Experts and their world of contradictions

When one is listening to news on radios like BBC or VOA, you get to hear views from experts on this and that. During coverage on issues of the Great Lakes region, especially in regard to conflict, “experts” from afar especially from the west give points of view in regard to our circumstances as if they have lived here all their lives. Following the death of Dr.Alison De Forges, a lot has been written and said about her in many media outlets. The BBC Gahuza miryango programme dedicated a whole one hour morning programme Invo Ni invano discussing her legacy. Debra Black of the Toronto Star wrote that “she was a lone voice who tried to warn the world of the Rwanda genocide in 1994”. But what is that legacy and of what qualitative importance is it to Rwanda and the Great Lakes region for that matter. I do not wish to write or speak ill of the dead. I want us to debate and understand the work of De Forges and other western “experts” still living, on Rwanda and the Great Lakes region. De Forges and her works in these parts of the world, in my view reflect what the west or what is referred to as the international community think about Africans, and how they seek to portray the continent and its people to the rest of the world. Reading about the person of Alison De Forges, one gets to understand how she came to be commonly referred to as “Rwanda expert”. She did her masters thesis and doctoral dissertation on issues to do with the impact of European colonialism on Rwanda and that launched her on the path to becoming the “Rwanda expert” she was until her demise. To state that she was a lone voice in warning the world about the Genocide is not only erroneous but also misleading. It is on record that the then rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Inkotanyi had on several occasions made it known to whoever cared to listen in the international community that the then dictatorship was planning the Genocide against Tutsis. Moreover, the RPF had been formed as a result of many years of exile, where the founders had lived as exiles as a result of successive genocides against Tutsis. That genocide had taken place in Rwanda, and more of the same, and even worse was being planned, was no secret to anyone with passing knowledge of the character of the then Habyarimana dictatorship. There are many more things that perplex the mind when one reads most reports about Rwanda by western experts. Most of the westerners who had one role or the other in Rwanda in the run up and during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis, have since risen to international stardom and when they are on the speaking circuit, many out there, literally “eat from the hand” so to say! But the common thing about them all, is that the institutions they represented then, be it the United Nations or whatever NGO, failed miserably and most scampered to safety leaving Rwandans at the mercy of killers. Ironically, those who put their lives on the line and fought gallantly to stop the Genocide have ended up becoming subjects of a witch hunt. Many gallant commanders of the then RPA, have since become subjects of a witch hunt by French and Spanish magistrates. These are the real heroes who are not celebrated, but the Rwandan people know who saved them. All this aside, such stories and experiences, tell us that it is us, ourselves, to document and write our own history as we have lived it. This is because, those who seek to analyse the current situations from a different background, mostly tend to draw comparisons, with situations elsewhere and then they get confused. The standard western liberal ways of political and social life can not be copied and pasted into our unique situations.Rwanda’s turbulent history has created a situation, whereby the actors now seek to look for ways to forge ahead and this has required a collegial way of doing things, with many political parties working together with the leading party RPF. Some find this different from the way other coalitions in multi party democracies are developed. But all this is because we differ and everyone has to cut their cloth according to their size. Contact: frank2kagabo@yahoo.com