The challenge of nation building: Rwanda’s recent experience

The wanton slaughter and destruction that took place in Rwanda in April to mid-July 1994 represents one of history’s greatest human catastrophes.It was estimated that more than one million people were massacred under gruesome conditions of barbarity – half of them were children under the age of 16. Millions fled their homes for the refugee camps where cholera and hunger killed thousands everyday. An estimated 150,000 children lost their parents. Many witnessed their mothers and fathers butchered before their eyes. Others were separated from their parents in the chaotic melee to escape the violence. These are facts of our recent history that cannot be forgotten.In barely two and a half months it was estimated that half of the country’s original population of nearly 7.5million had either been slain or turned into refugees. Western Governments and International agencies had proven unable or unwilling to effectively aid the victims, much less prevent the disaster in the first place. Thanks to the resilience and determination of the Rwandan Patriotic Front that stopped the Genocide against the Tutsi and embarked later at the end of July 1994 on establishing a government of national unity. RPF will be celebrating 25 years in December this year since its inception in 1987. Eighteen years down the road, few can believe how Rwanda has emerged from the horrors of her recent history to claim position among the community of nations.On the hills of Rwanda’s countryside, children in uniform are attending school while women’s Cooperatives are engaged in farming activities, their produce destined for export to overseas markets. In the villages, a peaceful atmosphere prevails. These and many more scenes across the countryside attest to the prevailing peace and security that has come to characterize Rwanda over the last eighteen years.These scenes from ordinary life Rwanda are not what strangers to this country of a thousand hills expect to find because when the subject of Rwanda is mentioned, people familiar with this nation’s recent developments think of ethnic rivalry, bloodshed, displacement of millions of people and of course genocide.Rwanda has defied the odds and prophets of doom. It has already exhibited the structure and organization for which it was once well known long before the advent of colonialism, when it was among the most organized in the interlacustrine region. It may be recalled that Rwanda was one of the few African countries that resisted the infamous slave trade that ravaged most of sub-Saharan Africa. No single Rwandan was sold to slavery during the 19th century.It was the colonial-backed and trained new leadership who institutionalized the divisions and repetitive cycles of violence which created the culture of impunity, exclusion, systematic killings and massive displacements of the Rwandan populations from the late 1950s right through to the mid 1990s. Ethnic divisions deepened and mistrust grew over decades and 1994 marked the height of socio-political disintegration of the country.It is with extra-ordinary feat that eighteen years down the rough road to nation building that this country is well known for her rapid socio-economic reforms that have attracted international accolades. For the first time since independence, the Rwandan leadership is shared by different political, ethnic and even religious backgrounds. The thrust of government is on reconciliation and national unity. For example, all Rwandans are now seen as equal before the law and discriminatory policies and practices that had marked the past regimes have been discarded. The bulk of the problems of genocide have been handled through the Gacaca Jurisdictions, a communal justice system, whose aim is to reconcile while establishing the bitter truth about what happened in 1994. The Gacaca courts have successfully concluded their work.One of the hallmarks of the post-genocide government has and continues to be the maintenance of law and order. Security within the Rwandan borders has been restored and today Rwanda is one of the safest places within the Great Lakes Region.Rwanda faces serious challenges to her development. Among the key constraints facing the country is the high incidence of HIV/AIDS and poverty. HIV/AIDS pandemic has serious ramifications to a nation recovering from the devastation of the Genocide. Approximately 3 per cent of Rwandan’s population is infected and affected with the virus, including more than 65,000 children under the age of 15 years.Women, who constitute almost 54 per cent of the population, account for more than 50 per cent of Rwanda’s total HIV infections. It is also estimated that 70 per cent of the approximately 250,000 women who were raped during the Genocide were infected with HIV.Efforts to sensitise the population on the dangers of the pandemic, coupled with measures to provide anti-retroviral drugs, continue.Besides HIV/AIDS facing the country, there is an equally serious threat to Rwanda’s socio-economic well being – the problem of poverty alleviation.Despite the significant economic and social progress made in the recent past, Rwanda still faces heavy challenges, mainly related to its geography, economic structure, which include high population growth and density, narrow export base and vulnerability to external price shocks, high energy costs, just to mention but a few. No doubt, a lot has been done but a lot more remains to be done if the country is to recover fully from the horrors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, which has left an indelible mark on the Rwandan society.

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The challenge of nation building: Rwanda’s recent experience