A step forward in Rwanda: Frees genocide prisoners

Never in living history has such reckless brutality been inflicted by human beings on their fellow creatures as in Rwanda. Part of the horror of Rwanda is that we think of genocide as belonging to an age we had left behind. Rwanda is not taken for granted by most bystanders in the same way as other disasters, let alone the Holocaust of the Second World War. However, each time I remember the 1994 Rwandan genocide, I can’t help to address that world leaders allowed the deaths of more than 800,000 people – mostly Tutsis by feigning ignorance of what was taking place. The Belgians pulled out when they lost 10 soldiers. France, of course, did nothing. Moreover, the U.S. was very culpable, too. How many could have been saved and how many U.S. troops might have died is pure speculation. But what is certain is that the Clinton Administration and the Pentagon lacked the will to do anything – especially, after Mogadishu. Yes right, isn’t it already ancient history? Aren’t there all kinds of human catastrophes that no one much bothers with? Didn’t it take place in faraway Africa, in a country few people could find on a map? Wasn’t it just another case of Africans killing Africans? What does it have to do with us, anyway? How many of you think that these questions deserve answers. Above all, it is fundamentally true that there would have been no genocide had some Rwandans not decided for their own selfish reasons to annihilate many other Rwandans. However, once this truth is acknowledged, a powerful case for remembering Rwanda remains, and needs to be made. It does not suffice to apologize for the errors of the international community. We also have to show that we have learnt from the mistakes and will avoid them in the future. Still, no one is intervening in Sudan, despite ethnic cleansing and mass rapes. How long will it take the United Nations to use the G-word? How many more meetings and reports do we need until we can take up our responsibility? Today, almost twelve years after the fateful 100 days when hell broke loose in Rwanda, the government there is releasing more than 9,000 prisoners. This is the latest wave of releases under a 2003 presidential decree. About 60,000 inmates have been freed since. The government has said the releases are to ease overcrowding and foster reconciliation and most of the thousands released are the sick, elderly and children. The group that has been released excludes key masterminds of the genocide however, the genocide survivors, are outraged and accuse the released inmates of planning more ethnic crimes because some of them continue to harbor a genocide ideology. The current Rwandan government headed by Paul Kagame, himself a Tutsi, has done much to reconcile and unite the nation. Kagame must realize that he is presiding over a tribally sensitive nation. He should proceed seriously with his national reconciliation program by ensuring fair representation of all the ethnic groups in his government.