Lessons Rwandans share with humanity from the Genocide

The just concluded week of remembrance of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi is a stark reminder of the triumph of virtue over evil. We can say with certainty that the crimes of the Twentieth Century have been unprecedented in the history of mankind. Fewer Centuries can claim an incredible level of inhumanity and bloodshed than the 20th Century. Two World Wars; the Holocaust against the Jews; the Genocide against the Tutsi, one of the fastest in living memory; wars and famine; have all characterised the blood-filled Twentieth Century.The 21st Century ought to pick some crucial lessons from the previous Century. For us, in Rwanda, we have learnt lessons of the yesteryears with the seriousness they deserve. We are aware that mistakes made and crimes committed in the past by those who took charge of the affairs of the state were no doubt monumental. A rethink of the way forward by the Rwandan leadership and people was critically important after 1994. But one thing that I find incredibly important is the act of forgiveness that has characterised the Rwandan people. Perhaps we could use the last one week of remembrance of the Genocide and the remaining days that will mark the 100 days during which we remember the mayhem that befell our country, to recall a few things about biblical teachings. From my understanding of the Holy Bible, Christ, for instance, taught that those who ask for forgiveness must also grant it, and enshrined this maxim in the prayer that his disciples repeat each day. The love-one’s neighbour idea, which Jews and Christians espouse to be the core of morality, is unintelligible without the context of mutual forgiveness. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Laureate, has perhaps done more than any other public figure to emphasise the necessity for forgiveness in the healing of communities. It will be recalled that Archbishop Tutu was the brains behind the path-breaking Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa and the work of this Commission has already influenced a lot of people around the world, especially those interested in thoughts on reconciliation. Rwanda’s post-Genocide experience has also influenced and probably had considerable impact on societies and countries that have and continue to have conflict. From Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, the new Republic of Southern Sudan to the embattled Somalia, delegations from these countries have trooped to Rwanda over the last few years in search for medicine, or shall we say the magic bullet, for peace and reconciliation. Rwandans have freely shared, in the African spirit of solidarity, their humble experience with their brothers and sisters from across the African continent and beyond. We have learnt in Rwanda that forgiveness is not achieved unilaterally.We have learnt too that it is the result of dialogue, which may be tacit, but which involves reciprocal communication of an extended and delicate kind. The one who forgives, for instance, goes out to the one who has injured him, and his or her gesture involves a changed state of mind, a reorientation towards the other, and a setting aside of resentment.Such an existential transformation is not always or easily attained and can only be achieved. What seems to be happening is that through the effort of cooperation and sympathy, each person strives to set his or her own interests aside and look on the other side from the posture of the “impartial spectator”. The Rwandan Gacaca traditional Courts of justice that have done a commendable job have gone a long way in creating an enabling environment for peace and reconciliation. In the Gacaca Court proceedings, each party’s narrative is both an account of the injury and an allocation of blame; ideal and reality, exoneration and fault, are all woven together, and forgiveness can be seen in part as an attempt to harmonise the narratives, so that the story comes to an end in a new beginning. But forgiveness can sometimes be hard, and penitence no less so, and that in the political arena, it is not forgiveness but apology that counts.As Rwandans let us learn from the bitter lessons of the past to forgive but not to forget, since it is unique to rational beings and is a gift of freedom. May you all have a renewed spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness.

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Lessons Rwandans share with humanity from the Genocide