Rwanda: Do The Scars Ever Fade?
This is a very poignant documentary on Rwanda and the roots that led to the genocide in 1994. However, it’s more than just about Rwanda. It’s about Africa and it’s about Africa’s history of colonialism, tribalism, poverty and bloodshed.
A few of my own observations from watching this documentary:
The historical grievances of the Tutsi remind me of the historical grievances of the Palestinians. They were almost 700,000 Tutsi’s who were forced to flee their country decades ago. Many fled to Uganda. When Museveni became president, he offered them citizenship, but there was a public outcry and their citizenship was revoked. The Tutsi then became like the Palestinians: a stateless people who demanded a right of return to their homeland in Rwanda. Habariyama, the Hutu president, did not want these exiled Tutsi’s to return. The Rwandese civil war began when these Tutsi exiles literally decided to fight their way back to Rwanda.
Lessons for Kenya? The Hutu’s thought that the mass extermination of the Tutsi would bring an end to the civil war, but they miscalculated: Instead of focusing on fighting the Tutsi exiled RPF, they turned their attention onto the civilians. The RPF was then left alone to fight their way into Rwanda and eventually, they defeated the Hutu extremists and took over the country. In the same vein, the Kalenjins in Kenya thought that the mass exodus of the Kikuyu’s from the Rift Valley would result in the land being “given” to them. They too miscalculated: Today, they have nothing and like the Hutu extremists in Rwanda, many of these Kalenjins are now languishing in squalid prisons. There was however, a difference between the violence in Kenya and the violence in Rwanda. In Rwanda, the state was behind the violence. In Kenya, it wasn’t.
However, this is why William Ruto can never be allowed to go anywhere near the instruments of state security, ever. Ruto, is a Hutu extremist waiting to happen and Raila Odinga is like the Hutu president Habariyama – he sounds like a moderate, but if pushed into a corner, he will allow extremists like Ruto, to use state instruments to “destroy” his political enemies.
In the absence of state power, the Kalenjin “warriors” would have had to get a state sponsor if they ever hoped to succeed. The RPF was sponsored and trained in Uganda and they fought alongside Museveni for years. So, it was not a surprise that they eventually won the war. These guys were well trained and well funded. Some may argue that the Kalenjins were also well trained and well funded. Not really. The reason they were able to get away with this is because Kibaki ignored the intelligence reports and let’s face it: the full force of Kenya’s security system was not unleashed on them. Quelling the violence fell largely on an under-funded and overworked police force. The Kalenjins, unlike the RPF, were not fighting against a government army. Had the army gone in, they would have been crushed. Absolutely, totally crushed. I don’t know why the army was never brought it, but my assumption is that by 2012, when Kibaki is done re-organizing the army, they will use it if need be. Heck, Raila tried to overthrow Moi in 1982 and that coup was brought down. It’s very hard to defeat an army unless you are well trained and well funded by an outside source.
The most effective rebel armies consist of men who are willing to fight for an ideological cause. They are not forced to fight and they do not fight for money. They are volunteers. The soldiers of the RPF, fit this definition. These Tutsi were stateless and they were fighting for a right to return to the country of their birth. The Hutu extremists had no cause. They were in many ways, like the Kalenjin warriors in Kenya: They were dissaffected, jobless young men, who were recruited by richer politicians to perform an “act”. They maybe effective in terms of short-term mass killing, but they rarely can sustain themselves through long-term conflicts; only the ideological soldiers can do that.
Okay. That’s it. Now you watch the documentary and come to your own conclusions.
