On April 7, Rwanda begins the commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that claimed more than one million lives, marking 29 years. ‘Remember, Rebuild, Renew’ is the guiding light for Rwandans to remember the tragic history as they step forward in unity towards the desired development. The New Times’ Alice Kagina had an exclusive discussion with Philbert Gakwenzire, President of Ibuka Rwanda, an umbrella association of Genocide survivors, that reflected on the journey of reconciliation, welfare development of survivors, and efforts in fighting Genocide ideology. Below are excerpts. How has the Genocide Survivors Umbrella been working to support genocide survivors in the lead-up to this year's Kwibuka commemoration? Yes, we are entering the 100 days of commemoration but in actual sense, Genocide survivors and Rwandans in general, remember every day, every second because there are even those who still have nightmares of what happened to them during the Genocide. But this commemoration period is a particular time to reflect and draw lessons from what transpired. So, we play our role in preparing people both mentally and physically so that even when they share their testimonies, they can do so with strength in a conducive and supportive environment. But before all that, we also look at their livelihood. Survivors have had it for an aim to develop themselves in line with the country’s vision but not everyone is at the same pace, we pay close attention and intervene to improve their livelihoods, coupled with advocacy. One more important thing is taking care of their wellbeing, especially the elderly whose mental health deteriorates as their physical health weakens, so we collaborate with different institutions with expertise to provide them the necessary help. What’s the current level of reconciliation among Rwandans? Unity and reconciliation can be assessed plainly in society, it all depends on the political agenda and good leadership that works to implement that agenda. Those who stopped the Genocide had a vision far more than addressing issues at the time, but a vision that based on national unity which is even a name tag of our government. However, much as Rwandans are in that line of unity, there are still some individuals with Genocide ideology. We shouldn’t say they are few by counting them in numbers but understand that the ideology is poisonous and does not require a bigger number of people. One may wonder why there are still people with such ideology after 29 years despite different efforts put in by the government to eradicate it. We should be careful since most of these people are young people aged between 29 and 37, which means these are kids born during the Genocide or who were too young to know what was happening at the time. This means the ideology is passed on in families, and parents should question themselves whether they are parenting for the country or breeding crooked ideologies in their children. Addressing this should go beyond the statistics but also do a mapping of knowing who they are and where they are to have a more solution-oriented approach. In recent years, we continue to see hate speech and extremist ideologies in the region and many parts of the world. How can we best combat these dangerous trends? Hate speeches in the Great Lakes Region, especially in Eastern DR Congo are results of bad politics that occurred over time, in particular one from colonialism. The worst thing that colonialists did was not merely take mineral resources or other forms of abuse, but brainwashing. Initially, Africans who had a plan of bringing the continent to its full independence, were eliminated. With some good leaders alive across the continent, we have to understand the root cause of this and rather proclaim the right mentality of pan Africanism so that the good can defeat the evil. What is the role of young people in fighting this ideology and how is your organization empowering them to become agents of change in their communities? A majority of those who committed Genocide were youth and so were those who stopped it. There are many evident realities that our youth can learn from. They have to be wise and at the same time hardworking. At Ibuka, we preserve different things that will help the youth to keep in tune with their responsibilities by reminding them of where the country has come from and pushes them to build a sustainable future. These include memorial sites, testimonies, books, and exhibitions. 29 years later, what are some of the biggest challenges that survivors of the genocide continue to face today, and how is your organization working to address these challenges? One of the biggest challenges for survivors is to find that there are still some people with Genocide ideology nearly three decades later, to find that there is a survivor whose life is threatened in one way or another. We are still challenged to meet all the needs of survivors, though the government is always intentional in intervening but we are not able to reach them all. So, in that line, we are in a process of restructuring Ibuka to decentralize at every level so that we can reach survivors and empower their descendants to play their role in the development. Minister Jean Damascene Bizimana recently said that no African country has ever tried a fugitive, yet many have fled to different parts of the continent mainly in Southern Africa. What does this mean to Ibuka? There are two reasons; judicial system and political will. There was lack of laws that punish Genocide crimes and those tried in European countries was because such laws existed. Despite those laws being in place now, 29 years later, there is still an issue of political will where bringing them to justice is not regarded as a priority to them. But we know that through diplomacy, some countries have collaborated to extradite fugitives to be tried in the country. Trying them in their own countries is really expensive when you look at the budget for coming to Rwanda to conduct investigations, among other things. They should go beyond that and put in place firm judicial approaches with a mindset of preventing this to ever happen in their countries, and this starts by bringing fugitives to justice. Finally, what is your message as we enter the commemoration period? Ibuka, an association of survivors and other people who joined efforts to address the effects of Genocide, an organization that they build themselves says “we are with you and we support you.” As years go by, we should continue collaborating with the government in the journey of development because the damaged social tissue requires everyone’s role to redeem it. It goes hand-in-hand with instilling the right moral values in their descendants of patriotism and fulfilling responsibility in building the social structure.
