Kigali

Driving from the Ugandan-Rwandan border into Kigali, the landscape is absolutely stunning. Once you cross into Rwanda, it becomes immediately obvious why this is called "Le Pays des Milles Collines" -- the land of a thousand hills. Rwanda is all lush green hills and valleys, stretching in every direction as far as the eye can see. It's one of the most beautiful countries I've ever visited, and also the most well-organized of the East African countries.

Unfortunately, Rwanda is best known worldwide for the terrible genocide of 1994, in which approximately one million Tutsis and "moderate" Hutus were killed in only 100 days. During colonial times, the Belgium administration employed a divide-and-conquer approach to ruling the country, creating strong ethnic divisions where none had previously existed. Prior to colonization, the Hutu and Tutsi intermarried freely, and one's ethnic designation was determined not by birth, but by economic activity (one could become Tutsi by acquiring a certain number of cattle, for example, or so the story goes). Unlike in other countries where tribes are divided by tongue, the Hutu and Tutsi have always spoken the same language, Kinyarwanda. So this division, imposed by external forces, didn't make a whole lot of sense.

As in apartheid-era South Africa, the two groups were divided primarily by arbtrary physical features -- length and width of nose, height, head shape, darkness of the iris, etc. -- and issued an identity card with their tribal group clearly marked. The Tutsis, thought by the Belgians to have the more "Caucasian features", were favored by the Belgian administration and brought into positions of power, creating resentment among the Hutu population, who made up the majority of the country. Later, when the Tutsis began to agitate for independence, the Belgians switched sides. Combined with increasing mistrust and stereotyping between the communities, this set the stage for various clashes and back-and-forth massacres between Tutsi and Hutu groups. Following independence, the Hutu-led government restricted Tutsi access to education and work; Tutsi militia groups launched guerilla attacks; and revenge missions built upon each other.

It all came to a head in 1994. There had been rumblings of "something big" coming, and UNAMIR, the UN mission to Rwanda, had even been alerted to the existance of huge stashes of weapons, mainly guns and machetes, hidden away under the homes of prominent politicians. But no pre-emptive action was taken. In April, President Habyarimana's plane was shot down (exactly by whom, we still don't know, though many suspect it was Hutu extremists wanting an excuse to start a massacre), and the killing began immediately. The Rwandan Army and the Interhamwe, an extremist Hutu-power group composed mostly of young men, led the charge. The "Tutsi sympathizers" in government, including the Prime Minister, were the first to go. Regular Hutu citizens, blinded by hatred, pressure and fear for their own lives and families, and spurred on by the hate speech from Radio Milles Collines urging them to kill, took up their machetes and hammers and went after their neighbours. Children were not spared. On the contrary, they were specifically targeted in order to wipe out the next generation.

During the slaughter, the world looked the other way. Belgium withdrew its troops after ten of its soldiers were killed. France remained, but only to evacuate its own citizens, and even the family members of those who had planned the genocide and happened to have ties with the French government. UNAMIR, led by Canadian General Roméo Dallaire, had been pressing the UN for permission to intervene even before the genocide began. But with direct orders not to intervene, and few resources at their disposal, they were forced to stand helplessly by. After about 100 days, the genocide came to and end with the military action of the Rwandan Patriotic Army, a militia wing of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi group let by General Paul Kagame. The RPF pushed the genocide's perpatrators into neighbouring countries and seized central Rwanda; but as a result, many of the perpatrators fled, and some are still in hiding today. Kagame is now the President of Rwanda, and the country is doing well. But after those 100 days in 1994, Rwanda was as good as dead.

Walking around Kigali today, it's hard to believe that 15 years ago, it was completely decimated. We've all seen the nightmarish version of the city in movies: the roadblocks, the fires, the bullet-ridden houses, the streets filled with corpses, dogs feeding on the bodies. That image bears no resemblance to Kigali today. Now it's a clean, efficient and beautiful city. I was astounded at how orderly it was compared to all the other East African capitals. There were motorbikes everywhere, like in Kampala, but these ones drove at reasonable speeds, and the drivers all wore vests with their registration number and area of work. There were even helmets for passengers, as I'd heard. I was stunned. There is no garbage in the streets, cars actually obey traffic lights, and a lot of new buildings are coming up. The roads are all in really great shape (Nairobi take note! No excuses!). And the view is gorgeous, especially at night; the glittering lights on the hills all around look like stars come down to earth. Though I had expected a lot of French to be spoken here, it seems that French is being phased out, at least in the capital, and English is coming to the fore. Some Swahili is also spoken. But you still come across people who only speak Kinyarwanda. I heard tell that French is being phased out because of the country's bitter history with France and Belgium -- and Kagame's desire to distance his country from the ravages of colonialism. In fact, Kagame is the reason for much of Rwanda's recent reform, particularly the tight security which has turned Rwanda into one of the safest countries in Africa (save, perhaps, from some of the border regions with Congo). The man is strict -- I've heard him described as "a dictator, but the good kind". As long as he can keep the good of the country in mind and not cling ruthlessly to power as some of his neighbours have done, I'm all for him. From banning plastic bags to attempting to replace ethnic divisions with a unified national identity, Kagame has done an outstanding job so far. Especially for someone who was so involved in fighting the genocide, it would have been easy for him to go into revenge mode. But he didn't. And partly as a result of that, you really get the sense that Rwanda is a country that's looking forward to a brighter future.

Of course, all this looking forward doesn't mean that Rwanda is trying to forget the past. The country is dotted with genocide memorials, where large numbers of people were killed or buried. In Kigali, the genocide memorial is both a burial ground and a museum to educate visitors about what happened here. It's a beautiful place, extremely well put-together, but heartbreaking. Between the text describing the history, there are videos of survivors telling their stories -- stories of how they escaped, of the people they lost, of how they coped afterwards. They were very affecting. It's so hard to imagine dealing with the trauma of losing family members that way, of seeing them killed or raped. And it's not as if these people have the luxury of therapy. There were stories of Hutus who sheltered Tutsis, some of whom were also killed. There were rooms full of photographs of victims, rooms full of skulls and bones, rooms full of ripped clothing. There was also a section which explored genocides around the world, and how and why they occurred. Most saddening and incomprehensible of all was a room upstairs dedicated to the memory of children who were killed. There, photos of innocent kids were accompanied by facts about them -- their name, age, favourite food, favourite toy or song. How they were killed. Some even had their last words. It was so terribly sad -- who would kill a helpless child, in the name of anything at all? Why??

In the evening, we went back to the memorial to watch a screening of Shake Hands with the Devil, a film based on a book of the same name, written by Gen. Dallaire about his experiences in Rwanda. It was really interesting to watch it in Kigali, where most of it is set, and to see how the audience reacted. We also visited Hotel des Milles Collines, a hotel where thousands of refugees hid during the genocide. The movie Hotel Rwanda is based on that time, and though the movie is actually set in South Africa, I was very happy to visit the original. Our time in Kigali wasn't all serious, though. Kigali has all sorts of wonderful cafes and restaurants, lots of places to dance and interesting neighbourhoods. It's a city that's safe and clean without being boring, a rare combination in these parts, which I really appreciated.