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THIS MONTH MARKS TWO DECADES SINCE RWANDA'S 1994 GENOCIDE...THE 100-DAY RAMPAGE SAW ETHNIC
HUTU MILITIAS KILL 800,000 PEOPLE, MOST OF THEM TUTSIS, BUT SOME, MODERATE HUTUS.
ON APRIL 7 - THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY THE VIOLENCE BROKE OUT - RWANDANS CAME TOGETHER
FOR A CEREMONY TO REFLECT ON THE ATROCITIES.
VOA EAST AFRICA CORRESPONDENT GABE JOSELOW WAS IN RWANDA FOR THE ANNIVERSARY AND HE TALKED
WITH ME ABOUT WHAT HE SAW... LET'S START WITH A CLIP OF HIS REPORT ON THE
COMMEMORATION.
CRIES AND WAILS ERUPTED IN THE CROWD THROUGHOUT THE CEREMONY AS SOME BECAME OVERWHELMED WITH
EMOTION. AFRICAN HEADS OF STATE AND FOREIGN DIGNITARIES GATHERED FOR THE
MEMORIAL. BUT A FRENCH DELEGATION WAS NOTABLY ABSENT, HAVING WITHDRAWN IN PROTEST OVER MR.
KAGAME'S RECENT REMARKS ACCUSING FRANCE OF INVOLVEMENT IN THE GENOCIDE.
THIS IMAGE OF THIS WOMAN WAILING IN RESPONSE AT THE COMMEMORATION EVENT...HOW DOES THAT
REFLECT THE MOOD CURRENTLY IN RWANDA ABOUT THIS PIECE OF THE COUNTRY'S HISTORY?
I THINK THE GENOCIDE, YOU KNOW, RIGHTFULLY SO HAS CAUSED A LOT OF TRAUMA IN THE COUNTRY.
I MEAN IT WAS A DEVASTATING EVENT THAT KILLED MORE THAN 800 THOUSAND PEOPLE AND
DIVIDED THE COUNTRY AND, YOU KNOW JUST TORN THE PLACE APART. SO THERE IS A LOT OF... YOU
HAVE THESE LINGERING WOUNDS AND EMOTION LEFT OVER FROM THAT TIME. SO WHAT WE SAW AT
THE COMMEMORATION EVENT AS VICTIM WAS TELLING HIS TESTIMONY, RECOUNTING WHAT HAPPENED TO
HIM 20 YEARS AGO, LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE CROWD JUST SORT OF LOST IT. YOU HEARD THESE
WAILS GO UP AND PEOPLE WERE CRYING AND REALLY BECOMING SO OVERWHELMED WITH EMOTION THAT
THEY HAD TO BE CARRIED OUT OF THE STADIUM.
SO ARE THERE STILL STRONG ETHNIC DIVISIONS?
IT IS HARD QUESTION TO ANSWER BECAUSE FOR A LONG TIME IT WASN'T SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE
REALLY WANT TO TALK ABOUT. THIS WAS SUCH UGLY AND DARK CHAPTER IN RWANDA'S HISTORY
THAT IT SEEMS THE POLICY FOR MANY YEARS WAS TO NOT DISCUSS ETHNICITY, LIKE WE ARE JUST
GOING TO GET RID OF THESE TRIBAL AND ETHNIC DIVISIONS. NO MORE HUTUS, NO MORE TUTSIS.
IN THE LAST FEW YEARS OR SO, IT SEEMS SOME INITIATIVES, THOUGH; MORE DIRECTLY TAKE ON
THE ISSUE IN A PUBLIC WAY.
MANY OF THESE YOUNG PEOPLE IN RWANDA WEREN'T ALIVE WHEN IT HAPPEN, SO WHAT'S THEIR TAKE
ON THE GENOCIDE AND ON THESE EFFORTS TO RECOVER FROM IT?
