Rwanda Not so Innocent When Womens Became Killers- Africa Rights- August 1995

8/14/2019 Rwanda Not so Innocent When Womens Became Killers- Africa Rights- August 1995

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RWANDA

NOT SO INNOCENT

WHEN WOMEN BECOME KILLERS

August 1995

PO Box 3836, Kigali, Rwanda

Tel: 00 250 501007 Fax: 00 250 501008

Web: www.africanrights.org

Email: [email protected]
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Table of Contents

Acronyms and Explanatory Notes .......................................................................................... vii

SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................... 1

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 4

The 1973 Watershed: Women Come Into Their Own As Allies Of Killers .................... 5

BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................... 10

LENDING A BIG HAND IN THE MASSACRES AND KILLINGS .............................. 14

Women who Led the Killings .......................................................................................... 15

Bernadette Mukarurangwa .................................................................................... 15

Flicite Semakuba ................................................................................................ 19Loncie Nyirabacamurwango ................................................................................ 20Maman Aline ......................................................................................................... 21

Women Who Were Coerced Into Killing ......................................................................... 22

Women Among The Crowds Of Attackers ...................................................................... 24

Athanasie Mukabatana .......................................................................................... 27Louise Uwamahoro ................................................................................................ 27Gaudence Kantwaza .............................................................................................. 28

Women Accused of Killing Their Husbands and Children .............................................. 29

Intimate Murders: Women Who Turned on Their Neighbours ........................................ 31

Madeleine Senguri ................................................................................................. 33Spciose Mujawayezu ........................................................................................... 34Jeanne Mukamugemana ......................................................................................... 35Solina Rwamakombe ............................................................................................. 36Mme Suzanne ........................................................................................................ 36

Girls Complicit in The Murder of Fellow-Pupils ............................................................. 36

Solange Uwamahoro .............................................................................................. 37Marie Louise Uwizeye ........................................................................................... 38Angline Musafiri .................................................................................................. 38Gaudence Uwamahoro .......................................................................................... 38Alphonsine Uwizeyimana ...................................................................................... 39

Singing In Praise Of Genocide: Ululating The Killers Into Action ................................. 39

Betraying The Hunted ...................................................................................................... 39

Looting The Dead ............................................................................................................. 44

Women Who Encouraged Their Men To Rape ................................................................ 44


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MINISTERS IN THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT .......................................................... 49

Pauline Nyiramasuhuko .................................................................................................... 50Agns Ntamabyariro ......................................................................................................... 58

ADMINISTRATORS OF DEATH: LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ................ 59

Rose Karushara: The Butcher of Kimisagara ................................................................... 60Odette Nyirabagenzi: The Terror of Rugenge .................................................................. 67Euphrasie Kamatamu: Stalking Muhima .......................................................................... 72Madeleine Kankuyo ......................................................................................................... 77Thrse Nyirabititaweho .................................................................................................. 77Mamashura Mwajuma ...................................................................................................... 78

MESSENGERS OF DEATH: JOURNALISTS WHO PREACHED GENOCIDE ........ 79

Valrie Bemeriki .............................................................................................................. 80

Stphanie Nyirasafari ....................................................................................................... 82Agenesta Mukarutamu ...................................................................................................... 82

THE UNTHINKABLE: NUNS WHO JOINED THE KILLERS .................................... 84

Sister Gertrude Mukangango and Sister Julienne Kizito of Sovu, Butare ....................... 84Sister Bernadette Mukarusine, Sister Bndicte Mukanyangezi, Sister JosephineUzamukunda and Sister Ptronile Nyirabirori of Shyorongi, Greater Kigali ..................

102

Sister Elizabeth of Nyamasheke 104

TEACHERS AND SCHOOL INSPECTORS .................................................................... 106

Angline Mukandutiye ..................................................................................................... 106Bernadette Nyirabukeye ................................................................................................... 111

WHEN HEALERS BECOME KILLERS: DOCTORS, NURSES & EMPLOYEES OF

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS ...............................................................................................

113

Elianne Mukahirwa .......................................................................................................... 114 Nurses at the University Hospital in Butare (HUNR) ...................................................... 117Employees of the University Centre for Public Health (CUSP) ...................................... 120Dr. Jeanne Nduwamariya ................................................................................................. 124Mme Simon Remera ....................................................................................................... 128

Nurses at Kigali Central Hospital (CHK) ........................................................................ 129

Josephine Mukaruhungo ................................................................................................... 132Laurence Nkundabanyanga and Patricie Kanyarengwe, Maternity Hospital, Gisenyi .... 133

CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 136


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ACRONYMS AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

AVEGA Association of the Widows of the Genocide of April 1994 (Association des Veuve du

Gnocide d'Avril de 1994)CDR Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (Coalition pour la Dfense de la Rpublique)CND National Council for Development (RPF headquarters from December 1993)FAR Rwandese Armed Forces (Forces Armes Rwandaises)GP Presidential Guard (Garde Prsidentielle)MDR Democratic Republican Movement (Mouvement Rpublicain Dmocrate)MRND National Revolutionary Movement for Development (1975-91) and National

Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (1991-4) (MouvementRpublicain pour le Developement et la Dmocratie/Mouvement Rpublicain National

pour la Dmocratie et le Dveloppement)PDC Christian Democratic Party (Parti Dmocrate Chrtien)PL Liberal Party (Parti Libral)PSD Social Democratic Party (Parti Sociale Dmocrate)RTLM Radio Tlvision Libre des Mille CollinesRPA Rwandese Patriotic ArmyRPF Rwandese Patriotic FrontUNAMIR United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda

Inkotanyiis used to refer to the RPF by both its allies and opponents. The term, which means "fiercefighter" in Kinyarwanda, was the name given to one of the battalions of King Rwabugiri in thenineteenth century.

Inyenzi, meaning "cockroach" in Kinyarwanda, is a term of abuse for the RPF made popular by theHabyarimana government. The term has another connation; after the massacres and expulsions of Tutsisin 1959-63, a group of refugees, called Inyenzi, tried to stage a comeback and were defeated. The termwas intended to imply that the RPF had the same objectives, and was equally destined to fail.

"Refugee": The vast majority of the people we interviewed referred to those who fled their homes andplaces of sanctuary as "refugees," although they were not refugees under international law, not havingcrossed an international boundary. Throughout the report, we have used the term as it has been used byRwandese themselves, except when, due to the context, there is a danger of confusion between refugeeswho have crossed international boundaries and internally-displaced persons.

Rwandese names: Each family member has his or her own individual surname, as well as first name.Some urban middle class families use family surnames shared by their children, but this is stillcomparatively rare. Hence siblings can have different surnames, and having a common surname is not asign of being related, but of coincidence.


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SUMMARY

The genocide of the Tutsi and the killing of Hutu political opponents which took place in Rwanda between April-July 1994 has highlighted women's role in sustaining conflict and their potential for

inflicting extraordinary cruelty. Not all women participated of course, and neither did all men. Manywomen, as well as many men, refused to kill and took risks to save their friends, colleagues andneighbours. Nevertheless, women participated in the slaughter in countless ways, though to a muchlesser extent than men since there were few women in the best known of the killing machines thearmy, gendarmerie and trained militia, the interahamwe.

The killings would never have claimed so many lives if the killers had not adopted a strategy toinvolve as much of the population as possible men, women and even children as young as eight. Thehundred days' genocide was no spontaneous outburst. It followed instructions from the highest levels ofthe political, military and administrative hierarchies. At an intermediate level, huge numbers of civilianadministrators, journalists, businessmen, civil servants, academics, schoolteachers, students,housewives, doctors, nurses, peasants, traders, judges, priests, nuns, staff of local NGOs and employees

of international agencies were involved, both directly and indirectly.

