For some 1994 seems like a lifetime ago. For others, however, it seems like only yesterday.
I imagine many survivors of the Rwandan genocide believe the latter.
It all started when then-Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu was killed after his plane was shot down. The date was April 6, 1994 and it was the beginning of a 100-day massacre in which violent ethnic Hutus militias attacked ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus throughout Rwanda. The massacre would result in the death of 800,000 people.
There are no words that can adequately describe how members of the Tutsi population or moderate Hutus must have felt as they attempted to flee the massacres. Trusting civil and military authorities in their area, many fled to areas that were described to them as safe havens. Sadly, it was these same areas that most refugees met their final fate as they were attacked, abducted and massacred, oftentimes on the orders of the same authorities who intentionally lied to them.
Current United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice spoke during a commemorative event this week, marking the 15th anniversary of the slayings.
“For me, the memory of stepping around and over those corpses will remain the most searing reminder imaginable…we bow our heads to mark the memory of those who were slain,” said Rice, who visited Rwanda six months after the massacre ended. She was a staff member on former President’s Bill Clinton’s National Security Council.
The atrocities that Rwandan sufferers endured are incomprehensible – we’ll never be able to fully conceptualize their fear, pain and disappointment. However, what is even more distressing is the United States and other international governments’ lack of involvement during the genocide. Many entities refused to refer to the mass killings as genocide, but were more comfortable calling it “tribal warfare.” Referring to the genocide as tribal warfare gave world leaders an excuse to not get actively involved in the travesty. While there were some discussions on the issue, nothing substantial was done to help the victims during that 100-day period.
The United States and the rest of the world simply did not do an adequate job of addressing the genocide issue – not the media, not top government officials, and as great of a president as he was – not Bill Clinton.
The lackadaisical stance the United States took is disappointing still today, but progress is being made.
After the horrific events, the U.N. established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to prosecute individuals who bear the most responsibility for the genocide and other crimes against humanity throughout 1994.
Last December, Theoneste Bagosora, a Rwandan army colonel was found guilty of the genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Bagosora, who is considered the mastermind behind the 1994 slaughter, was sentenced to life in prison. In addition Major Aloys Ntabakuze and Lieutenant Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumval, two very active participants, were also found guilty and will spend the rest of their lives in jail.
As we reflect on the genocide in Rwanda that claimed the lives of nearly a million people 15 years ago, we must also vow to do better. Americans and the rest of the world have to use the unfortunate aspects of 1994 as motivation that we will do all that we can to ensure that such an atrocity will never happen again.
President Barack Obama has a lot on his plate right now, but he must be committed to addressing the global issue of genocide. I hope such an issue remains at the top of his agenda now and throughout his term as president of the United States.
We owe it to the hundreds of thousands of individuals who died. We also owe it to the individuals who survived the massacre, as they must be riddled with grief knowing that more could have been done, but wasn’t.
