On Saturday, December 15, 2018, Vainney Bwimba boarded a bus from Rusizi in south-western Rwanda to join his family in Kayonza for Christmas and New Year celebrations.

His trip, however, didn’t go as planned.

About eight kilometres before they left the Nyungwe National Park, the bus, owned by Alpha Express, was attacked by the FLN, the military wing of Paul Rusesabagina’s MRCD coalition, whose militants had set up roadblocks in the rainforest.

The militants started shooting at the bus and Bwimba was shot in his right leg.

"I spent about two months and a half in hospital in Huye and throughout the festive season I was on the hospital bed,” he says.

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The FLN assailants also attacked another bus, owned by Omega Express that was bound for Rusizi from Kigali. The two buses were set on fire. Nine people were killed on the spot, one died of injuries later.

The Nyungwe incident in Nyamagabe District was one of the attacks by the FLN, which also targeted Nyabimata in Gisagara District, Rusizi District.

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As narrated by Desire Ngirababyeyi, the driver of the Alpha bus who defied the orders of the FLN to stop, the terrorists had been shooting at the Omega bus using silencer guns.

"When I drove further down the road hoping to save myself and the passengers, they started to shoot rather loudly, aiming at the tires, which distabilised the bus,” Ngirababyeyi says.

Ngirababyeyi’s defiance and the subsequent explosion attracted the attention of the Rwandan army, which rushed to the scene and fought off the terrorists.

Bwimba, an entertainer, was so traumatized by the FLN attack that he avoided using the road through Nyungwe. His first time to use the Nyungwe road since the attack was only on Friday – four years later – when he and other survivors gathered where the attack took place to remember those who were killed.

"We came here to remember those who were killed and to reflect on the traumatizing moments we went through,” says 30-year-old Bwimba.

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He recognises the soldiers of the Rwanda Defence Force, who rushed to the scene to their rescue and took them to hospital. "I have been able to witness that Nyungwe is safer than ever. I wish to see this commemoration become an annual event.”

Aboard the Omega bus was Azera Niyontegereje, who had left Kigali with her one-year-old daughter after visiting relatives in the capital. When the attackers started shooting at the bus, she bent forward to cover the toddler and a bullet hit her in the shoulder. She breaks into tears when she talks about the ordeal.

"I still feel the pain in the shoulder,” Niyontegereje says, as she wipes the tears running down her cheeks.

At the commemoration ceremony on Friday, Niyontegereje paid tribute to her village-mate Jeanine Niyobuhungiro, who was killed by the FLN. Niyobuhungiro, then 23, was about to graduate from the Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (PIASS) in Huye.

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Also at the ceremony was Phenias Karegesa, the father of Isaac Niwenshuti, a 17-year-old boy who was burnt in one of the buses. Karegesa wore a T-shirt with his son’s picture printed on it, and held a placard that read "Rusesabagina is not a hero. He is a terrorist.”

‘Complete justice’

After a public trial, Rusesabagina, considered the mastermind of the FLN attacks, was found guilty of committing acts of terrorism and sentenced to 25 years in jail. Callixte Nsabimana, aka Sankara, and Herman Nsengimana, both former spokesmen for the FLN were sentenced to seven and 15 years, respectively.

Although the court ruled in November 2021 that the convicts would pay Rwf412 million in compensation to the survivors and families of the victims.

The victims have not received a penny.

"The terrorists have been convicted but complete justice will be achieved when we have get the compensation,” says Bwimba, who walks with a limp due to the gunshots.

He adds that foreign countries and people who think the attacks did not happen should visit the victims to witness first-hand the terrorist activities of Rusesabagina’s MRCD-FLN.

"I was the first person to get shot in the bus,” says Yves Mugisha Gashumba, who was with Bwimba. "I still have bullet fragments in the upper leg. I need an operation to remove the fragments. That is the justice I need.”

Niyontegereje says: "We are still waiting for the compensation because for us justice has not been served yet. Meanwhile, I thank the government for taking care of us since the attacks.”