Parties and manipulation of youth in the Genocide

Rutura, 43, was halfway through his tertiary education in 1994 when Angeline Mukandutiye, then inspector of education in Nyarugenge Commune and MRND leader in Rugenge Sector, came to his home and demanded that he joins Interahamwe militia. “She was my mother’s friend who used to sell her charcoal. My mother said I should go,” said Rutura, 44, who served a 14-year jail sentence for Genocide crimes. “What gives me nightmares is that as an Interahamwe, I killed my own friends. There was no choice because once in the militia, one was supposed to obey the killing orders or expose both themselves and their family.” Rutura is not the former convict’s real name and the condition of anonymity was to enable him speak freely. When multi-party politics began in 1991, the ruling party, Revolutionay National Movement for Development (MRND), saw the need to create an “active” youth wing, believing–albeit wrongly–that they could easily handle the opposition. When major opposition political parties ganged up against the MRND, it was forced to change tactics; not only did it create Interahamwe, it also blessed the creation of a Hutu extremist party, CDR, with a youth wing known as Abahuzamugambi. Gervais Dusabemungu, then an employee of Prefecture de la Ville de Kigali (PVK) said the philosophy led to the creation of youth wings in all parties. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) had Abakombozi and Faustin Twagiramungu’s Mouvement Democratique Republicain (MDR) founded the JDR (Jeunesse Democratique Republicain). When internal strife hit MDR, the extremists created a “Hutu Power” faction whose youth wing was christened Inkuba (thunder), while the moderates came to be known as Amajyojyi. Rutayisire Masengo, a Genocide survivor who was a member of the Liberal Party (PL) youth wing, said at first, all the youth in the opposition parties united against MRND. “The tables were, however, turned when MRND branded all those opposing it accomplices of the Inkotanyi (Rwanda Patriotic Army). Between January 8-15, 1992, opposition parties stormed public buildings, damaged Onatracom buses, burnt car tyres to block roads in protest over the nomination of Sylvestre Nsanzimana as prime minister (from MRND). Rivalry heightened among the groups to the extent that an Interahamwe could not venture into the opposition camp and vice-versa. ‘Instructions’ used to be given during meetings of political parties which were not monitored by any government organ. Well known cases abound in MRND and CDR where party officials would make incendiary speeches. They include the infamous speech Leon Mugesera made in Kabaya, Gisenyi prefecture. Trained to kill Some of the youth benefited from regular military training. More than 180 youths were recruited–including Rutura–and they trained from Angeline Mukandutiye’s compound in Kiyovu. “My group spent two weeks there learning to handle guns. After the training, we started our mission of killing Tutsi around Kigali and outside, getting the munitions and briefing from Mukandutiye and reporting to her every evening,” he said. Rutura said: “My brothers were more professionally trained from Gabiro military camp. After the training, they were deployed across the country on ‘missions.’” Odette Nyiramirimo, a member of the East African Legislative Assembly, recalls the killings that targeted Tutsi in Muhororo, now Ngororero District, in 1992. “It was planned by President Juvenal Habyarimana and the Interahamwe did the execution,” she said. The following day, we (PL) organised a walk from Nyabugogo to Kigali regional stadium in protest.” In the protest march was Venantie Kabageni, Nyiramirimo’s elder sister, who would be designated a member of the interim parliament as was stipulated in the Arusha Accords. For this, Kabageni was one of the ‘most wanted’. She was killed in early April 1994 when the Genocide started. Impuzamugambi and Interahamwe operations increased in 1994 when RPA was deploying in Kigali to ensure security of politicians in the interim government. “That day, my mother took me with some children in the neighbourhood to see Inkotanyi passing at Kinamba road. Upon returning, the militia stoned my mother and left her for dead, accusing her of being an accomplice,” recalls Leopold Nsanzimana, 30, a Genocide survivor from Kiyovu. The Impuzamugambi were also sent to threaten the president of Constitutional Court, Joseph Kavaruganda, at his office in Nyarugenge. Justice Jean Mutashya told this paper that extremist youth wingers accused Kavaruganda of being an accomplice of Inkotanyi because he had declined to endorse a list of MPs that included CDR. “We were not paid, killing people and getting their belongings afterwards was our reward,” said Rutura.