Clearly, reconciliation is difficult because genocide is the culmination of an entire process. Since the 1960s, a number of events have taken place. The Tutsis have been progressively massacred. Just think of 1959, 1961, 1963, 1967, 1973 and the 1990-1992 period. I am also referring to the first tests on the ability to commit genocide, on the Bagogwe, when about 9,000 people were killed.
It is the fruit of an entire culture. The people were manipulated and trained to “get rid” of the Tutsis, who came from somewhere else. The story goes that, once you welcome the Tutsis, they take over at any cost. However, that is all false. That is what is so terrible.
My mother was a teacher in Rwanda in the early 1960s. She had just finished school, and at the time, modern education was new. Everything written was true. She was teaching children that the Tutsis came from Abyssinia, that they were not Rwandan, that they came from somewhere else and that, when Kanjogera got up from her seat, she would stab the Hutu children.
That is all my mother knew. Because that is what was written down, she thought it was true. I am not sure whether you know that. She is a Tutsi and she was teaching those classes in the 1960s. Those are the things that the government wanted to be taught, although they are completely false. We actually find this story in Mugesera's speech when he said that the Tutsis had to be sent back home to Ethiopia on the Nyabarongo River. That refers to Abyssinia.
How can we work toward reconciliation? I think the country and the current government have to make considerable efforts. They need to call the wise men and women who were there at the time, at the beginning of the 1960s. Those people, who are now old and are over 70, need to give testimony to teach the Rwandan youth the truth.
First, it is important to understand that the Tutsis and the Hutus are not ethnic groups. They are more like social classes. At the time, a wealthy Hutu could pass for a Tutsi if he had more cows. A very poor Tutsi could replace a Hutu if he became a servant. That is the reality. It needs to be restored. Our young people really need to be taught that hatred was used based on political propaganda. We will be able to move forward if we start there. It is very complicated, but I think we need to start working on it. We must find reconciliation mechanisms, otherwise we run the risk of experiencing similar excesses again.
Thank you.