Rwanda: Reconciling a Nation
By Tristan Buttimer ’26
Each nation is founded on a fundamental story, something unique in its history. For some, it is principles, such as the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that are foundational to the United States. For others, it is a revolution, such as the Haitian Revolution. For others still, it is divine providence, such as the creation of the state of Israel. For each of these nations, these stories unite the country around a set of ideals, and even if the country has failed to live up to these values in the past, it is a reminder for what they should strive for in the future. However, what if one of the foundational stories of your country is a genocide?
Rwanda gained independence in 1962 following its revolution, but quickly became mired in ethnic conflict. [1] For three decades, there was intermittent conflict between the Hutu majority, who made up 85% of the population, and the Tutsi, who were elevated to leadership positions during European control. [2] In 1990, the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front), a Tutsi refugee fighting force, invaded northern Rwanda because of the undemocratic Hutu government, signing a peace treaty in 1993. While the nation was clearly unstable, there were no clear signs of the atrocities about to unfold.
On April 6, 1994, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down. That night, a radio broadcast was sent out by the infamous “Hutu Radio” to kill all Tutsi people. [3] This message sparked the beginning of a genocide. The RPF successfully defeated the Hutu extremists months later, but only after one million people were slaughtered. In the aftermath, Paul Kagame, the leader of the RPF, became the de facto leader and was officially elected president of the devastated country in 2003.
After the crimes committed during the genocide, many of the Hutu extremist leaders fled to neighboring countries, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). However, most of the killers were ordinary people, neighbors who had been brainwashed by propaganda to hate others because of their race. The aftermath of the genocide could have been more bloodshed, but, thankfully, the nation decided to take a different course.
In 2005, the Rwandan government released thousands of prisoners who admitted a role in the genocide. This was the first step in the mass reconciliation process that President Kagame instituted. Later, he banned the use of racial identification on all government paperwork. The final stage of the process was cutting up the 12 provinces of Rwanda into smaller regions, forcing people of different ethnicities into the same village. [4]
Personally, I had the honor of meeting Carl Wilkens, the only American in Rwanda during the genocide. He recounted to me the horrors of his experience, from the time he saved an entire orphanage to his own encounters with death. However, despite the atrocities Wilkens had seen, he still wants to return to the country and has already done so many times. He described to me a woman he met and a man who lived next door to her. This man was not just a former Hutu extremist; he had killed her family. Today, they live together in harmony. The man works on her farm and helps her with anything she needs. This one anecdote is not universal to all of Rwanda, but it does show the incredible progress the nation has made in addressing its past and healing wrongs.
Additionally, the Rwandan education system teaches children of all ages about the genocide. [5] Children are taught about the country’s past, and eyewitnesses come into classrooms to tell students their stories. The curriculum uses the genocide to teach students the importance of critical thinking and empowering them to be peacemakers.
While the progress Rwanda has made in coming to terms with its past is notable, it does come at a price. The reconciliation process was instituted by the democratically elected President Kagame, but since being elected more than two decades ago, he has clung to power by shutting down opposition political parties and arresting political opponents, sometimes using national healing as his justification. Some accuse Kagame of using restorative justice to maintain support among Hutus because they rely on the government’s programs to keep them from facing jail sentences. [6] The government has positioned itself with the West and protects human rights, even having the highest percentage of women in its Parliament in the world, but Kagame’s suppression of free and fair elections is worrying for democratic allies. [7]
Rwanda is an example to the world of how a nation can reckon with its troubling past. As the United States and other Western nations struggle to deal with their troubled histories of slavery and colonization, Rwanda provides a possible path for reconciliation by addressing the past head-on. Rwanda’s path also shows the West that while remembering history is essential, forgetting divisions, such as racial differences, is also important. The reconciliation process in Rwanda also calls into question which civil liberties can be retained while coming to amends with history. Rwanda is an example for all on how we can remember a troubled past to create a better future, but the price they pay for it may be too much for Americans to ever accept.
Footnotes
"Rwanda Country Profile."
US Holocaust Memorial Museum, "The Rwanda Genocide."
United Nations, "How hate speech triggered genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda."
Summers, "In this Rwandan village, survivors and perpetrators of the genocide live side by side."
Gasanabo, "The 1994 Genocide as Taught in Rwanda's Classrooms."
Ferragamo, "Thirty Years After Rwanda's Genocide: Where the Country
Stands Today."
Thesing, "Here are four parliaments that have more women than men."
References
Ferragamo, Mariel. "Thirty Years After Rwanda's Genocide: Where the Country Stands Today." Council on Foreign Relations. Last modified April 3, 2024. https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/thirty-years-after-rwandas-genocide-where-country-stands-today.
Gasanabo, Jean-Damascene. "The 1994 Genocide as Taught in Rwanda's Classrooms." UNESCO. Last modified February 2, 2022. https://world-education-blog.org/2017/01/06/
"How hate speech triggered genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda." UnitedNations. Last modified April 20, 2023. https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135902.the-1994-genocide-as-taught-in-rwandas-classrooms/.
"Rwanda Country Profile." British Broadcasting Corporation. Last modified July 16, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/World-africa-14093238.
Summers, Juana. "In this Rwandan village, survivors and perpetrators of the genocide live side by side." NPR. Last modified April 11, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/04/11/1243634497/Rwanda-genocide-anniversary-reconciliation-remembrance.
Thesing, Gabi. "Here are four parliaments that have more women than men." World Economic Forum. Last modified February 17, 2023. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/02/parliaments-with-more-women-than-men/.
US Holocaust Memorial Museum. "The Rwanda Genocide." Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-rwanda-genocide#:~:text=In%201994%2C%20Rwanda's%20population%20was,propaganda%20campaign%20against%20the%20Tutsis.