11 Things You May Not Know About the Genocide in Rwanda

20 years ago this Sunday the genocide in Rwanda began.  Read more below to find out what you may not know and what you should know. 

Eleven Things You Should Know about the Genocide in Rwanda (and which I didn't know either until I wrote a paper about it):

1. In 100 days, Hutu extremists killed 800,000 men, women and children--507,000 of them Tutsis (77% of the registered Tutsi population).  That's about 11% of their population.  That would be the equivalent of 26 million people being killed in the US over a 3 month period.

2. The U.S. government (USG) acknowledged early on (on 28 April to be exact, when there were at least 100,00 already dead) that people were being slaughtered, but instructed its UN Ambassador to remain in "listening mode" and "not commit the USG to anything."

3. The best and most complete account of the genocide is the Alison Des Forges' (of HRW) Leave None to Tell the Story.

4. A shorter but equally excellent read is Samantha Powers' damning condemnation of the U.S. government's silence (i.e., inaction) in "Bystanders to Genocide" from the Atlantic Monthly.

5.The USG's belated humanitarian response (after the genocide was over) actual enabled many of the killers to escape the country through the refugee camps.

6.  Hutu hate radio broadcasts were used to incite and organize the killings--the USG had the capability to jam these broadcasts but deemed it too expensive.

7.  The NSA archive is a non-profit group run through George Washington University that archives thousands of previously classified documents (obtained through FOIA) that lend a primary source look into look at hundreds of events in our nation's history.

8.  Never again?  It could happen in Syria.

9.  What constitutes "justice" and reconciliation after the genocide is a lot different than you might imagine (See Gourevitch's top-notch New Yorker Article)

10. In 2001, there was a backlog of 100,000 perpetrators waiting to be tried--this is one reason Kagame instituted the gacaca "grass courts."

11.  President Clinton's March 1998 apology in Rwanda may have been technically accurate: "we in the United States and the world community did not do as much as we could have and should have done to try to limit what occurred," however, in reality the U.S. didn't just not do as much as it should have, instead official in the U.S. government willfully and aggressively pressured the international community to not only withdraw peace-keeeping forces but also prevented others from intervening.

Sometimes When It Rains by Gcina Mhlophe

A beautiful poem from the South African poet, storyteller and activist Gcina Mhlophe.

Sometimes When It Rains by Gcina Mhlophe

Sometimes when it rains

I smile to myself

And think of times when as a child

I’d sit by myself

And wonder why people need clothes

Sometimes when it rains

I think of times

When I’d run into the rain

Shouting ‘Nkce—nkce mlanjana

When will I grow

I’ll grow up tomorrow

Sometimes when it rains

I think of times

When I watched goats

Running so fast from the rain

While sheep seemed to enjoy it

Sometimes when it rains

I think of times

When we had to undress

Carry the small bundles of uniforms and books

On our heads

And cross the river after school

Sometimes when it rains

I remember times

When it would rain hard for hours

And fill our drum

So we didn’t have to fetch water

From the river for a day or two

Sometimes when it rains

Rains for many hours without break

I think of people

Who have nowhere to go

No home of their own

And food to eat

Only rain water to drink

Sometimes when it rains

Rains for days without break

I think of mothers

Who give birth in squatter camps

Under plastic shelters

At the mercy of cold angry winds

Sometimes when it rains

I think of ‘illegal’ job seekers

In big cities

Dodging police vans in the rain

Hoping for darkness to come

So they can find some wet corner to hide in

Sometimes when it rains

Rains so hard hail joins in

I think of life prisoners

In all the jails of the world

And wonder if they still love

To see the rainbow at the end of the rain

Sometimes when it rains

With hail stones biting the grass

I can’t help thinking they look like teeth

Many teeth of smiling friends

Then I wish that everyone else

Had something to smile about

20 years and 3 days ago, preparations for a slaughter were in motion

20 years and 3 days ago, preparations for a slaughter were in motion.  Machetes were being sharpened and distributed.  Hatred was being stoked on the radio stations.  Somewhere, one person was readying the missile that would take down a plane that would spark a genocidal killing spree.

Sunday April 6th this year will mark the 20th year anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.

As Rwanda continues to rise, rebuild and reconcile a generation later--the lingering and lasting implications of the inaction by the international community (the US in particular) continues to affectMartin Luther King Jr.'s admonition that our foreign policy.  I am reminded of

"In the end,
we will remember
not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends."

Want to know more?  Read here:

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2013/04/rwanda.genocide.2013.neveragain.kagame.11thingsyoushouldknowabouttherwandangenocide
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/genocide-in-syria-early-warning-systems.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-wrote-earlier-footnoted-version-of.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/03/that-spring-in-1994-what-i.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/guilt-of-silent-analysis-of-raoul-pecks.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/sometimes-in-april-analysis-paper.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-did-rwanda-cut-poverty-so-much.html