This year Rwanda and the world
commemorated the 20th anniversary
of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In less
than 100 days between 800,000 and a
million people of Tutsi background were
slaughtered by the Hutu extremist militia
group, the Interahamwe. That equates to
10,000 people murdered every day; 417
an hour; seven a minute. Most killings
were by machete.
Although the Rwandan genocide
is known for its huge scale, speed
and horrifically brutal nature, what is
less known is that it was a ‘personal’
genocide. Within that 100-day period,
former neighbours and friends turned
on and murdered anyone in their villages
whom they knew to be of Tutsi descent.
Rwanda’s genocide is not only owned
by Rwandans; it has been shared as iconic
evidence of our failure as humankind.
Various international communities,
including the UN, later acknowledged
that they failed to intervene and we,
the world, experienced a tremendous
sense of anger, guilt, shame and sadness.
Since 1994, international communities
have accepted their failure and have been
sharing, with the Rwandans, the journey
of mourning, grieving and healing from
the collective losses.