Rescue missions: Survivors reflect on times in the liberation struggle

On July 4, 1994, soldiers of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) gave Rwandans a place to call home. They fought and overthrew Habyarimana’s regime which was full of ethnic divisionism, so as to restore national unity and build a governance system that is inclusive and citizen-centred. In Kigali, after the crushing of Habyarimana’s plane, which was shot down on April 6, 1994, the journey to liberate Kigali as well as other parts of Rwanda kicked off with only 600 soldiers. By then, there were roadblocks everywhere and the Tutsi as well as moderate Hutu were hunted to be killed, there was no hope for life. A monument inside the Campaign against Genocide Museum shows one RPA soldier on guard as others rescue people during the Liberation struggle in 1994. Photo: Sam Ngendahimana. Like many others, Jean d’Arc Iryamukuru, who was 29 years old then, living in Gitega Nyarugenge district, was being hunted. She had to hide if she was going to save her life. April 7, 1994, was the day I saw people being killed on the streets for the first time in my life, Iryamukuru told The New Times. She set off on a journey to Lycée de Kigali where she worked at the canteen, and hid there for almost three months. “The city was noisy with gun shots and voices of people crying for help all over the place. There was no hope for tomorrow or even the next minute, it was pure horror that we were experiencing,” Iryamukuru narrates. To her, life couldn’t get back to normal in Kigali until news broke that RPA soldiers were saving lives and fighting Habyarimana soldiers. It was then that Iryamukuru changed her prayers from dying with a gun instead of a machete, to meeting RPA soldiers who, according to her, were their only saviours. “I had heard of Inkotanyi before, but I had never got a chance to meet them. On July 4, it was the first time I came across welcoming soldiers in my life. Those selfless men were RPA soldiers who rescued us at Lycee de Kigali. I remember one soldier, he was tall, he told us that we were going to live since we were in his hands. I felt life returning in me,” says Iryamukuru, who is now a mother of two. Marie-Grace Mukabyagaju, a genocide survivor, recalls surviving the tragedy by hiding at Saint Paul Church. To go through her entire experience, is a long story, she says. It was June 16, at around 1am when, amid fierce crossfire between RPA and ex- FAR, the former snaked into Saint Paul and started a rescue operation. RPA Soldiers came and knocked on our doors identifying themselves as Inkotanyi but we could not believe them. It was not until one person we knew came in and identified himself, that we opened the door, Mukabyagaju recalls. She says that RPA soldiers gathered them in one place and asked everyone to wait. “Later, they realised that there was another mission to rescue survivors from Sainte Famille Church. We went down and crossed the road towards Kinamba before we split into groups, with the first going to Gisozi, while others headed to UTEXRWA. When we got to where we were to gather, they brought us food but we could not eat because we were tired.” After some days, they were taken to Kabuga town where they stayed with others who had been rescued. “We were protected and supported by RPA soldiers until the genocide was stopped and Kigali was liberated,” she says. At the time of liberation, hundreds of residents, mainly children had taken refuge at Gisimba orphanage in Nyamirambo, which was ran by Damas Gisimba Mutezintare, but things worsened when the Interahamwe militia started launching attacks on the orphanage. Gisimba himself became a target of the killers for protecting the ‘unwanted.’ “I had no choice. I couldn’t refuse to help those who were running to us,” Gisimba says, adding that, “I used to tell them that they should not despair, that they should not be afraid.” When the genocidal forces were removed from the zone, 405 children and adults, who had been sheltered in the orphanage, were rescued. Like many others who were living in Rwanda before 1994, Innocent Nizeye, who was a high school student then, had been taught that the RPF was coming to kill all Rwandans, but saw a different picture the first time he met RPF soldiers. He said that the killings and fighting were taking another level during the liberation struggle but RPA soldiers couldn’t pass any place without saving or reaching out to people. “The first image I have of RPA soldiers is ‘young and committed.’ It was my first time seeing young soldiers with a big heart. They were saving people while fighting Habyarimana soldiers,” he says. He urged the youth to imitate the courage and diligence characterised by RPF-Inkotanyi during the battle to liberate the country.

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Rescue missions: Survivors reflect on times in the liberation struggle