DESPITE THE FACT THAT LOT OF OLD ENOUGH OR EVEN BORN AT THE TIME WHEN THE GENOCIDE WAS
TAKING PLACE TO REALLY HAVE EXPERIENCED IT, OR EXPERIENCED IT DIRECTLY. A LOT OF THEM
FEEL VERY STRONG CONNECTION; THIS WAS LIKE A VERY SIGNIFICANT PART OF COUNTRY'S RECENT
HISTORY. AND A LOT OF THEM DID HAVE FAMILY MEMBERS OR HAVE HEARD FAMILY STORIES ABOUT
THE SURVIVAL DURING THAT TIME. SO THERE'S A VERY STRONG DESIRE AMONG A LOT OF YOUNG
PEOPLE I SPOKE TO, TO CONNECT TO WHAT HAPPENED.
ANOTHER ASPECT OF YOUR REPORTING, GABE, WAS THIS BITTERNESS THAT'S FELT AMONG RWANDANS
AGAINST THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. WHAT'S THE BASIS OF THAT?
WELL, THERE WAS A LOT OF ATTENTION PAID AT THIS COMMEMORATION TO SOME OF THE FAILURES
OF THE UNITED NATIONS' PEACEKEEPING FORCE THAT WAS IN RWANDA AT THE TIME, TO ACT TO
STOP THE GENOCIDE DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY HAD SOME WARNINGS THAT SOMETHING OF THAT SCALE
COULD TAKE PLACE AND THAT HUTU MILITIAS WERE BEING ARMED. AND SO WHAT WE SAW IS
THAT THE UNITED NATIONS' SECRETARY GENERAL ACTUALLY ISSUED SOMETHING OF AN APOLOGY FOR
UN'S INACTION SAYING THAT THEY COULD HAVE AND SHOULD HAVE DONE MORE.
RWANDA TENDS TO BE DEFINED BY THIS EVENT. SO HAVING BEEN THERE IF YOU WOULD TALK TO
SOMEONE AND THEY WOULD ASK YOU WHAT'S RWANDA LIKE, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM? HOW WOULD
YOU DESCRIBE IT?
YOU KNOW THE DEVELOPMENT THERE IS JUST AMAZING AND THE EASE OF GETTING AROUND AND DOING BUSINESS
AND, YOU KNOW, JUST BASICALLY JUST THE EASE OF LIFE THERE AND HOW ORDERLY
AND HOW SECURE AND HOW SAFE IT IS. IT'S LIKE NO OTHER PLACE IN THE REGION AS FAR AS I CAN
TELL. SO WORKING THERE WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY EASY. AT THE SAME TIME THOUGH, BECAUSE
OF SOME CONCERNS ABOUT...PEOPLE ARE REALLY AFRAID TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES...THERE'S A LITTLE
BIT, THE GOVERNMENT IS THIS BIG OVERBEARING, THERE ARE SOME CONTROLS ON THE MEDIA
AND ON CIVIL SOCIETY. SO IT'S NOT A PLACE THAT EMBRACES FREE SPEECH THE WAY SOMEWHERE
LIKE NAIROBI, WHERE I AM NOW, DOES. SO IN NAIROBI EVERYBODY HAS OPINION AND THEY ARE
VERY WILLING TO SHARE IT, WHILE IN RWANDA IT'S A LITTLE BIT DIFFICULT TO GET PEOPLE
TO OPEN UP. AND I DON'T THINK THAT THE AMOUNT OF THE TIME I SPENT THERE WAS QUITE ENOUGH
TO REALLY CONNECT WITH PEOPLE AND GET BEHIND OR UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE OF WHAT YOU SEE
ON THESE CLEAN STREETS AND THIS HI-TECH, YOU KNOW, CITY THAT HAS DEVELOPED QUITE
RAPIDLY.
AND THAT WAS GABE JOSELOW, VOA EAST AFRICA CORRESPONDENT, BASED IN KENYA. THANKS, GABE.