ELIE NDUWAYESU is a 49-year-old but he claims to be 23.  To him, he was ‘born’ on that day in 1991 when he was dramatically rescued from Ruhengeri Prison in Musanze District by Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA-Inkotanyi).

Like hundreds of other people mainly opposition politicians and the Tutsi elite who were accused of collaborating with RPA in the early 1990s, Nduwayesu was arrested and jailed after being tortured by the then government soldiers.

After being thrown behind bars  for sins he never committed, Nduwayesu saw no end to the incarceration.

He resigned to fate, knowing that he would either be imprisoned for the rest of his life, or be clandestinely picked up and killed by state operatives.

He had been in prison for nearly four months and like the rest, he had never appeared before a court of law to be formally charged with the tramped up charges against him.

The resident of Musanze, Muhoza Sector and father of four, vividly remembers the day he was arrested on October 9, 1990.

"When I look back, I thank God for making it to prison. I may have been killed before I got there as was the case for many. God was on my side during the difficult moment,” he said in an interview with The New Times last week.

The man who owns a nursery and primary school in Musanze town, says immediately the RPA attacked on October 1, 1990, government officials drew lists of several people, not only in Musanze but throughout the country.

"Most politicians who were rounded up from across the country were brought to Ruhengeri Prison,” he says, adding that he knew within few days of the RPF attack that he was on the list of the accomplices and decided to go underground.

At the time, he lived in what was at the time called Nkuri Commune in the north-western part of the country, the present-day Nyabihu District.  

"I heard information that the militiamen and government officials were looking for me and I hid in my house for nearly a week but I was later picked and taken to police,” he says

"Despite this being a police post, I found there many soldiers and prisons officers and the situation was very hostile,” he said.

He was told that being among the elite Tutsi, deserved to be killed and this is when one of them brought out a list containing over a hundred names of  people whom he said had to be killed alongside me.

"They stripped me naked and I was thrown onto a truck and taken to another police post. On the way, I saw many bodies along the road and I knew these were people with whom we shared the  predicament. Others were being killed with stones while others were forced to swallow stones, others had their lips mutilated,” he says.

He was taken to a police post in Musanze town, near Ruhengeri Prison where he was beaten and tortured.

"Here I was told that I was going to have a "special death”. They ordered me to write a letter testifying I was a Tutsi and an RPA accomplice or Icyitso which I did of course under duress before being thrown into the cell.”

Torture

In the main prison, Nduwayesu joined other people who had been arrested from different parts of the country.

He says they were so many that a small room had at least 200 people.

"We were so packed and did not know one another but we all knew we were being held for no reason apart from our being Tutsi,” Nduwayesu said.

He said the room was always dark and they were fed on only  beans while in some cases, they were given energy drinks just to keep them alive.

Prison officers and soldiers planned to kill Nduwayesu and some of his colleagues and mobilised a mob of other prisoners to attack and kill them.

"They told the mob that we were senior officers from the RPA rebel group and that we were prisoners of war. Fortunately, when the attackers came, they found people they had known. They left us because they were convinced we were not rebels,” he said.

"God saved us that day and gave us some more days to live,” he says, adding that it was clearly a matter of buying time as they would soon have to be killed.

RPA rescue

A ray of hope emerged when the RPA that had now embarked on guerilla warfare, as opposed to conventional war which they had initially used finally struck the prison and rescued all the prisoners on January 21, 1991.

"I remember it was in the morning when we heard a fierce  exchange of gunfire outside the prison and the exchange went on for about three hours. We were oblivious of what was going on and we were all in a state of fear,” Nduwayesu says.

He says that many of them if not all knew the end had come and each said their last prayer.

Suddenly, he recalls, they heard the bullets rattling through the prison gate and knew this was the final moment of their life.

"Surprisingly, a young man who seemed to be in his early twenties opened the door and identified himself as an RPA fighter. He told us we were free and everyone was definitely astonished. We thought they were far and never thought they would come to free us,” he said.

After the release, Nduwayesu and few others joined the RPA and contributed to the struggle.

He says he worked at Radio Muhabura, which played a major part in mobilising support and countering the negative propaganda that was being spread across the country, dehumanising the RPA fighters.

"My age dates from the time i was liberated, and I am thankful for the brave soldiers who liberated us. I  know this country has emerged from ashes and where we are 20 years down the road is an indication of a country destined for prosperity.”

Nduwayesu today

He currently holds a masters degree in international relations.

He is the founder of Wisdom Nursery and Primary School in Musanze town, which has over 1,000 pupils.

His advice to the Rwandans is to be thankful to the government of unity which liberated them.

"Rwandans have a peaceful country. They have to take advantage of this to ensure a prosperous nation,” he says.

Ruhengeri prison officials say there is a plan to make the facility, which was built in 1935, a historical prison.