Some women, including young girls in their teens, were participants in the carnage, hacking otherwomen and children, and sometimes even men, to death. Some of these women joined the killingswillingly. Others were forced in the same manner that men were forced, at the point of a gun, by threatsand other forms of intimidation. They participated in massacres and in the murder of their neighbours aswell as strangers. They joined the crowds that surrounded churches, hospitals and other places ofrefuge, wielding machetes, nail-studded clubs and spears. They excelled as "cheerleaders" of thegenocide, singing and ululating the killers into action. They entered churches, schools, footballstadiums and hospitals to finish off the wounded. Above all, women and girls stripped the dead andthe barely living stealing their jewellery, money and clothes. Most victims of the massacres were

buried completely naked because of women's looting sprees inside the places of massacres.

Both educated women and peasants identified the people to be killed, pointing out who was a Tutsi,or an "unreliable" Hutu on account of their politically moderate views. Many educated women,including teachers, civil servants and nurses, made lists of people to be killed which they gave to thesoldiers, militia and local government officials organising the pogroms. The people they exposed werenot merely nameless refugees, but their own neighbours, friends, colleagues, and sometimes even theirown relatives. Many women refused to shelter the hunted and forced people out of their homes. Just assome men refused to host people their wives agreed to protect, many women hounded out victimshidden by their husbands. There is no evidence that women were more willing to give refuge to thehunted than men. Some mothers and grandmothers even refused to hide their own Tutsi children andgrandchildren.

Women told the killers where people were hiding, screaming out their names as the terrified quarryran for their lives. Some women provided the petrol with which people were burnt alive, eitherindividual families or groups of refugees huddled in mosques and the buildings of parishes. Somewomen and girls were seen at roadblocks, checking ID cards. Those they identified as Tutsi werealmost always killed.

Educated women bear a special responsibility for the breadth and depth of women's participation inthe killings. There were two women ministers in the interim government, a regime whose raison d'trewas genocide and the elimination of political opponents. Both women promoted the genocide; forPauline Nyiramasuhuko, ironically the minister for women and the family, the participation was

brutally direct. She regularly visited places where refugees had been congregated and personallysupervised the selection of hundreds of Tutsi men for the slaughterhouse.

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Some of the most cruel local government officials who organised the killings, especially in Kigali,were women. In Kigali alone, women like Odette Nyirabegenzi, Rose Karushara and EuphrasieKamatamu are personally responsible for the death of thousands of people. Other women who werecommitted extremists before April 1994 helped to prepare the ground for the genocide, in particular anumber of female journalists with Radio Rwanda, the private radio station, Radio Tlvision MilleCollines (RTLM), and others who worked for the written press.

Educated women of every category participated in the genocide. Some female nurses handed overto the soldiers and militia patients and refugees who had come to hide in their hospitals. They alsocolluded in the murder of their colleagues. More than any other profession, teachers played a key role.Women teachers and school inspectors were no exception. A number of them distinguished themselvesin the genocide. Even nuns were involved. A number of nuns are not only accused of closing the dooron their desperate parishioners and other refugees, but of identifying and handing people over to thekillers, and collaborating with them in other ways. One nun, Sister Julienne Kizito of a convent inSovu, Butare, spent the three months of the genocide in the company of those carrying out the killingsin Sovu, handing them the petrol with which they burnt people alive in front of her.

Many of the women whose crimes are detailed in this report went on their killing sprees in thecompany of their children. Just as some boys accompanied their fathers when they went to hunt andkill, both boys and girls accompanied their mothers who had turned into killers. Many ordinary women,who did not themselves kill but who looted the living, as well as the dead, took their daughters alongwhen they went to clean out their neighbours' houses or to strip the corpses left behind after large-scalemassacres.

The most prominent female killers, such as Pauline Nyiramasuhuko and Rose Karushara, thecouncillor of the sector of Kimisagara in Kigali, had their sons as their drivers and escorts, and partnersin crimes. Many of these young men were prominent killers in their own right, but the reputation oftheir mothers as fierce killers heightened their reputations among the militia, provided them with accessto ammunition and gave them additional opportunities to kill, abduct, loot and rape.

Both at the national and international level, women and girls have been described as the principalvictims of the genocide in Rwanda, thus obscuring the role of women as aggressors. This is not true.Throughout the genocide, Tutsi men, particularly the educated and wealthy, or young men who were

physically strong and feared as future RPF soldiers, were the primary target. It is precisely because menwere decimated that most of the survivors are in fact women and girls, many of them widowed,orphaned, homeless, disabled and left alone with the burden of looking after the remaining members oftheir families. Another factor which has highlighted women's suffering in the genocide is the extent towhich Tutsi women and girls were raped.

Another argument to minimise women's responsibilities for their own actions is to claim thatwomen killed because they were obliged by their husbands and men folk. The strong tradition of

obedience to authority in Rwanda made it easier for the architects of the genocide to encourage or forceboth men and women to become murderers. But the husbands and parents of several of the womenaccused of complicity in the genocide are living in towns and hills visited by African Rights, next towitnesses and survivors whose testimonies have sent their wives and children to prison or out of thecountry.

But focusing exclusively on women as victims of the genocide does not help the survivors. Thenational and international failure to address women's involvement in the genocide and murder of Hutu

political opponents reinforces the impunity that is enjoyed by genocidal criminals. Many of thesewomen are living in comfortable exile in Zaire, Kenya and Europe. Some of them have been employed

by international organisations in the camps for refugees in Zaire, Tanzania and Burundi. Women whohave killed have been given responsibilities for the welfare of the refugees, including that oftraumatised children. Some of the nuns are being protected by the church. Thousands more are living inRwanda, confident that their crimes will never be revealed. Many of them are in government service,

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working as nurses, teachers and civil servants, sometimes in the very institutions where they committedunspeakable crimes. Others have been arrested in Rwanda. The detention of women, including nuns,elderly women and mothers with small children, on charges of genocide, has been used by the killersand their apologists, or critics of the government, as propaganda and as a weapon to deflect attentionfrom the genocide.

Taking advantage of the blanket protective cover of their "innocence", women have returned by thethousands to the regions of Rwanda neighbouring Zaire, Burundi and Tanzania. Leaving theirhusbands, fathers and brothers in the camps, many of them return to reclaim their property, at the sametime providing information for their men folk on their reconnaissance visits. These women rent outtheir property, often evicting the survivors of the genocide whose homes have been destroyed, or theycultivate their fields. Some of this money returns to the camps, and a per centage is no doubt used toterrorise the innocent refugees and destabilise Rwanda. Many of these women are of course themselvesguilty of nothing, just as not every male refugee is a killer. But the ease with which they have been ableto exploit the label of "innocence" makes it easier to use them as a front for men and women who arekillers.

The extent to which women were involved in the holocaust of 1994 raises profound and disturbingquestions about the health of Rwandese society. It is also a reminder of just how formidable is the taskof ensuring that justice is done in Rwanda, without which there can be neither peace nor reconciliation.

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Rwanda

Not So Innocent

When Women Become Killers

"When you begin extermination, no one, nothing must be forgiven.

But here, you have merely contented yourselves with killing a few

old women."

Agns Ntamabyariro, minister of justice, speaking in Mabanza,Kibuye, at the end of June 1994.

