Ndi Umunyarwanda, I am Rwandan.

Today marks 30 years since the start of a genocide that would last 100 days.

Photo credit: Geoff Heith

Rwanda, 1994. One million people, hacked to death with machetes and clubs. A government-sponsored massacre, the legacy of decades of divisive politics with its roots in European colonial misrule. Men, women, children and babies, killed for no reason other than for bearing the word ‘Tutsi’ on their national ID card, or for protecting others who did. Ordinary citizens, encouraged by national radio broadcasts to carry out the slaughter without mercy or delay. Neighbour against neighbour, friend against friend. Churches, schools and hospitals were no refuge.

One hundred days of hellish horror that defies the imagination.

And yet the international community closed its eyes, a collective act of wilful ignorance which would become a source of “bitter sorrow and abiding regret” for the United Nations.

Rwanda, 2024. From the ashes has arisen a new country, built by its liberator and president, Paul Kagame. A modern, model state where division has been replaced by forgiveness, reconciliation, and unity.

As a hopeful generation carries aloft the flame of progress, may we never forget what happened 30 years ago in Rwanda.

N. J. Darrant

7th April, 2024