1. Background
From time immemorial, Rwanda was an independent country with a sound system of administration. This structure lasted until the arrival of the colonial powers: Germans first, towards the end of the 19th century, and then the Belgians. Roman Catholics were predominant during the era of Belgian control.
Before the arrival of the colonial powers, the people of Rwanda lived in harmony; the colonialists brought about divisions among the Rwandese people. This was motivated by the principle, popular among most colonizers: divide et impera - in other words, "divide and rule." Otherwise, scientifically, there are no tribes in Rwanda. Indeed, you cannot talk of tribes while referring to people who share the same language, the same culture, and the same history. Europeans, both political administrators and missionaries, introduced divisions to suit their interests.
The Roman Catholic Church played key roles in creating divisions, and hard feelings, namely by establishing schools which were reserved for the children of chiefs.
The so-called 'social revolution' of 1959 was pure racism. The Roman Catholic Church was involved in the 'social revolution;' non-Catholics had no say. The Anglicans took a positive stand and were thrown out. As a consequence, the leadership of the Anglican Church was weakened. The first Rwandese Anglican bishop did not have adequate educational preparation for his position. When new, better prepared Anglican clergy arrived, there was, inevitably, a power struggle within the Anglican Church. These internal conflicts also weakened Anglicans in disputes with the Roman Catholic Church in Rwanda.
The revolutionary government of Rwanda decided to take advantage of disputes in the country's religious institutions and, in fact, gave the Anglicans some advantages which blinded them to the dangerous nature of the political ferment around them. When the civil crisis came, they were still struggling to try and understand the situationÑbut it was too late to act. Some attempts were made through negotiations, held mostly in neighboring countries, to define the position of the Anglican Church, but they failed. Anglican clergy were forced to flee, abandoning their flocks.
Since 1994, after the end of the genocide and massacres, the Anglican Church, and other Protestant churches had to set up new leadership. This rebuilding was not easy, but we thank God, leadership is now in place. We are trying to look at the past to plan better for the future. Our country's civil problems are settled. But the Anglican Church still faces challenges. The senior clergy were either killed or forced into exile. On the whole, the younger clergy are not yet well trained.
The Anglican Church of Rwanda is still in search of its identity. The church has not yet fully recovered its credibility and moral authority because the people still remember the way it was used by the 'revolutionary' government - for example, its contributions to the foundation and maintenance of the famous 'RTLM' (Radio Te1evision Libre des Mille Collines), the revolution's media voice. The Anglican Church of Rwanda, but also the whole church and the international community in general, were silent during the uprising.
The Anglican Church is still trying to regain credibility vis-a-vis the society and even the government of Rwanda. With regard to the church's social outreach, needs are enormous: the number of orphans and widows is just too big for the limited resources available. Nevertheless, the church's credibility is slowly being restored.
2. Justice in Action
We all agree that true justice is the basis for reconciliation. The judicial system in Rwanda was completely destroyed by war and genocide; it was necessary to set it up all over again. This process requires both adequate time and money to train new people. Considerable effort, and some assistance from foreign governments, has made it possible to train a number of judges and special chambers have been set up in Rwandese courts to try the large number of suspects in the genocide.
The UN has allowed the ICTR seating in Arusha. The general feeling is that this tribunal is ineffective and particularly slow. As the saying goes, 'delayed justice is denied justice.'
2.1 Trials of genocide suspects
The Arusha ICTR. The way things are being done in Arusha does not seem to contribute towards the reconciliation of the Rwandese people. Procedures are unnecessarily long.
The recent decision to drop the charges against Major Bernard Ntuyahaga of the former Rwandese Army was a big disappointment to both the Rwandese government and the people of Rwanda, especially since Major Ntuyahaga had surrendered to the Court from Zambia, where he had been hiding.
The fact that the maximum sentence of the ICTR is life imprisonment is not appreciated by the Rwandese people when they consider the seriousness of the crimes.
Rwandese Courts: Since justice is perceived as being an instrument of reconciliation, and therefore emphasizing social justice, a decision has been made by the government and approved by the transition Assembly to classify the genocide suspects into four categories, depending on the degree of involvement in the planning and/or execution of the genocide.
Another aspect of social justice is found in the decision that the suspect young men and women who were 14 years old and under at the time of the genocide be sent to rehabilitation centers for reeducation rather than be brought to trial.
Also the elderly and the seriously ill suspect in the crimes have been released from detention.
Very recently, a decision was also reached by the government to release those detainees whose case files have not been completed. Prior to their release, the names of these people will be sent to the communes and villages where they will live. However, it has been made clear that this release in no way means that they are innocent. If, at a later stage, proof of their involvement in the genocide is established, they would be apprehended and tried.
2.2 Genocide survivors
Sentences pronounced. Genocide survivors are often disappointed when the sentences of those convicted of the killings are lessened when there is an absence of 'eye witness' testimony. The fact is that many potential witnesses were themselves killed. The revolutionary government referred to these murders of witnesses as 'very well done work,' and rewarded the murderers accordingly.