"Flicite Semakuba threw grenades as if she were sowing beans. I

saw her on her knees shooting into us. Mme Semakuba did all this

whilst she was pregnant."

Gorette Mukandamage, in an interview with African Rights inNdora, Butare, 20 July 1995.

INTRODUCTION

In recent decades, there has been a vigorous debate about women and conflict. Historians, sociologists, psychologists, journalists, government representatives, women's organisations, human rights groups,United Nations agencies and aid organisations have written books and articles, organised meetings andmade films that have looked at the role of women in armies, liberation movements, former femalefighters in post-war societies, as well as the impact of conflict on women's lives as individuals and aswomen with family responsibilities. In particular, the extent to which women made significantcontributions to military and political struggles in countries like Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nicaragua andVietnam, has sharpened debate about conflict as an opportunity for women to challenge and redefinetraditional stereotypes of women's work. The fact that in most countries the positive experiences madeduring wartime have not usually resulted in enduring gains for women as a whole, or even for thewomen who joined fighting forces, has ensured that the discussions and exchanges continue.

The extent to which unarmed civilians are increasingly brutalised by internal conflicts has made iturgent to analyse and understand the impact on women's lives, in order to alleviate the consequencesand assist women's abilities to prevent and withstand conflicts. Publicity about the widespread use of

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rape as a weapon of war in Bosnia has heightened international awareness of women's suffering in warsthroughout the world.

But little attention has been paid to the role of women in sustaining conflicts and their capacity toinflict cruelty, not as organised fighters who are members of armies, but as "ordinary" people who

become killers in the course of wars, and in the case of Rwanda, genocide.

In common with many other countries in Africa and elsewhere in the world, historically women as agroup did not play a major role in armed battles in Rwanda. The history of pre-colonial Rwanda isdominated by accounts of wars between kingdoms of the Great Lakes. Almost every society has tales ofindividual women who became famous warriors, their fame due in part to the fact that they werewomen and not expected to resort to arms. Rwanda is no exception. A myth has grown around a girl bythe name of Ndabaga who, many decades ago, went into battle when her community's men folk had

been practically annihilated. She is credited with extraordinary courage and formidable fighting skills,assets that brought victory to her side. Since then, the name "Ndabaga" is used to describe a desperatesituation which calls for unusual means. In a tribute to another powerful woman who played animportant historical role, Mrs. Habyarimana was nicknamed "Kanjogera," after a famous queen in

Rwandese history known for her domineering and highly political role.But the involvement of substantial numbers of women in political violence in Rwanda is relatively

recent, beginning, according to a wide range of people, in 1973.African Rights has spoken to a numberof the people who were forced to flee the killings and anti-Tutsi campaigns of terror in 1959 and in theearly-sixties. They do not recall that women participated in those attacks.

THE 1973 WATERSHED: WOMEN COME INTO THEIR OWN AS ALLIES OF

KILLERS

The anti-Tutsi purges of educational institutions in 1973 have been called "the intellectuals' genocide."State organised political violence swept schools and seminaries as well as the university in Butare.Except in Gikongoro where there were indiscriminate killings, the aim was to terrorise and force Tutsisout of educational establishments, and also out of the civil service.

Many Rwandese believe that the then Minister of Defence, Juvnal Habyarimana, provoked theviolence as a pretext to launch the coup d'tat which he had planned. Whatever the truth, it is clear thatthe attacks had the blessing of the government. But the government did not need to send tanks toschools; the dirty work was done for them by members of the educated elite, girls as well as boys, menas well as women.

For women, it was a first; the beginning of their widespread participation in violence. Like their

male counterparts, Hutu women in schools and work places formed what were called Comits du SalutPublic, or "Public Rescue Committees." The women's task was to identify Tutsi girls and women inschools and workplaces. A number of girls who had been at cole de Karubanda in Butare andinterviewed byAfrican Rights were beaten by their fellow-pupils and subjected to a reign of terror. Inthe face of resistance from the victims, some of their tormentors did not hesitate to ask for theintervention of police or soldiers stationed nearby. Many Tutsis, including some of those interviewed

by African Rights, were hidden by foreign teachers, missionaries or expatriates who had been sent toRwanda as technical experts. A number of girls, reported by these "Public Rescue Committees" wereinterrogated by intelligence officers, accused of helping the Inyenzi, armed exiles who had tried in theearly sixties to stage a comeback.

Many of the students, intellectuals and churchmen who played an active role in 1973 went tooccupy important posts in Rwanda in the eighties and early nineties. Some of them went on to become

prominent members of Habyarimana's ruling single party, the MRND, or of CDR, or belonged to

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MDR-Power, the extremist faction of MDR. Some individuals would emerge as important ideologuesfor the extremists. A significant number were extremely active in the genocide.

Some of the women at the cole de Karubanda who are accused by fellow-pupils of having playeda criminal role in the events of 1973 include:

Gaudence Mukakabego;

A former MRND representative in Gikongoro, she is thought to be in Zaire. In 1973, she is said tohave led a campaign to have the expatriate director and teachers of Karubanda expelled, accusing themof defending the Tutsi pupils. The director was suspended and replaced by a man more acceptable tothe extremist ideas of the pupils involved in the purges;

Monique Mujawamariya;

A member and formerly head of the human rights organisation, Association for the Defence ofHuman Rights and Civil Liberties (ADL), Ms. Mujawamariya is currently based in Canada but

continues to work on issues related to Rwanda. In 1973, together with a group of other girls, Ms.Mujawamariya collaborated with a group of male pupils from schools and the university in Butare,including a certain Lon Mugesera, in order to hound Tutsi girls out of the school. Mugesera later

became a leading extremist. Monique and other members of her group helped to make a list of "wanted"Tutsi pupils. The list was displayed, with the title "Pupils below are required to return immediately totheir families";

Immacule Mukamugema;

Immacule Nyirampara;

A former MRND member of parliament and member of the central committee;

Agns Uzamushaka;

She later became a close collaborator of Col. Tharcisse Renzaho, the prfet of Kigali and the manwho devastated Kigali during the genocide;

Antoinette Mukagasore;

A former employee of an orphanage called Bb-Kacyin which had been established for displacedchildren from Byumba;

Odette Uwimana;

She came to be known as "Satan" because of her prominent role in the events of 1973. The genocidestarted when she was working in an organisation called Turengere Abana which was owned by Mathieu

Ngirumpatse, secretary general of MRND. She is currently employed by the Parish of Nyamirambo inKigali;

Sraphine Mukarwego;

A former member MRND member of parliament for Kibungo;

Sister Isabelle Nibakure;

Anastasie Kabanyana;

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An employee of the Ministry of Health in Kigali;

Vnrande Musabyimana;

Thrse Kamuzima.

In 1973, Immacule Nyirampara and Odette Uwimana took some of their Tutsis fellow-pupils to thesecurity service. Some of the girls they accused were imprisoned, for example, Emeritha Mukandarasi,charged with possessing letters from theInyenzi.

It comes as no surprise that many of the girls who were pursued by their fellow pupils in 1973 werekilled in the genocide.

