Fourteen recognised for saving lives during 1994 Genocide

Silas Ntamfurigirishyari, an ex-FAR (the Genocidal regime army) and a retired Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) soldier, has recounted his fairytale of how he narrowly survived death for rescuing Tutsis during the 1994 Genocide.At least one million Rwandans were killed during the barbaric 100-day slaughter between April and July in 1994.Ntamfurigirishyari says he was hunted by his fellow soldiers after learning that he was evacuating Tutsis to Burundi.He recounted his story during a recent function organised to honour Rwandans who saved those that were being hunted during the Genocide. The function was held at Hotel Novotel, Umubano, this week.“I first evacuated 13 people to Burundi. They were Christians and had come for rescue at my colleagues’ place who resided outside our (army) barracks,” he said.Ntamfurigirishyari who was in Gako Barracks in Bugesera as a Corporal in 1994, said he was involved in a rescue mission with other Christian soldiers. Their mission was not as successful as they wanted, he said.During the function at Novotel, 14 Rwandans were honoured for their bravery that saw them rescue some Tutsis who were to be killed during the Genocide. The function was jointly organised by Memos Learning from History (an association of young Rwandan intellectuals), Ibuka, the Genocide survivors association and AVEGA, an association of Genocide widows.The Hamburg Institute for Social Research, a Germany Institute, provided financial and technical support towards the organisation of the function.Speaking in Kinyarwanda, Ntamfurigirishyari explained the difficulties they faced and went through in a mission to save some lives.“It was not easy getting these people; they could not easily come to us because they never trusted us. You could go to some for rescue but they could run away thinking that you wanted to kill them,” he said.The few who were rescued, he said, had no alternative apart from going to where they had ‘brothers’ (fellow Christians). He said he took others from their would-be assailants in the name of taking them to a worse place for slaughter.He narrated how he led people walking through the bushes to Burundi. On the way, he could find some Tutsis at the roadblocks and help them go past them (barricades). It’s from such cases that his colleagues suspected him and reported him to their boss.The then commander of their group ordered some soldiers to hunt him down because he was ‘betraying them.’Luckily, a sympathiser tipped him about the plot, and he fled to Burundi where he stayed until the Rwandese Patriotic Front (FPR) took power on July 4, 1994.When he returned home, Ntamfurigirishyari, joined the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF), from which he retired in 1998 to start a new life outside the army.Among the people he rescued during the Genocide, there were many he didn’t know. One of the ladies he saved in that category is Pelpeti Mudede, who attended the recognition function at Hotel Novotel.Ntamfurigirishyari recalled of how he found Mudede under arrest by Interahamwe militia. He convinced her captors that he was ‘going to kill her better’ since he was a soldier. He instead took Mudede, with her baby, hid them in a bush and at around 7.p.m got them trekking to Burundi. By the time of Ntamfurigirishyari’s lucky intervention, the Interahamwe had severely beaten Mudede up and killed her husband. In her emotional testimony, Mudede said she never thought Ntamfurigirishyari was going to save her. “I though he was going to finish us off especially when he returned to the hideout he had left us. He came back in the evening.”Other rescuers recognised during the function include Gratien Mitsindo, a pastor of the Pentecost Church in Bicumbi (Eastern Province) who also testified of his challenging experiences in saving people.Faustin Murangwa, Executive Secretary of Memos, said such heroic actions are a very important gesture, which can be useful in educating the youth. He said that the rescuers’ bravery serves as an example to young Rwandans to fight genocide ideology. He called on the international community to do anything possible to avoid another genocide anywhere.Ends

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Fourteen recognised for saving lives during 1994 Genocide