A Story of encounter with "Wasted Lives" and the Church's silence

Introduction

Even though there had been repeated warnings, the international community only began to take serious notice of the concerted efforts to exclude Tutsis from Rwanda's future in April 1994. When the genocide broke out it seemed that the international community appeared to be caught unawares. Apparently it seemed it was already too late for any meaningful intervention.

Massacres of Tutsis started in 1959. Further intermittent attacks were spurred by propaganda that lamented the "unfinished business" of the massive ethnic cleansing efforts of 1959-1963.

Media reports presented the genocide in Rwanda as a "tribal conflict". This analysis is problematic because it fails to account for the impact of colonial rule and its attendant racial ideology, which sought to construct Hutu and Tutsi identity. Colonial rulers, for example, claimed that Hutus and Tutsis had different abilities and intelligence. Subsequent independent governments sharpened the divide by promoting Hutu supremacy. In short, the decades of periodic inter-communal violence culminating in the one hundred days of genocide in 1994 were a result of the conscious political manipulation of ethnicity.

A brief background

An interfaith delegation of religious leaders organized by the South African Council of Churches returned from Rwanda on Saturday, 17 December 2005. His Excellency Mr Ezra Sigwela, the South African Ambassador to Rwanda, had invited the religious leaders to discuss with their counterparts in Rwanda the role of faith communities in facilitating national reconciliation. The visit coincided with the Day of Reconciliation celebrations organized in Kigali by the South African embassy.

Bishop Ivan Abrahams, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and Chair of the Church Leaders' Forum, led the delegation. Other members of the delegation were: Bishop Jo Seoka, Anglican Bishop of Pretoria; the Revd Vuyani Vellem, General Secretary of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa; Bishop Patrick Mvemve, Roman Catholic Bishop of Klerksdorp; the Revd Dr Molefe Tsele, General Secretary of the SACC; Imaam Ebrahim Ishmael Bham, from the Council of Muslim Theologians; and the Revd Canon Luke Lungile Pato, Director of the SACC's Proclaiming Reconciliation Programme and co-ordinator of the delegation.

The South African Ambassador and leaders of Rwanda's faith communities welcomed the delegation at Kigali airport. In his welcoming remarks, the Ambassador said that human beings never abandon each other and that the visit of the delegation was a healing process for them as South Africans living in Rwanda as they were traumatized by the stories they had heard. In his response, Bishop Ivan Abrahams said that the delegation accepted the invitation in order to look, listen and learn from the stories of the Rwandese and to share South African stories with a view to journeying together in a process of healing and reconciliation.

Visit to the Gisozi Memorial

The delegation, accompanied by the South African Ambassador, visited Gisozi Genocide Memorial where members of the delegation laid wreathes. Gisozi Genocide Memorial is a cemetery and a place of remembrance. It is also a research and teaching centre. There are 11 sealed mass graves with 256,000 corpses in coffins. These figures exclude mass graves outside Kigali. One of the mass graves, where we laid wreathes, was not yet sealed. On one side of each of the mass graves is a black wall with names of the identified bodies.

A tour guide took us inside the centre. The stories that we heard were horrific. The narrative which began with the pre-colonial era in Rwanda, included the events of the 100 days of the genocide and ended with the display of the names and photos of a number of the massacred children who have been identified. The stories in the memorial attribute the beginnings of the genocide to the colonial rule. Prior to 1959, the Rwandans lived together, developing shared values and speaking the same language. They were free to live anywhere. Colonial rule created new, yet false, identities. Originally, the people of Rwanda identified primarily with their clan. Under colonial rule, the distinctions were made racial, particularly with the introduction of the identity card in 1932. The distinctions were arbitrary. For instance, one of the criteria used was that anyone with 10 cows was Tutsi and anyone with fewer was Hutu. This sparked off the ethnic cleansing of 1959. The level of hatred for the Tutsis and the desire to incite the Hutus to rise against the Tutsis was well illustrated in 1994 by the journalist, Hassam Ngeze, who is currently in jail in Arusha, Tanzania. He wrote: "We say to the inyenzi (cockroaches) that if they lift up their heads again, it will no longer be necessary to go and fight the enemy in the bush. We will start by eliminating the internal enemy. They will disappear."

The machetes displayed were not only weapons designed to kill instantly but were made to inflict pain and fear on the victims by killing them slowly. We saw babies breastfeeding on their mothers' dead bodies.

We listened to the stories of the rape and abduction of women and girls. Women were particularly at risk at roadblocks, which had become centres for execution, extortion and rape. Some women were taken as "wives" (often second wives) by their abductors.

We heard also of moderate Hutus who were brutally killed or who risked their lives and those of their families by providing refuge to the Tutsis who were escaping the wrath of the belligerent Hutus.

We saw churches to which people had fled for sanctuary. Instead of offering sanctuary however, these churches had become centres for butchering people. In Kigali, for example, a church sheltering 20 thousand people was demolished by a bulldozer at the instruction of some church leaders. Some of those who tried to escape the collapsing building ultimately went back into the building rather than face the machete-wielding men and women outside.

Meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation

We met the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation in his office in Kigali. In his words of welcome, the Minister recounted in detail the story of the genocide. He told us that 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus we massacred in 3 months at the rate of 10 thousand per day from 8h00 to 17h00. He also said that it was a miracle how the people of Rwanda had come to live together again and to share the same identity as a united people. To underline the new common identity that the Rwandans had forged since the genocide, he told the story of the Rwandans who were refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In 1998, they launched a massive attack on Rwandans near the DRC border. They came to schools and demanded that learners separate themselves into Hutu and Tutsi groups. Learners refused and chose to die as Rwandans. They were massacred for their choice.

