January 19 always reminds me of many scholars and opponents of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) who criticize the party saying that when it overthrew the genocidal regime in 1994, the mention of Umuhutu/Umututsi on ID cards was quickly abolished and replaced by Umunyarwanda. They say that “the government is forcing Rwandans to replace their ethnic pride with national pride.” And most of those scholars live in the United States, a country that prohibits this so-called “ethnic pride”. I strongly believe that if the RPF had not replaced the Ubuhutu/Ubututsi by Ubunyarwanda, we would not be talking today of January 19 or the heroes of Nyange. For both the heroes of Nyange and the heroism shown on January 19 with the sentence “Turi Abanyarwanda” was a result of this policy that promoted forgiveness, unity and reconciliation. Between 1996 and 2000, Rwanda’s restored peace by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) became the target of infiltrations known then locally as Abacengezi in different parts of the country. This group of infiltrators were killing people from their bases in the former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, targeting local leaders, major infrastructure, and the population to sabotage the government that defeated them in 1994. On March 18,1997, they attacked students at the Nyange Secondary School, where they stormed one of the school’s dormitories and asked students to separate along ethnic lines. But the heroic students refused to obey and told the assailants that they were all Abanyarwanda, not Abahutu, not Abatutsi. This response could not have been possible had the mention of Umuhutu/Umututsi on ID cards not been quickly abolished and replaced by Umunyarwanda by the RPF. We all remember how teachers used to ask Batutsi students to stand up in a classroom to be identified and counted, then count the Bahutu students in the same class to verify and confirm the policy of iringaniza, that aimed at having few Batutsi students in schools. After the heroes of Nyange refused to separate along ethnic lines, they were killed, and only few survived to tell the story. It was this group of Abacengezi that in the morning of Monday, January 19, 1998, attacked a bus driving 74 employees of BRALIRWA, Rwanda’s largest brewer and soft beverage company to work, killed some of them and burnt the bus to ashes, so that those inside could be burnt. Among them was a colleague of mine, whom we studied together in primary school. May her soul and the souls of all her colleagues rest in eternal peace. But before the assailants started the killing, they asked the Bahutu to get off the bus and the Batutsi to remain inside, as they had done a year before at Nyange Secondary School. The assailants explained to them that they wanted to kill only the Batutsi and that all the Bahutu inside the bus should get off the bus and save their lives. Like the Nyange students, for the 74 occupants of the bus, unity was a value for which they were ready to lose their lives. They said that they were Banyarwanda, and not Bahutu or Batutsi. That is when assailants opened fire indiscriminately on the bus. Some of them tried to escape by jumping from windows, and around 10 people were shot dead outside the bus as they tried to run. Some of them were shot dead, others killed by clubs and for those who were stuck in the bus, the assailants set it on fire to burn them alive. You agree with me that in the bus, there were both Bahutu and Batutsi. It was very simple for the Bahutu to get off the bus and save their lives. But the Bahutu inside the bus refused to get off the bus and get their lives saved, they preferred to die with their colleagues of Batutsi as Abanyarwanda because they could not live with the guilt of having betrayed their unity as Rwandans. Ubunyarwanda took over ethnicity. Would this be possible in pre-1994 Rwanda? This is just 4 years after the government of unity had initiated the policy of Ubunyarwanda. Today, January 19, as we join those who survived the attack, the association of widows who lost their spouses in the attack, BRALIRWA staff, Rubavu District residents, and all Rwandans to honour the memory of the BRALIRWA staff heroes of Ubunyarwanda, who died in the attack, because unity of Rwandans was more important than their own lives, let's take a minute, whenever we are, to think of their heroism and instil in us what the power and the value of unity can do to our country. On January 19, our brothers and sisters showed to the world what the power of unity can do. How can we honor them except by believing in the values of unity and working together to instil this unity into all of us, especially the youth? We can only thank the Government of Unity that has stressed the importance of forgiveness to help Rwandans overcome the impact of hatred that destroyed our country. It is because of the power of forgiveness that unity was possible and it is the power of unity that drove this country from the ashes of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi to where it is today. And it is the power of unity that will help young Rwandans take their country to the next level, a country all of us are dreaming, a country where Rwandans will no longer see themselves in the mirror of Tutsiness and Hutuness, but Rwandans as Ubunyarwanda will slowly and surely take over Ubututsi and Ubuhutu. I believe that this date will not only remind us of the power of unity, but also be a testimony to those who still criticize the RPF and the Government of Unity for having banned the mention of Ubututsi, Ubuhutu and Ubutwa in the identity cards, that without the initiative, no one would be talking of the heroic act of BRALIRWA staff on January 19, 1998.
