This week, Rwandans commemorate the genocide against the Tutsi for the 29th time.
The first time this happened was in 1995, in the immediate aftermath of the genocide. The patriotic Rwandan forces under the leadership of the RPF had just defeated the genocidal forces, stopping the genocide and starting the rebuilding of a reconciled, united Rwandan nation in which justice, security for all, and shared prosperity would be anchored on a political prularism based on a continuous search for consensus among all Rwandans.
Almost at the same time, just across the border in the then Zaire, present day DR Congo, Simon Bikindi produced his song, Rwigere Urumpe, his message being that the RPF were Tutsi foreigners who would taste Rwanda briefly and then hand it over to its real owners, the Bahutu. The RPF were then expected to return to their purported origins, outside of Rwanda. Bikindi and his ideological colleagues had attempted to do precisely this by returning the Batutsi to Ethiopia through the River Nyabarongo, a tributary of the Nile.
When Bikindi sang Rwigere Urumpe at a paying concert in the Mugunga refugee camp, the money collected was supposed to be sent to the RDR party for the purchase of weapons meant for an armed return of the genocidal forces to Rwanda. The RDR was an attempt at political sophistry. The defeated Sindikubwabo/Kambanda government were pariahs in the community of Nations because of their undisputed role in the genocide against the Tutsi. Their foreign backers could not be seen to publicly support them. Therefore, a new political vehicle was needed, one that would provide political cover for an attack on Rwanda by the ex-FAR / Interahamwe. Thus was born the RDR, created by Gen Augustin Bizimungu and col. Theoneste Bagosora, in Mugunga.
The challenge for these architects of genocide was to find a Rwandan political figure, not directly associated with the just defeated genocidal agenda, but willing to carry on the mantle of their ideological struggle. They found her in the person of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, then living in the Netherlands. As we commemorate the genocide against the Tutsi for the 29th time, Ingabire has never come clean about this phase of her political journey. Indeed, consistently, over the years, during the period of commemoration, genocide deniers, revisionists and negationists come out of the woodwork and, using her as their political icon, propagate their nefarious ideology.
Like all attempts by the genocide ideologues, Bikindi’s call for the re-exile of the RPF, which he expressed through the musical composition Rwigere Urumpe failed. It is important to recall that in 1995, many supporters of the defeated genocidal government, considering the array of forces arrayed against it, gave the RPF-led Government of National Unity a survival period of no more than three months, then not more than three years. But here we are, 29 years later and counting, and yet still, groups who draw political inspiration from Bikindi and others like him refuse to recognize the reality that the RPF are Rwandans that are here to stay. They refuse to acknowledge the evidence before their eyes that investment in national unity, justice, reconciliation, political consensus and shared prosperity return peace, stability and growth. During the years they were in power, they invested in sectarianism, divisionism and death. They bequeathed us a Rwanda in which life was, to borrow from others, nasty, brutish and short. We have moved beyond this legacy but we do not, and will not, forget!
The RDR and its leaders propagated another dangerous idea that is still making the rounds today, namely, that post genocide recovery demands the presence of a neutral third force. Think about this for a moment. In 1994, there were political forces led by MRND/CDR whose political project was extermination. Then there were Patriotic Forces, led by the RPF, implacably opposed to this project. Neutrality in the face of genocide is morally abhorrent, if not downright criminal. Yet, there is a parade of politicians out there, who claim neutrality during those dark days of 1994 and expect us to thank them for it. So, here we go, thanks but no thanks!
The idea of a third force is even more pernicious. It pressuposes that the Rwandan political landscape is divided into a ‘Hutu majority’ in search of leadership and a ‘Tutsi minority’ led by the RPF.
The third force puts itself forward ostensibly in rejection of this political dichotomy, but in practice, proposes itself as the leadership the ‘Hutu ‘ majority is looking for. That is why the idea of Ndi Umunyarwanda is anathema to them. They cannot conceive of a polity that is not ethnic based. They find it impossible to imagine a political formation like the RPF centered on a common political program not ethnic solidarity or consanguinity. They interprete the search for consensus as an attempt at domination, truth as manipulation, and shared prosperity as a smokescreen.
History is dragging them, screaming and kicking, to its dungheap
This year’s commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsi is the definitive response to Bikindi’s Rwigere Urumpe.
It is a response that says ‘NO’, we are here to stay.
National unity, reconciliation and shared prosperity are alive and well, and are here to stay.
It is a response that says the constant search for political consensus is alive and well, despite the dying kicks of those on their way to the dungheap of history.
We commemorate. We cherish the memory of the millions we lost. We invest in a better future for all. We defend our newly found national unity.
We are Rwandans and we are here to stay!