Rwanda Recalls 100 Days of Massacre that Began 25 Years Ago

"I was with my children when they died," said Lydia Uwamwezi, recalling the 100 days of genocide that began 25 years ago this Sunday in Rwanda.

"There is a lake between Kigina and Nyarubuye. That is where the mob took us. They were tired of using machetes, so they threw my children into the lake."

Uwamwezi, now 46, was spared. In despair, she threw her baby carrier into the lake after her drowned children. The Hutu attackers retrieved it and later raped her repeatedly, telling her she must bear them Hutu children to replace the Tutsi ones they had just murdered.

Uwamwezi also lost her husband and home during those days. She never remarried or had other children. After government-provided reconciliation training, she has forgiven her attackers.

"If you have a grudge at heart, you can never live well with your neighbors," she said.

And they do. Today, Tutsis and Hutus, once on opposite sides of the mass killings, live in the same neighborhoods in a country where health care is provided, streets are clean and the government urges people to forget ethnic distinctions and consider themselves Rwandans.

On April 7, Rwandans commemorate the genocide that left hundreds of thousands of people dead, with ceremonies themed "Never Again." Genocide prevention will also be highlighted. The United Nations holds an annual memoriam. Since Rwanda, mass killings have occurred in Bosnia, Sudan, and Myanmar.

100-day massacre

Rwanda's violence pitted the minority Tutsis, traditionally the wealthy class, against the majority Hutus, who tended to be middle and lower class. For generations, the distinction was more economic than ethnic.

In 1935, Belgian colonists cemented the distinction by mandating separate identity cards for Tutsis and Hutus. Differences in economics and social status sparked angry resentment and division.

Three years of civil war preceded the genocide. The Rwandan Patriotic Front rebel movement was led by Tutsis who for years had been living as refugees in neighboring Uganda. Their push to reclaim territory in their native country was seen by some as the aggravating factor leading to mass slaughter. The war also brought a large number of weapons into the country.

When a plane carrying the Rwandan and Burundian presidents was shot down April 6, 1994, by unidentified attackers, the situation exploded. Within hours, extremist Hutus used radio and word of mouth to incite attacks against Tutsis, Hutus married to Tutsis, and the Twa — descendants of indigenous Rwandans. Weapons meant to defend the country were used instead to murder fellow Rwandans.

The combatants were not always clearly defined. Not all Tutsis were aligned with the RPF, and not all Hutus participated in the killings. What is clear is the death toll. At the end of 100 days, about 800,000 Rwandans — including 70% of the country's Tutsi population — were dead. Some estimates put the total at a million.

Haunted by pleas

Delphine Vumera remembers her nephew's voice. Other survivors talk about the gunshots and screams, but she is haunted by his pleas.

"The same picture keeps coming back to me," she said, "because each time they sent out mobs of killers, we lost people. The noise keeps scaring me, even today."

Vumera remembers her nephew asking her not to leave him.

"My mother had just been killed along with the others," she said. "The child expected me to save him, but it was impossible. I was trying to save my own life. He was still calling me when they killed him," she said.

After the massacre, the RPF gained control of the capital, Kigali. A couple of weeks later, they controlled the entire country. The mass slaughter had ended, but not the pain and hardship of the survivors.