A trip to Gatuna One Stop Border Post in Gicumbi District gives one an idea of the transformation that has happened in Rwanda in the past twenty six years since the country was liberated.

The border visibly proves efforts that could have been dedicated to transforming mobility of goods and people between Rwanda and its neighbor, Uganda, and goods along the Northern Corridor.

Modern facilities welcome you at first sight, and upon entry into the different complexes, the beauty is even unmatched. Customs and immigration offices are designed in a way that travelers spend little time at every point.

This border has historical significance in Rwanda. Gatuna is one of the key sites that played a strategic importance when the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) was liberating the country from 1990 to 1994.

When the RPA, the military wing of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi), launched the liberation struggle in October 1990 in Kagitumba, they faced setbacks during the initial stage.

It is during this stage that the RPA suffered a lot of losses of its combatants and some of its top commanders, including their first commander, Late Maj Gen Fred Gisa Rwigema and other senior commanders; Maj. Chris Bunyenyezi and Maj. Peter Bayingana, among others.

This was during the early encounters with the enemy (ex-FAR) in the expansive Umutara area, now in Nyagatare District.

Following the Kagitumba setbacks, RPA forces advanced northwards and launched a successful attack on Gatuna in November 1990, allowing the forces to reorganize themselves.

"The attack on Gatuna reduced pressure on Akagera and Kagitumba, allowing forces to get a secure path from Kagitumba,” Medard Bashana, a tour guide with the Institute of National Museum in Rwanda, explains to a group of journalists during a tour the border post.

The attack on Gatuna was described as a successful surprise attack that overwhelmed the enemy forces and caused reverberations in the whole country during that time.

Gatuna then cleared the way for RPA forces to move to the Volcanoes Mountains, a plan that had been initiated by Chairman of High Command, now President Paul Kagame.

RPA changed war tactical strategy from positional warfare to guerilla warfare. The forces used tactics like encirclement, turning movement, double involvement, and sieging, which involved digging within the rear enemy and cutting his major supply routes until he submits.

Rubaya

The weekend trip to some of the key liberation sites led the group from Gatuna border post passing through some of the steep hills and stunning landscapes to Rubaya in Gicumbi District, just a few kilometres from the border.

Upon arrival, we were welcomed by what appears to be an old Catholic Church, before learning that the tiny chapel, located in the middle of two hills, was once RPF/RPA general headquarter.

When the forces captured Byumba, Rubaya was deemed to be a secure place and this small house was then turned into accommodation for a host of activities, including mechanical workshop, storage area, and acted as a sickbay, where injured fighters were treated.

Rubaya sector in the former Commune Cyumba, later became a logistics base for RPA and settlement for internally displaced persons.

Emmanuel Bizimana, a native of this area says Rubaya is today a completely different place.

"Like other parts of the country, before 1994, this community was characterized by divisionism. I remember in school, students were discriminated against and teachers would award marks depending on ethnic groups,” he narrates.

"When RPF defeated the genocidal regime, all this changed, people like us who had fled the country came back, and we started living in harmony,” he adds, highlighting that that the area has gone through transformation with schools, healthcare facilities, and water access having been extended to the area.

From Gatuna border post and Rubaya, all with high expectations given the fact that our tour guide had promised us that the trip was just getting started, we continued our journey to Kaniga Hill, still in Gicumbi, before heading to Mulindi.

After capturing many areas of Byumba in June 1992, including Manyagiro, Mukarange, Rushaki, Ngondore and Rubaya, RPA decided to move its communication centre to Kaniga.

We passed through small trading centres and peaceful farms and tea plantations before getting to Kaniga, situated on top of a raised hill, just right next to what is now a cattle farm.

There, one is able to spot several bunkers, two of which hosted the studios of the famous Radio Muhabura, and the rest that belonged to the guards of the radio.

"Kaniga was a very secure place because it hosted Radio Muhabura, which played a key role to counter the propaganda of the genocidal regime,” Bashana says.

Muhabura was also key in mobilizing Rwandans to support the struggle.

Being on top of a high-rise hill, Kaniga also served as a relay station and the then RPF radio was broadcasting live on short waves from here.

Radio Muhabura had one guiding policy; using its broadcasts to spread the message that Rwandans were not divided into Hutu and Tutsi but shared a strong civic national identity.

It is here later in 1994 that the RPA Chairman of the High Command briefed the press about the RPF/RPA’s unilateral decision to singlehandedly stop the genocide after realising that neither the international community nor the UNMIR had the will nor the capacity to do it for Rwandans.

Mulindi museum

The final visit of the day was the National Liberation Park Museum, also known as Umulindi w’Intwari in the north eastern part of Rwanda.

As one approaches the museum, low-decibel noise could be heard from a tea factory. The tea factory was in fact operational since the 1960's and owners abandoned it when ethnic-driven events intensified.

Before it was taken over by the RPA, the facility served as living quarters of employees at a nearby tea factory.

Philemon Mugabo, the head of the museum, then gave us a brief account of the events that led the RPA to set up their high command on this beautiful hill, surrounded by rolling elevations.

Mugabo first took us to a modest building, which was then a house that was used by the Chairman of the High Command, Kagame. 

We toured his living room from where he held his personal meetings, and later to his bedroom where everyone was competing to take photos, especially the tiny bed that was used by President Kagame.

We later learnt that actually, Kagame spent much of his time in a bunker, which we also had a chance to visit at the museum along with other bunkers that top commanders used during that time.

Another key highlight of the visit was a tour of a women’s wing at Mulindi, which was dedicated to the political and military activities of women in the liberation struggle.

The museum also includes the ‘Arusha Desk’, where politicians and military leaders would meet for strategy during the peace-talks that were held in the Tanzanian town of Arusha.

Nearby, there is a football pitch where APR Football Club was born, and a tennis court from where officers used to play.

Mulindi was the headquarters for RPA forces from June 1992 until 1994 when they put an end to Juvenal Habyarimana’s regime.

Urugano

On the second day of our trip, we defied the cold weather and went to the Volcanoes National Park in Musanze district to visit another important liberation site: Urugano.

As we ascend towards the Volcanoes National Park, one passes through rocks and expansive plantations of potatoes, garlic, maize, and pyrethrum, which takes almost an hour before arriving at the park fence.

As we prepare to brace for another exhausting, yet fun and curious experience, our park tour guide, Ignace Itangishatse gives us a sneak peek of what to expect and how to treat ourselves inside the park.

"It is mandatory not to leave any waste inside the park, whether drinking bottles or food stuff,” he says, and this is a general rule for all people visiting the park, which is also home for the rare mountain gorillas.

Throughout the journey, we would make random stops to understand the different types of naturally-occurring plants of the park, and why they are significant to animals that habituate there.

For many of us, some of whom were already limping, it was a chance to get some rest and gather energy to complete a five-hour trail towards the bamboo thick forest – Urugano.

Urugano is located in the middle of Muhabura and Gahinga mountains, and it is here that Kagame had his first headquarters.

"Located at a high altitude, Urugano was a ground of tactical importance as it provided a perfect cover and concealment that was needed by RPA to reorganise its forces,” our tour guide tells.

RPA forces went to Urugano around mid-November in 1990, where Kagame had his first high command until July 1991 when they returned to Gikoba, Tabagwe in Nyagatare district.

A tour guide points at one of the sites as he takes journalists through the history of the Liberation Struggle.

Tourists will soon enjoy this journey to experience RPA struggle to liberate the country from the genocidal government after Rwanda Development Board announced a plan to implement a new tourism project.

The Project, Liberation History Tourism Trail, will cover eight destinations, which were identified based on their strategic and historical importance to the liberation struggle.