The element of compensation. Promises have been made that the property of people guilty of genocide shall be sold and used to pay compensation to the survivors of the victims. This is a slow process and some of the survivors are in serious need. And when the property of the guilty is sold, its value would not be sufficient to pay adequate compensation. The government is supposed to match the funds raised from the confiscated property, but that remains to be seen.
3. Humanitarian Assistance
3.1 Resettlement of the population
Occupation of houses belonging to genocide suspects. Immediately after the war, almost all of the houses belonging to the people who had fled were destroyed. Survivors were homeless. People coming back from exile or asylum had nowhere to stay. The available solution was to occupy the houses of the genocide suspects who had fled the country in July 1994.
Thanks to the efforts of the government of national unity, the 1994 refugees were repatriated rather quickly, most by the end of November 1996 (more than one million were repatriated between November 15 and December 31, 1996). Because of the standard of social justice being followed by the government, matching word with action, people occupying other people's houses were forced to vacate them unconditionally. Funny enough, it has been said that sometimes the survivor's house may have been destroyed by the very neighbor to whom he is required to surrender it!
Building new houses: old case refugees, genocide survivors, former rebels. Although the government is more than willing to assist, their resources are limited. Assistance from the international, community has not been forthcoming, even though we believe that it should do something because it shares responsibility for what took place. The world community kept quiet when they might have acted to stop the genocide.
The representative of the European Commission, on a recent visit to Rwanda, officially admitted that they had failed to help. He said that the international community had concentrated its relief efforts on the refugee camps in Tanzania and on the former Zaire (today the Democratic Republic of Congo), at the expense of the genocide survivors.
3.2 Development projects
Little has been done in this sector because of limited resources. Assistance has mainly been given for relief activities. And even here, assistance has appeared to be one-sided, the genocide survivors having to set up their own organizations to try and help one another and get assistance here and there.
To this end, the government has requested that the NGOs operating in Rwanda shift from the relief mode to developmental activities, and that they work closely with the local authorities to ensure fair distribution of assistance.
4. Foreign Debt
4.1 Type of debt
There are debts which have been incurred by the current government. There are also debts which were incurred by the previous government. The sad situation here is that the biggest part of the debt of the previous government was accrued in buying arms and ammunition to perpetrate genocide! It is a heavy and unpleasant inheritance for which the international community in general, and the creditors involved, more specifically, ought to do something because most, if not all, of them knew what was going on.
4.2 Responsibility for the debt
The debt keeps increasing with no concurrent proof that the purposes for which the debt was established have been achieved. The international community should encourage the creditors to lay down some conditions of accountability before loans are released to make sure that funds are not going to benefit leaders but are truly aimed at helping the people of the country, in whose name the loans are sought.
5. Aspect of Reconciliation
5.1 What is being done by the government?
The government has invested a lot in dialogue. The authorities have gone out to meet the people and encourage discussion about issues which were once taboo. Most people are convinced that reconciliation is possible, that true justice is a prerequisite to it, but that the reconciliation will take a long time.
Some of the other actions taken are the recent establishment of the 'National Unity and Reconciliation Commission' and the 'National Commission for Human Rights.'
One other important action worth mentioning is the decision to use grassroots-level institutions to deal with the cases of persons suspected of genocide. One such institution, called 'GACACA,' is a court mainly composed of village elders who deal with genocide suspects from their own villages.
5.2 Position of the Church
The Anglican Church of Rwanda feels strongly that it must stand for reconciliation. It recently initiated an Interfaith Conference on Justice and Reconciliation to train people in this sensitive area. The Anglican Church leads in this stand because of the leadership of the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Rwanda, the Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, who is also president of the 'Rwanda Protestant Council (CPR).'
The Roman Catholic Church is also very active in promoting reconciliation. One good example is that of a Roman Catholic priest who has initiated a program to encourage people to meet and discuss issues together, with the major aim of healing.
The Anglican Church is very much in favor of the institution of village courts - the 'GACACA.'
The Anglican Church realizes that there is a lot to be done as a matter of social justice: to assist the needy, especially the victims of the genocide. Indeed, we have a huge number of helpless widows and orphans, Some orphaned minors may actually be heads of families! It is not unusual to find a family of five or six orphaned children, with the eldest, at 14 years old or less, as the head of the family.
The Anglican Church would like to initiate a number of actions but its resources are very limited, to say the least!
The church would also like to undertake programs for popular education to fight ignorance, a defense against unscrupulous politicians who have often taken advantage of uneducated rural people. This program of informal education would be beneficial, and we need assistance from our brothers around the world, starting with the present network, to see that it gets underway. It would cover areas such as adult literacy, human rights, Christian ethics, culture, and history.
6. Conclusion
Rwanda has come a long way from total destruction to where we are today. There is hope even though we are still facing many challenges; we need to be patient and continue to act and pray. Assistance from our brothers and sisters in Christ all around the world shall be highly appreciated: we need to take care of the spiritual needs of the people, but we also need to act on their 'material' needs as well. Indeed, 'Man does not live on bread alone but he also does not live on the Word alone.' Our need is to be holistic.
