Looking back twenty years to a small landlocked African state called Rwanda, extreme and appalling atrocities were being committed with the intention of exterminating a group of people called the Tutsis. The Genocide of 1994 was ignored by the international community until far too late, the result a devastating 800,000* Rwandans killed and an ever-lasting legacy looming over the country’s inhabitants.
With the accounts of mutilation, rape, death by machete and the many more evil acts, it is hard to imagine how a country can overcome such a situation without bitter resentment towards each other. However, the amazing story for Rwanda has been of reconciliation, with many of the former Hutus and Tutsis living together and rebuilding. The reasons for this involve many differing factors but mainly the work of the people to seek the truth and forgiveness in a hope to move on. The use of special traditional courts called Gacaca courts have proved successful in allowing people to speak of their crimes and seek forgiveness. Often they are given freedom from prosecution or serve community orders if they are honest about their crimes. This gave the Rwandan people knowledge about what happened to their loved ones and has greatly helped the reconciliation effort despite the crimes not being fully accounted for.
Assisted by the Gacaca courts the country secured stability and began to create a future in the form of a modern developing economy, allowing Rwanda to avoid the much-expected step into the label of a failing state; where the country repeatedly returns to war and the government is powerless to intervene. Twenty years on from the Genocide, Rwanda has not been draw back into internal fighting and the results have clearly shown positive growth and rebuild. The Economy is one of the fastest developing in the world with growth averaging 8.2 percent between 2008 and 2012, and in 2013 becoming the ninth fastest growing economy in the world. Further to this, 98 percent of the population have healthcare insurance, life expectancy has risen from 30 to 59, HIV, T.B. and malaria infections have dropped by 80 percent and there has been much improvement in Education. This has culminated into a reduction of poverty from 78 percent of people living below the poverty line in 1994 to 45 percent of people living below the poverty line now. These improvements have been a key factor in avoiding a return to fighting, but such cooperation may not have been possible without the influence of Paul Kagame and the attempt to remove the Genocide ideology.
In 1994, many of the Hutu’s believed the answer was to kill the Tutsi group, which led to a large proportion of the country participating in mass executions, but the question now is how has this ideology of ‘cleansing’ one group been suppressed? The answer comes in the Government’s efforts to seek a change in attitudes, which persecutes those who oppose the idea of one nation.
Part of the reconciliation came from Ingando, a “programme of peace education. From 1999 to 2009, more than 90,000 Rwandans participated in these programmes, which aim to clarify Rwandan history and the origins of division amongst the population, promote patriotism and fight genocide ideology.”
The Government has sought to remove the divide between the groups in Rwanda and attempted to create one national identity; therefore, a Rwandan cannot identify themselves as either Hutu or Tutsi but only as Rwandan. The result has been twenty years of relative peace and stands as one of Africa’s development successes where the potential to reach a modern economy is likely because now, thanks to the peace, investment in Rwanda is generally viewed as safe and stable. However, the question does remain, can people really forget all of the pain they suffered and are the measures only artificial? Do Rwandans still see two opposing sides? Only time will tell, but the great progress made by Rwanda is sure to be a stabilising factor, only after a generation has passed can we truly look back.
For more on the Justice and Reconciliation Process in Rwanda please click here.
*approximate (sources vary)