He also emphasized that peace and stability in Rwanda remain fragile, due in part to the continuing threat from disaffected Rwandans who had been given sanctuary by the DRC. He said that Rwanda would be close to completing the reconciliation process if it were not under constant threat from these refugees.

He reminded us that the international community failed to intervene to stop the genocide despite being aware of the unfolding situation. The UN sent a peace-keeping force, but the force did not have the capacity to deal with the scale of the genocide. It was subsequently withdrawn instead of being reinforced. During the 10th anniversary commemorations in 2005, Mr Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, made an apology to the people of Rwanda on behalf of the UN and the international community.

Meeting with Gacaca Court Officials

One of Rwanda's greatest challenges has been deciding how to deal with the perpetrators of the genocide. One strategy has been to adapt a traditional method of dealing with criminal offences, known as "Gacaca", to address the truth and justice issues related to the genocide. Gacaca courts have become public forums for story-telling that allow Rwandans to place on record what they know, and also provides space for the perpetrators to ask for forgiveness and for survivours to forgive.

The process is very complicated because virtually everyone in these local courts knows who killed whom and where. This gives added credibility to the stories and aids in their being acknowledged as "truth".

Gacaca courts only consider less serious categories of the genocide crimes. The more serious categories are handled by the International Criminal Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania. The criminals who can be brought before the Gacaca include:

• People who planned and executed the genocide;
• Media that sensitized and incited others;
• Militia who trained outside Rwanda;
• Perpetrators who killed with excessive zeal;
• Those who killed because they were forced by others to do so, such as Hutus who were forced to kill their partners, children and relatives; and
• Those who were remorseful for their actions.

Meeting with the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission

The delegation was met by Ms Fatuma Ndangiza, the Executive Secretary for the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission. It functions separately from the Gacaca process, even though it shares the same goal. Shortly after its inception in 1994, the Commission asked Rwandans what they thought about reconciliation. Three questions were asked:

• Do you think unity and reconciliation is possible after the 1994 genocide?
• What went wrong to the extent that there was genocide?
• How do we as Rwandans move forward?

Respondents identified poor leadership, a weak judiciary, poverty and religious zeal as key factors that contributed to the genocide.

Meeting with Faith Communities

Our meetings with Rwanda's faith communities were the least satisfying and hopeful aspect of our experience. We encountered denial, apparent lack of trust among church leaders, fear of transparency and a deep-seated sense of guilt. Imam Ebrahim Ishmael Bham met and worshipped with the Muslim community. The community was more willing to talk openly about the genocide as Muslims were placed in the same category as the Tutsis during the genocide.

The Roman Catholic Church was not represented at the two meetings we attended with church leaders. Bishop Patrick Mvemve paid a courtesy call to a Roman Catholic priest in Kigali. The visit was short and the brief conversation made no reference to the genocide or the church's role in it.

We learned from our meetings with church leaders that Rwandans still do not trust one another. Most congregations include both perpetrators and survivors, as well as people with relatives serving jail sentences for their participation in the genocide. Churches must minister to various categories of Rwandans: those who are traumatized by what they did, those who are traumatized because they did nothing to protect others, widows and widowers, orphans, returnees from exile and those genocide perpetrators who had been released from gaol through the government parole process. This undoubtedly complicates the reconciliation process. However, the churches neither speak openly about the difficulties they face nor are they passionate about being part of unity and reconciliation initiatives. Instead, church leaders warned repeatedly that the only way for Rwandans to experience true reconciliation was "to be born again".

Reconciliation Day Celebrations at the Ambassador's Residence

The delegation participated in the Reconciliation Day celebrations at the South African Ambassadors' residence. About 120 diplomats and their families as well as leaders of the faith communities attended the function. The Ambassador spoke passionately about 16 December in the history of South Africa. Bishop Abrahams and Imam Bham also conveyed messages of reconciliation by relating the story of apartheid and the reconciliation processes in South Africa.

Meeting with President Paul Kagame

President Paul Kagame met the delegation after hosting a Christmas party for children. He expressed appreciation of the different levels of links with South Africa. He also observed with deep regret that churches in Rwanda had made little contribution to reconciliation efforts, either as institutions or through the actions of church leaders.

Concluding Reflection

Rwanda has made significant and laudable strides towards reconciliation. It has developed institutions to promote unity and reconciliation. Rwandans themselves have redeveloped capacity to be truly human.

The churches on the other hand have lost credibility. The church in Rwanda was and still is seemingly unable to stand for truth. We heard that those who spoke against ethnic cleansing or massacre before the genocide were killed at the directive of the former government. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why church leaders are so reluctant to speak out. However, such fear and silence compromises the prophetic voice of the church.

Rwandans are concerned about the refugees in the DRC. They see them as a serious threat to peace and reconciliation in Rwanda and as potential perpetrators of renewed genocidal violence.

What faith community in South Africa can do

South Africa's faith communities can be involved in supporting peace and reconciliation processes in Rwanda in at least two ways.

The first is to forge links with active faith community leaders in Rwanda. For example, the South African Council of Churches could seek to hold consultations and an exchange of visits with a delegation from the Council of Churches in Rwanda. Denominational exchanges could also be held along the same lines. These consultations and exchanges could aim at exploring and developing practical strategies to support peace and reconciliation efforts. They could also aim at encouraging faith communities in Rwanda to participate visibly in current reconciliation initiatives and/or to devise their own processes of healing, peace and reconciliation.

The second method could be for faith communities to begin to engage their own communities and, where possible, the international community about the apparent threat being posed by the Rwandans who are given sanctuary in the DRC. As South Africans we should watch carefully this unfolding situation and avoid a moment when we might have to say again: "We were not aware of the threat".

For more information contact:
The Revd Canon Luke Lungile Pato, 011 241 7805