After 1973, the first organised campaigns of violence took place in October 1990, in the wake of theRPF invasion. The Tutsi communities in northwest Rwanda were the first to pay the price for the RPFinvasion. In Kibilira, Gisenyi, Tutsis were murdered, their houses burnt, their cows slaughtered andtheir food stocks destroyed. There was a wave of indiscriminate killings, intended to punish and

discourage support for the RPF. Nearly ten thousand people, most of them Tutsi, but also some Hutuswho were considered as too moderate, were arrested and detained for periods of up to six months.Educated women, whether in politics, civilian administration or in the professions, did not disappointthe regime. An International Commission visited Rwanda in January 1993 on a human rights fact-finding mission. They visited Kibilira and reported that:

In cellule Makoma, sector Gatumba, the responsable de cellule Yozefina Mugeni beat the drum, a usualsign of alarm, to bring people running. She told them they should burn the houses of theInyenzi, meaningthe Tutsi, because they wanted to exterminate the Hutu.1

Many of the men and women who were arrested or subjected to interrogation were denounced bywomen who were their colleagues and neighbours. As the testimonies in this report show, a significant

number of the educated women who were in the forefront of organising attacks during the genocide,denounced people in 1990 and helped to create a climate of fear. Articles written by a number of female journalists in the government newspaper,Imvaho, called for draconian measures against anyoneconsidered an ibyitso, or an RPF "accomplice," a term that was used to refer to the Tutsi inside Rwanda.

One of the Imvaho female journalists who urged the government to punish the ibyitso andencouraged the population to hunt for them is Hlne Nyirabikari. A few weeks after the outbreak ofwar, she wrote:

It was on 3 November when the Inyenzi attacked Gatuna [on the border with Uganda]. But on 6November the RPF took control of the region. On 8 November we made our way to the spot to find outwhat was actually happening.From Kigali to Gatuna, there were many roadblocks controlled by soldiers

and civilians. This proves the number of Rwandese people who support our armed forces in chasing outthe enemy from Rwandese territory. These people are well armed with spears, arrows, bows, machetes, pruning knives,masus, axes and swords. Next to all these roadblocks, these relentless people have litfires to fight the cold of the region.They are really ready to fight the enemy.

At about 1:30 p.m., we met the inhabitants of Kibari [Byumba]. They were coming from the hunt ofInyenzi accomplices. They were not pleased as they had not captured a single Inyenzi despite the rain andfog which marked that day.

They were well armed to such a point that if they had been lucky enough to find an Inyenzi, [they]would have bravely beaten him. May these people continue on the same path with the same courage.

1 International Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in Rwanda Since October 1 1990, Report,March 1993, p.6.

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TheseInyenzi are looters, they take and seize whatever they find in their way. They loot hens and slitthe throats of goats! These are the bandits who claim to be bringing us democracy! We are very happywith the fact that the accomplices, ibyitso, were arrested and the people of Byumba hope to definitivelydefeat the enemy and its accomplices.

TheseInyenzi have now gone astray, they are like bees without a queen, that is the reason for their

barbarity!2

In a later issue, she talked of her visit to Ruhengeri in early February 1991, after a lightning attackby the RPF on 23 January. They held the town for a day, freeing all the prisoners in the prison. Thesuccess of the attack came as a shock to the government and its supporters.

One thing is certain, the ibyitsoare still in this country. No-one understands, neither the people, nor theleaders, how the town of Ruhengeri could have fallen into the hands of the Inyenzi in this way. There hadto be accomplices for this operation to succeed. They showed the Inyenzi the interior, if not [they] wouldnot have know where the town was situated!

Our immediate wish is that of creating a special commission which will point out these accompliceswho facilitate access to the Inyenzi. In addition, the communal policemen should receive sophisticatedweapons with which to facethe common enemy of Rwanda.3

Hlne Nyirabikari is still on the staff ofImvaho.

Stphanie Nyirasafari also called for strong measures against the ibyitso in the wake of the RPFattack against Ruhengeri.

Not all the accomplices have been arrested yet. The attack on Ruhengeri town shocked a large number of people and it raises questions. It is not understandable how theInyenzi came from the frontier and[managed to] get into the prison and into Ruhengeri town and into Ruhengeri gendarmerie camp. Theylooted plenty from the commercial bank. This introduction shows that there are accomplices facilitatingaccess to the RPF.

Everything must be done to look for accomplices in all the organisations and ministries of thiscountry. You must be vigilant and track down everyone suspected. Another thing which shows that theInyenzi have accomplices in the interior of the country is that they continue launching attacks. They haveaccomplices in the whole country; their plans of attack have been discovered. Let us be vigilant. 4

In a previous article, she called upon the government to ensure that it appointed only loyalistsas its representatives, and to step up the campaign to arrest the ibyitso.

The accomplices are still amongst us:

1991 was baptised by the President of the Republic, [as the] year for rebuilding what had been destroyed.

It is a good name as the enemy which attacked us really destroyed the country. At a time like this, whenour country's economy is weak, it is very difficult to repair this country but the country must concentrateon the following points:

Firstly, strengthen steps to arrest the ibyitso. You must look for all the enemies of Rwanda who arehiding amongst us. These accomplices are the ones who provoke quarrels between the population whichrun the risk of causing a civil war.

Representatives of Rwanda abroad must be changed in order to appoint people who support theregime in place.

2 Hlne Nyirabikari, "The Inyenzi who attacked Gatuna are pirates," Imvaho, No. 869, p.8, 19-25 November

1990.3 Hlne Nyirabikari,Imvaho, No. 880, p.1-2, 4-10 February 1991.4 Stphanie Nyirasafari,Imvaho, No. 880, 4 -10 February 1991.

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Amongst the enemies of Rwanda are even those whose studies are being paid for by the governmentor those who are sent abroad to work.

Next, you must severely punish the accomplices of the Inkotanyi identified; we must not do what wedid when Valence Kajeguhakwa,5 who finally managed to flee the country, was arrested. Even now,

there is Anselme Sakumi,6a trader, who has been arrested, he has recently been released. It would be ashame if he too flees Rwanda when he is heavily suspected. Real peace will come when all theaccomplices are dismissed from the country.7

Marie Harerimana lives in commune Mbazi in Butare and has been working at the UniversityCentre for Public Health (CUSP) for a number of years. Herself a Hutu, her husband, a Tutsi, and twoof her three sons were killed in April. Interviewed by African Rights in Butare on two occasions, shespoke at length about the role of educated women in helping to prepare the ground for genocide.

Educated women participated, particularly in preparing for the genocide. This was apparent in theindoctrination meetings for young Hutu boys and girls. They were told that a Tutsi was so bad he wasn'teven human, but a snake. They added that in 1959, the Hutus had made the mistake of not killing off all

[the Tutsis] and so should not make the same mistake. Lists of people to be killed were drawn up at thesemeetings.

In 1990, when the regime in power was arresting accomplices of the RPF ibyitso, some Hutu womenarrested people simply because they were Tutsi. Here I can name Concessa Nyirabigirimana andAntoinette Nyirabakungu. Both of them were teachers at the Groupe Officiel de Butare (G.O.B.). In1990, they both imprisoned certain Tutsi teachers who worked at G.O.B. More recently, during thegenocide, the two women handed over [to be killed] a nurse called Evrine who lived nearby, atKabutare. Both of these women are from Cyangugu, from communes Gishoma and Gisuma. They arenow in Cyangugu. 8

The "lessons" that were learned between 1973 and 1994 by women, particularly many educatedwomen, were put to deadly use in the genocide unleashed on 6 April against the Tutsi community andin the murder of many politically moderate Hutus. In this report, women and men, Tutsi and Hutu, havecome together in a spirit of common purpose to give the lie to the account of the genocide which

paints allwomen as helpless victims and bystanders.

