Rwanda

Last week, my program began a two week excursion to Rwanda, to compare post-conflict Northern Uganda with post-genocide Rwanda.  I crossed my first international border overland, witnessed truly spectacular scenery, and generally marveled at the different level of development in Rwanda.

Rwanda is a relatively homogeneous, very small country with 10 million people that has received a lot of aid post-genocide, and they allocate 80% of their national budget to development.  I'm used to Uganda- a country with 35 million people, 40 languages, the highest malaria infection rate in the world, and a corruption problem so bad that the planned 2011 census didn't happen because the funding disappeared. This means that for the first few days in Rwanda I was marveling at the paved roads, street lights, stop lights, and general cleanliness and order of Kigali.

Rwanda has such a strong national identity.  The 1994 genocide was traumatic for every Rwandan.  They speak the same language, have a monthly day of national service, and collectively mourn in April for lives lost in 1994.  In contrast, while war was waging in Northern Uganda, the rest of the country continued with normal life.  They identify first as Acholi or Buganda, then as African, and only later as Ugandan.  A friend of mine introduces himself as coming from the Republic of Northern Uganda.

Both conflicts, however, have their roots in colonial divide and conquer policies.  The Belgians encouraged the divide and politicized the identities of Hutu and Tutsi.  The English stereotyped Ugandan ethnic groups for different jobs, creating resentment for northerners among Ugandans.  And both conflicts have this awful air of unfinished business.  Agathe Habyrimana, the widow of the former President of Rwanda, who by most accounts was one of the architects of the genocide, lives comfortably in France.  Many northern Ugandans will not feel safe in their communities until Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, is no longer waging war in the bush.

Both governments are involved with funding rebels and conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Both governments get significant military funding from the U.S. for sending their troops to places that America doesn't want to go, like Somalia.  (Both countries also have my fingerprints on file because the U.S. funded anti-terrorism technology so now to enter the country you have to be fingerprinted)  Both countries have not had a peaceful transition of power since independence.

Rwanda is also full of genocide memorials.  It's one thing to read that 1 million people were killed, quite another to stand in a room full of skeletons, and still another to see the holes in the skulls made by machetes. It is so surreal to walk the streets and imagine road blocks where identity cards were checked and so many people were killed that the streets were clogged with dead bodies.  Every memorial says never again, and yet I know that the Rwandan military is supporting rebels in the Congo.

There are always frustrating aspects of studying politics.  There are always things that do not live up to your ideals.  Bad things happen to good people.  But something about spending time in a country that uses genocide as an excuse to limit free speech, something about the way that Rwandans act as if the root causes of the conflict have been solved just gets under my skin.