Kwibuka22: Rwandans, friends in North Dakota commemorate

As part of the commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi, this past weekend, the Rwandan community living in North Dakota gathered at the Dickinson State University to honour victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The event not only attracted Rwandans, but also their friends living in the region and was officiated by the Rwandan ambassador to the United States, Mathilde Mukantabana. Addressing the mourners, Mukantabana said the commemoration in Dickinson, and the fact that it attracted many non-Rwandans, was a comforting sign that small as it is, Rwanda is “not alone” in facing the Genocide and its legacy. Mukantabana spoke of the devastation the killings had visited upon the country both in terms of major population loss and in the failure of major institutions like the government and the church – the latter of which, she said, was the site of many of the genocide’s killings. Despite the damage, she pointed to the successes of the ongoing reconciliation process begun after the genocide ended in an attempt to heal a country where militiamen of the majority Hutu group often killed their own friends and neighbours. Mukantabana said those forgiveness efforts, along with the country’s economic development plans, have helped the country get back on its feet and bring an anti-genocide message to the global mainstream. “There was no trust, no hope,” she said of post-conflict Rwanda. “But, there was light, a very tiny light that was still starting, but it didn’t die. It didn’t die 22 years ago and, as a matter of fact, Rwanda has risen to become the place of hope. For other countries going through conflict or genocide, Rwanda has become a beacon.” Mukantabana pointed to the nation’s economic improvements and spearheading of anti-genocide measures like the Kigali Principles, a set of guidelines named for the Rwandan capital city that encourage greater United Nation peacekeeping authority to protect civilians in conflict zones. Mukantabana wasn’t the only one to take the podium at the Saturday event. Dickinson resident Eric Mazimpaka spoke about the history of Rwanda and the roots of the genocide. Mazimpaka connected the academic eight steps of genocide to events in Rwandan history in an attempt to explain why and how the killings were able to occur. Ally Soudy, another native Rwandan from Dickinson, spoke to the element of rebuilding that was in the Kwibuka series of remembrance events. Soudy said that, though the past may be beyond changing, it is the duty of those living in the present to shape the future. “I think sometimes we survived to tell the truth, the truth of what happened in Rwanda in 1994,” he said. Bob Zent, a St. Wenceslaus Roman Catholic Church deacon, delivered an opening and closing prayer to help honor those who were lost in the 100 days of killing. In the former, Zent prayed that genocide “will become a page in history instead of a current event.” In the latter, Zent praised the Rwandan reconciliation work and held it as an example of Christian teachings brought to life as he said the people from Rwanda are to be “respected, looked up to and honored.” “You have been, in the most trying circumstances, applied exactly what we are all to apply in the little things,” Zent said. “We get cut off at a red light -- these guys have something serious to deal with.” Zent said retaliatory violence can only bring peace if sustained indefinitely and that the approach used in post-genocide Rwanda -- that of “turning the other cheek” -- was the only way to resolution. Additional reporting by Agencies

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Kwibuka22: Rwandans, friends in North Dakota commemorate