5 Valence Kajeguhakwa was a businessman in Gisenyi. He was arrested in October 1990. He fled the countryafter his release and joined the RPF. He is currently a member of parliament representing the RPF. After he leftthe country, his businesses were shared out among civilians and military officers close to the Habyarimanaregime.6 Anselme Sakumi, a businessman in Kigali and an active member of the human rights organisation,

Kanyarwanda, was killed in the first days of the genocide.7 Stphanie Nyirasafari,Imvaho, No. 876, 7 -13 January 1991.8 Interviewed in Mbazi, Butare, 1 June 1995.

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BACKGROUND

Rwanda is a small landlocked country in central Africa. Although lying just south of the Equator, itshigh altitude and hilly topography make it a green and fertile country, with plentiful rainfall. Partly forthis reason, Rwanda is also the most densely-populated country on the African continentbefore thegenocide it was home to about seven million people. It is an overwhelmingly rural country, with over90% of its people making their living from the land.

A second reason for Rwanda's high population is that it escaped the ravages of the nineteenthcentury slave trade. This was due to the fact that, along with its neighbours to the north and south,Rwanda had a sophisticated precolonial state system, with a strong military. The Rwandese state firstdeveloped in the sixteenth century, and reached the height of its powers in the nineteenth century.When the first Europeans arrived a century ago, they found a true nation: the Banyarwanda people. TheBanyarwanda were divided into three groups: Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The three shared the samelanguage, the same customs, the same political institutions, and the same territory. What made themseparate was not that they were distinct "tribes", but that they were distinct categories within the samenation.9

The colonialists projected their own theories of racial typology of the Banyarwanda. The Tutsi theyidentified as aristocratic rulers, and concluded that they had originated in Ethiopia. Though numbering

perhaps fifteen per cent of the population, the colonial powersfirst Germany and then Belgiumpreferred to rule extensively through the Tutsi, cementing their position at the apex of the hierarchy andenabling them to exploit the other groups more effectively. The Hutu majority were characterised bythe Europeans as peasants, and consigned to the status of serfs. In the north-west, where Hutu leadershad wielded authority over Hutu and Tutsi alike, the colonialists sought homogeneity and imposed

Tutsi overlords, creating a deep resentment that lasts to this day. The tiny minority of Twa who consistof two distinct groups, the Impunyi hunter-gatherers of the north-western forests, and a caste of potters,were marginalised and mistreated by both Hutu and Tutsi.

A hierarchical but nonetheless flexible and reciprocal political system was transformed into a rigidpoliticised caste structure. Unable to adapt, the structure shattered as independence approached. Thepowerful Roman Catholic church and the Belgian rulers switched their support to the Hutu, recognisingthat the Tutsi could not retain exclusive power in any democratic system. In 1959, following theunexpected death of the Mwaami (king) Mutara Rudahigwa, who had been a force for moderation,Hutu leaders incited the population against the Tutsi. Perhaps ten thousand were killed in 1959 andtheir homes burnt. Many more fled as refugees to neighbouring countries. Over the following sevenyears, perhaps twenty thousand Tutsi were killed in a series of pogroms, while about a hundred and

fifty thousand fled the country. The Tutsi population in Rwanda was halved.

After independence in 1962, Rwanda was ruled by President Grgoire Kayibanda and hisParmehutu party, on an explicitly ethnic political platform. All policies favouring Tutsi were reversed,

but such was the latter's dominance among the educated, that the middle classesnotably theprofessions and commercecontinued to be largely Tutsi. However, the army, police and civil servicewere dominated by political appointees of Parmehutu.

In 1973, a further round of anti-Tutsi violence resulted in a coup d'tat led by the Minister ofDefence, Major-General Juvnal Habyarimana. Kayibanda was deposed and died shortly afterwards.The violence in 1973 began as an attempt to purge seminaries and the university of Tutsi, but rapidly

9 For a more detailed study of the historical background to the genocide, see African Rights, Rwanda: Death,Despair and Defiance, Chapters 1&2, second edition, published in August 1995 byAfrican Rights.

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developed into a full-scale ethnic purge of all educational institutions. Habyarimana, who many peoplebelieve instigated the violence in order to justify the coup he planned, presented himself as a force formoderation and progress: he adopted policies avowedly supporting national unity and stressed the needfor economic development, using community self-help. In 1975, Rwanda became a single party stateunder the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND).

During Habyarimana's first decade in power, there was stability and an emphasis on development.In particular, communal rural development projects, such as terracing hillsides and growing woodlots.With tragic irony, the name interahamwe which was later used for the MRND militia, was used todescribe those who came together to further communal development. Rwanda received generousinternational assistance. However, Habyarimana's rule became increasingly authoritarian and corrupt.Habyarimana was the first northerner in power, which became increasingly concentrated in members ofthe President's Akazu (literally: "little house" or clan) from the north-west, in particular close relativesof his wife. Not only Tutsi but Hutu from other parts of the country were excluded. Access toeducational opportunities, scholarships abroad, senior positions in government, parastatals and thearmed forces, as well as credit facilities were weighted heavily in favour of people from the north.

Meanwhile, Tutsi refugees in neighbouring countries were exposed to discrimination and abuse,notably in Uganda. In 1982-3, thousands of Tutsi refugees were expelled from south-west Uganda bythe then government of Milton Obote. The extraordinary brutality of Obote's counter-insurgencycampaigns in the Luwero triangle, in which Rwandese refugees were deliberately targeted, drove manyof them into Rwanda. But Habyarimana refused to accept them. The experience encouraged many ofthem to join the National Resistance Army (NRA) led by Yoweri Museveni, which succeeded incapturing Kampala and forming the government in 1986. Even though a number of them held verysenior positions in the army and government, Rwandese were never fully accepted into Ugandansociety. On the contrary, their contribution to Museveni's success sharpened the resentment of manyUgandans, especially among people opposed to Museveni. Unable to return home, they increasinglysought a military solution to the problem of their statelessness. In strict secrecy, the exiles, especiallythose based in Uganda, set about creating a military organisation. In time, they formed an alliance with

a number of senior politicians who had fallen out with President Habyarimana and left Rwanda. On 1October 1990, the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded northern Rwanda from Uganda.

The war came at a disastrous moment for the Habyarimana government. For several years it hadbeen under pressure from its western donors to adopt a structural adjustment programme. In 1990 itfinally agreed. This involved a public sector pay freeze and a devaluation of the currency, plus otherausterity measures. Combined with the collapse of coffee prices (Rwanda's main export) in 1989, thesecut deeply into the country's prosperity and, as elsewhere, undermined support for the government. Atthe same time, Habyarimana was under domestic and international pressure for political liberalisation.After holding out for many months, he capitulated in July 1990, and Rwanda was overtaken by a

political renaissance. Numerous political parties were formed, together with independent journals andhuman rights organisations. Much of the debate that was unleashed was highly critical of the

government.

Democratisation against a backdrop of war and economic crisis was hazardous from the start. ThePresident responded with a series of strategies designed to split and undermine the civilian opposition,and defeat the RPF. The name (but not initials) of his own party was changed, to National RepublicanMovement for Democracy and Development. At the same time, a hard-line Hutu extremist party, theCoalition of the Defence of the Republic (CDR) was formed by some of his closest colleagues,articulating positions that neither Habyarimana nor his party could publicly be associated with.Meanwhile, Habyarimana infiltrated his supporters into the opposition parties, splitting all the majorones save the Social Democratic Party (PSD). Thus for example, the Liberal party was split into twofactions, a pro-government group headed by the extremist Justin Mugenze, and an anti-governmentfaction headed by Landoald Ndasingwa. The largest opposition party, the Democratic RepublicanMovement (MDR), was similarly divided.

