It was supposed to be ‘the light and salvation of the people’, but the 1994 Genocide gave a new face to all that defines the National University of Rwanda.

The picturesque entrance to this 46 year institution has a resemblance of a colonial master’s mansion. Trees line the paved road and the lawns are well kept.

But in the middle of this serene natural beauty lies the University Genocide memorial site, a reminder to every visitor of the ‘evil’ works of the ‘elite’ who were supposed to be the ‘light and salvation to the people’.

The history of Genocide at the National University of Rwanda is as old as the institution.

Started in 1963 with a student population of 51, the University was supposed to doctors, social scientists and teachers who were supposed to provide leadership and direction to the young independent Rwanda.

But this mission by the founders – the Congregation of the Dominicans from the Province of Quebec (Canada) was lost from the start.

The University, with a lot of political interference degenerated into a hatching ground for schemes that culminated into the 1994 Genocide.

Ensconced at this University, the revered dons hid behind their academic coats to plan for the most cruel and rapid Genocide in the history of mankind.

According to Ernest Mutwarasibo from the Centre for Conflict Management (CCM) at the National University of Rwanda, the role of the University in Genocide can be traced back to the social- political crises the country faced since 1963.

"As early as 1968, there was a climate of exclusion, persecution, conflict and divisionism at the University. Tutsi students who were considered as enemies of the government then were tortured,” said Mutwarasibo, a member of a team compiling research findings on Genocide at the University.

In 1973, a number of Tutsi secondary school students around the University were murdered in cold blood.

The ‘initiation’ of new students at the University was more brutal during this period, a sign of the bad political climate at the University, according to Athanasie Gahondogo, a researcher at CCM.

"Girls were separated from the boys and tortured in unimaginable ways,” said Gahondogo, adding, "the manner in which it was done reflected the political climate of the time.” 

Sinzi Tharcisse, an employee of the University at the time said that the environment was hostile at the University.

"Workmates were never cooperative, Tutsi workers were segregated against at all levels,” said Sinzi who helped over 1000 people to safety in the neighbouring Burundi thanks to his Karate training.

Archives gathered by the research team show the role of the University leadership in the planning and final execution of Genocide at the University.

In one correspondence, the then Rector of the University, one Nzanzimana in a letter to the President of the Republic indicated that Tutsi students stopped from returning to the University.

Fast forward to 1994, the University had turned into a political field with students divided along party lines; MRND, CDR, PL, PSD.

"There was open political activity at the University at time. According to information gathered from testimonies in Gacaca courts, students from the CDR and MRND political parties hunted down colleagues from the PL and PSD parties which were considered as Tutsi dominated,” said Mutwarasibo.

Jean Baptist Nshimyemuremyi (whereabouts not known) the then Vice Rector and President of MRND features prominently during this period.

He facilitated training sessions of students who were among the notorious killers at the University and around Butare town. He chaired meetings where plans to exterminate Tutsis were hatched.

The research team has managed to recover his diary where most of the information about his activities was documented.
Identification of Tutsi students at the University was easy because it was institutionalised.

Admission forms at the University bore a column for ethnic group. Other workers and lecturers also had to indicate their ethnic group according to the archives obtained by the CCM research team.

It was only in 1993 that the then Minister of Education, Agathe Uwilingilimana (later to become Prime Minister, killed during the Genocide) stopped the practice, but the damage was done. It was a little too late.

Genocide at the University was systematic; rooms in which Tutsi students lived were labelled.

On April 21 and 22, the killing machine was set in motion.
And the killer students and their teachers did not stop at the University campus. They ‘exported’ their ‘art’ to the neighbouring community and in other parts of the country.

"There was close collaboration between students, staff and soldiers at the notorious Ecole des Sous Officiers (ESO) in Butare,” said Gahondogo.

The ESO in Butare was made up of soldiers from the Northern part of Rwanda known as Abaciga. They were responsible for most of the deaths in Butare and the surrounding areas.

After killing at the University, students and staff joined the soldiers to form the killing mobs that ravaged Butare town and its environs.

The number of the dead is not known. Previous research put it at over 600. But professor Deo Kambanda, one of the long serving dons at the University said that the number far bigger than that.

"Many people are believed to have been killed from the University Arboretum forest. A heavy stench engulfed this forest after the Genocide. We believe many bodies have not been recovered from this forest to date,” said the aging don.

What if the University community lived to its billing as ‘the light and salvation of the people’? What if the dons at the University taught their students to be Rwandans and not Tutsi or Hutu? What if the students as the crème de la crème of society preached against divisionism?

The questions can go on and on until the cows come home. The sad reality is that the University like any other institution during the Genocide failed in its role to provide leadership that could have reshaped the course of history.

Ends