuses inside Rwanda and have accused the authorities of hunting down adversaries and critics in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and Europe. In 2014, Patrick Karegeya, Mr. Kagame’s former chief of external intelligence and a known dissident, was found murdered in a luxury hotel in Johannesburg, although the government in Kigali has denied suggestions that it was behind the killing. |
| In 2014, as Rwanda marked the 20th anniversary of the genocide, an editorial in The New York Times hailed the country as “an island of order and relative prosperity in a poor and politically volatile region.” | In 2014, as Rwanda marked the 20th anniversary of the genocide, an editorial in The New York Times hailed the country as “an island of order and relative prosperity in a poor and politically volatile region.” |
| But, listing a tally of restrictions on civil and political rights, including detentions and torture, disappearances and killings, the article concluded: “Addressing the poisonous legacies of Rwanda’s genocide is the only way to avert future tragedy, and it is the best way to honor Rwanda’s dead.” | But, listing a tally of restrictions on civil and political rights, including detentions and torture, disappearances and killings, the article concluded: “Addressing the poisonous legacies of Rwanda’s genocide is the only way to avert future tragedy, and it is the best way to honor Rwanda’s dead.” |