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From October 1990 until August 1993 the war continued on-off, with intense fighting interspersedwith negotiations under regional and international auspices. The RPF quickly overran northern districtsof Rwanda, and the fighting displaced over three hundred thousand people. The government responded

by increasing the size of the army from five thousand to thirty-five thousand men, importing arms fromFrance, Egypt and South Africa and mobilising militia forces, notably the Interahamwe, the militia ofMRND. A ceasefire was negotiated but broke down in February 1993; a further month of intense

fighting drove another six hundred thousand people from their homes. A new peace agreement,mediated by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and signed in Arusha, Tanzania, on 4 August1993, formalised the peace agreement and Habyarimana's rapprochement with both the RPF and thecivilian opposition. With strong support from the UN, and in particular from Belgium, the Arushaaccords laid down a formula for power sharing with the civilian opposition and a timetable for theestablishment of transitional institutions, including the integration of RPF fighters into the nationalarmy, preceding elections for a democratic government. A United Nations Assistance Mission toRwanda (UNAMIR) was sent to oversee the implementation of the military aspects of the accords.

The Arusha accords generated a wave of optimism throughout Rwanda: They were seen as a modelfor power sharing, and opened up the prospect for peace and democracy.

Throughout 1993 and into 1994, the chief obstacle to the peace accords was a series of obstructionsthrown up by the government, either on their own account or by using the CDR. These manoeuvresfrustrated the opposition, as well as the international mediators, who convened a series of meetings to

pressure President Habyarimana into honouring his word. But the President was also under intensepressure from his own supporters not to yield. He travelled to Tanzania on 6 April to meet with theleaders of neighbouring countries. He gave in to the international pressure and agreed to speed up thetransition to democracy. At 8.30 p.m. that same evening, as his aeroplane approached Kigali airport, itwas shot down, killing all on board, incluidng the newly-chosen President of Burundi, Cyprien

Ntaryamira, senior members of Habyarimana's staff and the French crew.

On 8 April, an interim government headed by President Thodore Sindikubwabo was formed,

entirely under the control of Hutu extremists.

The first announcement of the news in Rwanda was broadcast by a private radio station, RadioTlvision Libre des Milles Collines (RTLM), which was in the hands of the most committedextremists. The plane crash was the signal for the genocide of the Tutsi, since 1990 described as the"accomplices" of the RPF, and the execution of moderate Hutus. Within half an hour, road blocks had

been flung up across the city of Kigali. Early on the 7th, the killings began, in Kigali and in many partsof the country. The first targets of the violence were moderate Hutu senior politicians opposed to theextremists' political agenda. Within twelve hours of the plane crash, the political parties that formed

part of the government had lost many of their leaders, including the most senior woman politician,Prime Minister Agathe Uwiligiyimana. Outspoken journalists, human rights activists, priests allthose who had international contacts and who could give an accurate picture of the killings had

either been killed or forced to go into hiding.

The genocide of the Tutsis started early on 7 April in many communes and regions. While someregions remained calm, notably Butare and Gitarama, even where killings did not begin straightaway,the homes of Tutsis were burnt from 7 April and they were subjected to physical threats and verbalintimidation. Terrified and disoriented by the ferocity with which they were hunted and hounded, theyran to their churches for solace and protection, a traditional sanctuary in times of trouble.

In the afternoon of 7 April, the six-hundred strong RPF battalion based in Kigali broke out of itsheadquarters and engaged the Rwandese Armed Forces, the Presidential Guard and the Interahamwe in

battle. The RPF forces stationed in the north of the country launched a simultaneous offensive on allfronts. Over the weeks, it became increasingly apparent that the RPF had decided to seek an all-outmilitary solution to the genocide, to inflict a crushing military defeat on the interim government and tooverrun the entire country.

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Over the next three months, Rwanda lived through a genocide and a war. Unfortunately, mostinternational observers confused the war and the genocide, a confusion that prolonged the genocide andcost hundreds of thousands of lives. Throughout the critical months, the United Nations and variousinternational agencies were consistently calling for a ceasefire. There is no evidence that a ceasefirewould in any way have contributed to stopping the killing of civilians. Indeed, the massacres continued

unabated when the RPF declared a ninety-six-hour ceasefire. Negotiations for a ceasefire in fact suitedthe interim government and helped to prolong its life, and hence its genocide. There were never any

battles in the prfectures with the highest casualties Kibuye, Cyangugu and Gikongoro. In Butare,which was also devastated, there was only one battle, in July. Key actors in the internationalcommunity squandered precious time and moral leverage by confusing the killings and the war.

The interim government was routed in early July. The RPF's military victory brought the genocideto an end. Tragically, it was too late for most of Rwanda's Tutsi population. Such was the speed of thegenocide that most of them were dead by the end of April within three weeks of the launch of theholocaust.

What took place in Rwanda between April-July 1994 was no mindless violence, no undisciplinedexplosion of "ethnic animosity." It was deliberate, calculated genocide, planned and carried out by politicians and civic leaders. Using propaganda, bullying, the promise of looting and outright force,many ordinary people were made into members of the interahamwe, and were compelled to kill.

The aim of the Hutu extremists went beyond the physical extermination of every Rwandese Tutsi.The aim was to transform the collective identity of the Hutu as well. One strategy was to deprive theHutu of moderate leaders: killing the most prominent on the first day frightened those who couldreplace them and forced them to go into hiding or into exile. Another component was to make anexample of any Hutu who tried to protect his or her Tutsi family members, friends or neighbours.Killing some of the people who showed the courage to be human sent a powerful message throughoutthe community. Still more radical was the aim of creating a nation of people complicit in the genocidal

killing. The extremists wanted everyone to be tainted with the blood of those who had died.

The first step in this project to dehumanise a nation was the development and propagation of theextremist ideology. They played upon and created fears and frustrations in the Hutu populace, at alllevels. The war with the RPF had created a sense of insecurity and displaced hundreds of thousands of

people who were easy prey to the extremists' propaganda. Economic crisis was threatening prospects ofunemployment for many salaried people. There was a serious problem of access to land for young men.The historians, ideologues, academics, journalists and songwriters who crafted the extremist ideologydisseminated a version of history that described all Tutsis as the perpetrators of historical injusticetoward the Hutu and describes them as a people, anxious once again to dominate the Hutu. Therelentless propaganda, underpinned by an educational system that divided the Rwandese people andwhich reinforced many dangerous historical myths and stereotypes, created a political consciousness in

the Hutu community that the extremists could play upon to encourage people to kill their neighboursand colleagues.

Despite the violent rhetoric, many communities and individuals refused to turn into killingmachines. The solution was force. The Presidential Guards and trained interahamwe were brought intomassacre the Tutsi but also to compel the local Hutu to kill the Tutsi. The scene was set for the

pogroms of 1994, one of the greatest crimes against humanity in the twentieth century.

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I.

LENDING A BIG HAND IN THE MASSACRES AND

KILLINGS

More than a million people were killed in a hundred days in Rwanda between 6 April and 4 July 1994.Local government officials, anxious to kill the largest number of Tutsis as quickly as possible, herdedthem into stadiums, churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, government buildings and gathered them onthe open ground. These "sanctuaries" were repeatedly attacked by armed servants of the state as well as

peasants and educated people. Initially, many Hutus, frightened by the panic that gripped the country,also fled to these places of refuge. In an effort to break communal solidarity and isolate the Tutsis, theHutus were ordered to leave before the killings began.

