Genocide II

The day of our flight, our plane didn't take off until later in the afternoon. We took the opportunity to see the Genocide Memorial/Museum in Kigali. They don't allow pictures inside, but here are a few from the outside with my comments.




The Memorial















Mass graves. About 260,000+ were murdered just in Kigali.










The black wall was intended to have names inscribed on it, much like the Vietnam memorial. There are so many unidentified remains, they were, and are, overwhelmed. It's virtually blank.










Remains continue to arrive, eleven years later.

Workers continue to create mass graves to accomodate the remains.









Often entire families are placed in a single coffin. I only scribbled a few notes, but I believe there are the remains of six or seven people in the coffin on the left. Some have as many as 13.

























Our guide.











Why did it happen?
The short answer is the depravity of man. The longer is that this is one time you can blame colonialism. First the Germans, then the Belgiums basically created the Hutus and Tutsis. The Tutsis's were the minority under the Belgiums; however, they were elevated politically, socially, and economically. Often without merit, creating artificial tribal tension.

After independence the Hutus began to pay back the Tutsi's. Then the Hutus militarized. They began widespread murder, and planned the genocide fairly extensively. After the president's plane was shot down the Prime Minister assasinated, all hell literally broke loose.

One million murdered in 100 days beginning in April 1994.

Why didn't a Tutsi just claim to be a Hutu to save herself?
The genocide was well organized. There were essentially neighborhood captains to point out who was what.

Today
Today no one carries a tribal identification card. They are Rwandans, one language, one people. The reconciliation effort is amazing. The country is peaceful. There is hurt and bitterness, but they are overcoming and moving forward.

The trials.