From President Kagame’s strong speech during the 35th anniversary celebration of RPF last weekend, I retained one take-away that I wish Rwandans who are still refugees around the world would understand as I do.
"Because we are RPF, you can’t wish us away. We are here. This is our country. We shall stay, and stay, and stay... here I am not talking about RPF but the country as a whole, through RPF.”
This country is here to stay whether some people want it or not. And those of us who belong to this country are definitely here to stay.
When I heard this speech, I pictured myself back in 1994, when a mass of Rwandans fled their country to become refugees. I remember that the Ex-FAR (the pre-1994 Rwandan Army) came to my school in the former Gisenyi Province, where we were sleeping in classrooms, woke everyone up and asked them to flee because Inkotanyi had taken over and that if we stayed, we would be killed.
Their threats continued for the two years we were refugees in DRC.
Sometimes we would hear made-up stories about refugees who crossed to Rwanda looking for food in the farms they had left and meeting soldiers who killed them.
While the Ex-FAR and Interahamwe were planning to return to Rwanda and fight, their tactics of manipulating Rwandans with their hateful ideology could not win because the RPF had made it clear that all Rwandans belonged in Rwanda.
Despite calls to return to Rwanda, the RPF leadership knew that Rwandans in refugee camps in then Zaire were hesitant, not because they did not want to go back, but because they were terrorized, fed on lies daily by the Interahamwe and Ex-FAR who needed ‘company’ to stay abroad, scared of facing justice for their involvement in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
That is what informed the decision of the Rwanda Defence Force to repatriate Rwandans from DR Congo in 1997.
I remember the sound of guns fired in the air far behind us, I later learned that the RDF had surrounded the camps and left a corridor for the refugees to move back to Rwanda. At the time, our parents were afraid, but with no choice. They tried to hide all the things that could link them to a family member who was either educated or was in the former army because there were rumours that such people were being killed by the RDF. This turned out to be more propaganda to scare people into not returning.
Surprisingly, on our way back home, we didn’t find any Rwandans being killed. Once in Rwanda, instead of killing us, we were mobilised to go back to school. We participated in civic education training that taught us the dangers of hate and division we had been exposed to, and the value of unity. Then we enrolled back in school.
Some people might not understand the context of President Paul Kagame's words at the RPF event last weekend, if you are not aware of the efforts made in 1997 to protect Rwandans, especially young people, from those who still espoused genocide ideology.
For example, in 1997 I was a student at Ecole Secondaire de Gatovu in the Northern Province, in an area where Abacengezi (Rwandan armed insurgents from the DRC) were causing insecurity.
They wanted us to leave school and join them. We chose to stay in Rwanda and continue our education. I remember how the RDF protected us, day and night, to make sure we were secure and able to continue our studies. But, still Abacengezi continued to find ways to come after us.
They infiltrated the school one day, killed five students, and wounded seven more. Our crime was choosing to believe in the new government and staying in school.
After that atrocious incident, we were temporarily moved to a more secure area, to continue with our education until we sat for the national exams. Many of us got scholarships and went to university. Today, some of us are among this country's leaders, just like the saying goes: today's youth become tomorrow’s leaders.
President Kagame couldn’t have said it better. The RPF has over the years protected any Rwandan who wants to be part of Rwanda and build this country of ours together, because "you can’t wish us away. We are here. This is our place. This is our Country. We shall stay, and stay, and stay...”
The author is a communications analyst at the Office of the Government Spokesperson.