Heartsore and Fearful
"I have many scars, even in my heart. The people who put those scars on me still live freely in Rwanda."
Leodegard Kagaba
Twenty years after the Hutu government engaged in cleansing Rwanda of the Tutsi portion of the country, in revenge for the Tutsi having gained the ascendancy under the country's Belgian colonialist masters who favoured the minority Tutsi and gave them government and educational opportunities denied the Hutu, the stage was set for a colossal massacre. Over 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were slaughtered in Rwanda in 1994.
The UN peacekeeping team under General Romeo Dallaire pleaded with the United Nations to send reinforcements to allow the UN peacekeepers to stray from their role and attempt to use force to persuade the majority Hutu from prosecuting their plan to destroy the presence of the Tutsi under the claim that they were the original inhabitants of the area and the Tutsi were invaders. To no avail; instead the horrified UN contingent was forced to stand by as the slaughter commenced.
Those Rwandans who survived the horror fled to neighbouring countries seeking refuge across East and Central Africa. Some Hutus have since returned to Rwanda and have found their security and assurances of equality under the Tutsi-led government that prevailed, to be less than promised.
All Hutus are held in suspicion of having been involved in the mass slaughter. The Hutu extremists fled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo where they have been responsible for atrocities there against DRC Tutsis.
The Hutus that fled to western Uganda put down roots, where they have access to green pasturage for cattle. Many of the former Rwandans have created businesses and wish to remain where they are, in safety and security. Hutus represent roughly 90% of all Rwandan refugees in Uganda. And the government of Uganda would now like them to return to Rwanda.
The Hutu fear to leave their safe, sprawling Ugandan settlements for fear of reprisals by the governing Tutsis. They fear harassment and attacks, having witnessed the atrocities committed by Tutsi soldiers who surveyed native villages in Rwanda, searching for genocide suspects.
While President Paul Gagame, an ethnic Tutsi makes light of strained relations between the two ethnic groups now, the fear is there and it is real.
Rwanda's current government has been charged with using a genocide ideology law to silence critics of the regime, where independent journalists writing critically of the genocide history are threatened with jail. "Rwandan refugees who hesitate to return home either lack enough information on the current situation in Rwanda or have developed significant ties with host countries", stated the government.
Which may be true, but does not help the thousands of Hutu Rwandans who have been given notice that they must vacate Uganda where they have settled peacefully, looking to it for their security, rather than return to a homeland where they fear persecution and worse. Refugees who have returned to Rwanda have fled back to Uganda, claiming to have been jailed and tortured.
"If they want it, they will have to come here and kill us. I will never find peace in Rwanda", wept one Hutu refugee in Naivale, Uganda.
Labels: Africa, Conflict, Controversy, Human Relations, Persecution
posted by Pieface @ Monday, April 22, 2013
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