Some people stayed on their hills and in their towns, determined to fight back. Tutsi and Hutu setup local defence committees together. But these committees collapsed either because the Hutus wereencouraged or forced to abandon them or because well-armed soldiers intervened. In this most unequalof conflicts, the "war of bullets versus stones," the victims had no chance. Assault by well-armed unitsfrom the Rwandese Armed Forces and Presidential Guard, with assistance from the gendarmes and thetrained militia, the interahamwe, was the most common method of breaking local resistance. The resultwas always victory for the attackers, whose modern weapons overwhelmed the defenders with theirfirearms and limited supply of stones to throw.

The large-scale massacres were carried out as military operations. The attacks were led by soldiersand gendarmes. The refugees were sprayed with tear-gas. This crippled their chances of resistance andforced the living and the barely-living to cough and sneeze, after which they were finished off with

machetes by the men and women waiting outside. Their civilian supporters men, women, girls andboys surrounded the area to kill those who attempted to escape with machetes, nail studded clubs(known as masus), swords, sharpened bamboo sticks and spears.

And there they were killed in the tens of thousands. On 20 April, at the Parish of Karama inButare, between thirty-five and forty-three thousand people died in less than six hours. On 15 April,two thousand people were crushed to death by Caterpillar bulldozers inside the church at the Parish of

Nyange in Kibuye. On 15 April, at the Parish of Kibeho in Gikongoro, famous throughout Rwanda forits revelations, about seven thousand people died a brutal death inside the church and in the surrounding

buildings, riddled with bullets and blown up by grenades in an attack led by a priest. Those who tried toescape were mowed down by local villagers wielding machetes and masus. The wounded and some ofthose who had hidden under corpses were subsequently burnt alive inside the church.

Those who were not killed in large-scale massacres died in a genocidal frenzy. They were machetedat roadblocks, incriminated either by their ID cards or by their "Tutsi" looks. They were burnt alive orwere thrown, dead or alive, into pit latrines and rivers. They were drowned or forced to jump into riversto escape the terror of death with a machete. Patients were dragged out of their hospital beds and shotinside hospital compounds. The wounded were pulled out of Red Cross ambulances and killed on theroadside. Husbands were forced to kill their wives and mothers their sons. With a gun to their head,some brothers became each other's executioners. Families became separated in the mayhem, or becausethey had made a conscious decision to separate so as not to be wiped out in a single attack. Hiding inthe forests and bushes where they were hunted by their fellow-citizens, sometimes accompanied bydogs trained to be merciless, they were forced to eat grass, or to lick the dew on the grass when itrained.

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Tens of thousands of people congregated in a few "safe" areas, such as the bishopric of Kabgayi inGitarama, the Kamarampaka Stadium and the camp of Nyarushishi in Cyangugu and the churches of St.Famille and St. Paul's in Kigali. These "protected" areas were guarded by gendarmes that were at bestunreliable and at worst loyal to the militia. They were in fact death camps, particularly for Tutsi menand boys, especially the educated and wealthy, who were abducted and executed nearby on a regular

basis.

Those who survived crawled out of holes and ceilings, stumbled out of mosquito-infested swamps,came down freezing hilltops or wandered out of the thick, rain soaked forests of the south and west ofRwanda. The majority were malnourished, many of them on the point of death. There was, of course,no medical care for the life-threatening wounds inflicted by bullets, grenades, machetes and the array ofweapons that were intended to tear people apart, and, in the words made infamous by Nazi SS officers,"turn them into smoke." Weak from months of hunger, sickness, thirst, lack of medical care and fear,many could not walk when their moment of freedom came. They had to be transported onwheelbarrows or carried on the backs of soldiers.

WOMEN WHO LED THE KILLINGSThe extremists who set up the interim government and planned the genocide had crafted a wide array of

policies with which to cajole and frighten the population into a killing frenzy. But when it came to massmurder, there were a lot of women who needed no encouragement. Some were inspired by their ownextremist views. Others saw the extermination of the Tutsi as an opportunity to ingratiate themselves tothose in power. For others, the genocide was a chance to enrich themselves by expropriating the

property of their victims, or an opportunity to settle scores with enemies, real and imaginary. Somewomen showed such extraordinary cruelty that they can only be described as evil and perverted.Whatever the motive, some of these women organised and led the attacks in which hundreds of peoplelost their lives. A number of them shot refugees; but more often, women hacked other women, andchildren, and sometimes even men, to death with machetes and masus.

WhenAfrican Rights visited the commune of Ndora in Butare in July, its residents commented thattheir sous-prfecture, Gisagara, had contained an exceptionally large number of high-ranking killers. Anumber of the people who distinguished themselves in their eagerness to kill their neighbours werewomen. In addition to some of the women living in Ndora who took leading roles in the killings, Ndorawas also the hometown of the minister for women's affairs, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, a leading figure inthe genocide (see below).

Bernadette Mukarurangwa

"Take up your machetes, kill all the Tutsis, don't spare a single one."

As the hunt for Tutsis got underway in Ndora, they ran for the hill of Kabuye. But there was no safetyon this hilltop where thousands of them were massacred. One of the women most consistentlyimplicated in the massacres in this area is Bernadette Mukarurangwa, a former teacher and

parliamentarian. The mother of five children, she was married to a fellow-killer, Innocent Nzamwita, auniversity lecturer. Numerous witnesses testified to her central role in the killing.

Jean Baptiste Bemera is an agricultural supervisor. He lives in Uruyange cellule, Muzenga sector inNdora commune and is a Hutu. He is forty-seven and is married with seven children.

I knew Bernadette very well. A road leading to the sous-prfecture of Gisagara ran between our houses.Bernadette's cellule of Nduba is on one side of the road and mine, cellule Uruyange, is on the other side.She was a teacher before, then a member of parliament and finally, a genocidal killer.

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We have known each other since primary school. She was lucky enough to continue her secondaryeducation at Save. She was very good until becoming a fierce MRND member.

Everything started with multipartyism and, in about 1993, she started striking up close relationshipswith vigorous, unemployed peasants from our sector. Her friends were, in fact, bandits as we heard thatthey were her interahamwe.

The killing in Mugenza began immediately after a visit by president Thodore Sindikubwabo on 21April. The meeting was witnessed by a councillor of Muzenga sector called Clestin Nzabonankira. AHutu, he lives in Nduba cellule, Muzenga sector. He is thirty-three and is married with six children.Clestin described the visit of the president.

He only came with some soldiers and stopped at Gisagara trading centre and made a speech which didn'teven last two minutes. He said, 'Move apart from the people who say that this war does not concern them.I don't want people who support radio Muhabura (to avoid saying the RPF) in this sous-prfecture anymore...'

Clestin said that "It was as if the devil had descended upon the hill; the massacre of Tutsis." In July1995, the authorities came to bury the remains of twenty-five thousand Tutsis who had tried to escapefrom the huge massacre at Kabuye hill, and had been killed in small groups throughout the area.Clestin had no doubt who was primarily responsible.

The massacre in my sector was sponsored by Bernadette Mukarurangwa, daughter of FranoisKajeguhakwa and Catherine Nyirambeba. Her husband, Innocent Nzamwita, an employee of theRuhengeri campus of the National University, was also terrible. Bernadette had been a member ofparliament for five years at least. She was a teacher before, at Ntobo primary school in Ndora commune.Her parents had already died when the genocide happened. We lived in the same cellule as Bernadetteand we knew each other very well. What she did in this commune, and more especially in our sector, isbeyond imagination.

It was very early in the morning of 22 April when she ordered certain hard-hearted Hutus to kill all

the Tutsis in our sector. She even took the lead, walking with them in attacks. Certain good-heartedHutus like myself and others did not appreciate this inhuman gesture as the Tutsis were our neighbours.But through lack of means, we witnessed these horrible events.

There was a large, merciless roadblock just at the entrance of her house. She had taken on leadingbandits from our neighbourhood who were to carry out meticulous searches of Tutsis. She even said thatthe sous-prfet of Gisagara, who is originally from Nyaruguru, should die. But as certain criminals saidhe was Hutu, he was spared and, he too, participated in the genocide. Everywhere in the sector, shewould just indoctrinate: 'Take up your machetes, kill all the Tutsis, don't spare a single one...' Aftereliminating almost all the Tutsis, Bernadette passed a new law which was even going to create a warbetween the Hutus. She said that even Tutsis married to Hutu men had to be killed. The Hutus who hadmarried Tutsis fiercely opposed this decision and decided to take their revenge. And so Bernadette'sdecision was rejected.

After having been stained with the blood of innocent Tutsis, Bernadette started selling Primus [beer]and her house became a meeting place for the criminals to share out Tutsis' belongings and to drink.Certain interahamwe had taken in Tutsi girls to rape. Bernadette ordered them to be killed, as well as thechildren of Hutu women married to Tutsis, regardless of sex. That is what was done. Tutsi children werekilled by their uncles, grandfathers...

Bernadette had a gun that she entrusted to her husband during the genocide to kill people. Her brother, [who was] also at her house, came from Kigali with grenades and gun. He killed a lot too.Bernadette and her family are now living in the refugee camps in Burundi. A driver for an NGO, IOM,who worked in the camps told us this.

All the Tutsis of Gisagara had faked their identity cards well before, in 1959, but they were killed.For example the families of Jean Manyagihugu, a trader; Juvnal Ntaganzwa, a teacher and ClestinNsabimana, a teacher.

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I conclude by saying that no-one can support Bernadette on this hill.10

Jean Baptiste Bemera, the agricultural supervisor, confirmed the sequence of events after 22 April,and the role of the member of parliament.

As soon as [Sindikubwabo] left, the killing started. Bernadette Mukarurangwa was the one who tookover. Putting up roadblocks here and there, starting with one at her house. Her husband, her brother fromKigali - all three of them were terrible. Bernadette had given her gun to her husband.

The killing had already started by 11:00 a.m. Seeing this, I decided not to go to the roadblocksanymore. Among the militiamen trained by Bernadette even before were Shimiye, Kamanayo(responsable of my cellule), Ntawanganyimana alias 'Cyanira' and Nteziryayo.

Bernadette indoctrinated the people into killing all the Tutsis, and the attacks followed them evenonto Kabuye hill where they had withdrawn. Bernadette spent all day at the roadblock of her house justto command the killings. She ordered the militiamen to kill all the Tutsi girls and women they hadabducted to rape, which the militiamen did. She gave out the order to kill all the children of Hutu womenmarried to Tutsis, and this order was followed. Aside from her barbarity, Bernadette sold Primus and thecriminals were the only ones who went there to drink.

During the genocide I quarrelled with Bernadette twice. Firstly, she came by to threaten me, askingwhy I had refused to go on the night patrols. This was about 25 April. She told the militiamen to attackme. But, as my family were strong (I was Hutu like her) my brothers defended me and her intention cameto nothing.

Another time, the militiamen caught a young Hutu man who said that he was a prisoner atKarubanda [Butare's central prison]. They decided to take this man to the headquarters, [that is]Bernadette's house. I followed them. When they got there, they explained the situation to Bernadette andasked her what they should do with this fellow. Bernadette told them to take him to Kilihira11 for theInkotanyi. The man was handed over. I objected, saying he should rather be helped, for he was firstly

Hutu and then because you could see that he was physically weak, and finally because he was going tothe neighbouring commune of Muganza. So the militiamen decided not to kill him but forced him toreturn to Karubanda. The man set off but I don't know if he got there.

With the arrival of the Inkotanyi at Nyanza, in short, with the Inkotanyi progress, Bernadette'scruelty increased. She came by to give out an order to exterminate even Tutsi women married to Hutumen. The Hutus opposed this, telling her to start off with the killing of the wife of the bourgmestre of Ndora, Clestin Rwankubito, that of Chancellor Vnant Ntabomvura... The decision was eventuallythrown out.

Bernadette fled when the Inkotanyi came to the commune of Mugusa at Musha centre. She left onfoot with her husband and her five children. They carried their luggage on their heads.

Her militiamen stopped her, asking where she was going as she was clearly the one who had led allthe operations. She spent all night at the roadblock and it may be that she gave fifty thousand francs toher militiamen to let her through. That was interesting! The next day she continued on her way with herhusband and her children and arrived at the Kibilizi roadblock in Nyaruhengeri commune. Theinterahamwe took away their gun. Certain Hutus who were coming backwards and forwards told this allto us. Bernadette is now in the Rwandan refugee camps in Burundi. 12

A number of Hutu widows of the genocide living in Ndora have accused Bernadette of having theirhusbands and children killed. One of them is Monique Mukarutabana. She lost her husband, Jean Bosco

10 Interviewed in Ndora, Butare, 19 July 1995.

11 Located in Byumba, Kilihira was the last meeting place between the Habyarimana government and the RPFbefore the Arusha process began.12 Interviewed in Ndora, Butare, 20 July 1995.

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Seburikoko, a medical assistant at the University Centre for Public Health (CUSP) and three daughtersout of five children in the genocide. She is thirty-five and lives in Uruyange cellule, Muzenga sector.

The genocide started in Ndora after Sindikubwabo's meeting and the indoctrination of BernadetteMukarurangwa, member of parliament, who incited the Hutus to rise up as one to kill the Tutsis.

It was 10:00 a. m. on Friday 22 April. My husband was not at the house. He was in Butare town ashe was working at CUSP as a medical assistant. He was called Jean Bosco Seburikoko. An attack fromBernadette's house came and invaded our house. She was part of this attack which looted, destroyed andburned my house.

Men were the only ones targeted on the first day. As my house had already been destroyed, Idecided to go back to my parents' house, still in Muzenga, with my children. As my father is originallyfrom Huye and had faked his identity card well before, it was difficult to find him. In addition to this, mybrother was a FAR soldier and had rank of adjutant. He is called Joseph Kayijamahe and is currently inGako where he is undergoing training for integration into the RPA.

I just hid my only son at my parent's house and the girls stayed within reach of everyone. I didn'tthink they could be killed and they often came by my brother, the adjutant's house. He was on the battle

field but his wife was there.

Monique's nephew was Bernadette's godchild. But such was Bernadette's determination toexterminate all Tutsis that she did not even hesitate to kill Monique's children.

A few days after the massacre of refugees at Kabuye, probably towards the end of April, Bernadettelaunched an attack against us, saying that all the children of Bosco, my husband, should die. So theinterahamwe collected and killed my three daughters, Kantengwa, a pupil in her third year of primaryschool, Kayigirwa, in her fourth year of primary school and Uwamariya who was in her first year ofprimary school. Luckily, my son was not discovered and he eventually escaped. He is the eldest in myfamily.

See how Bernadette was against my family and my children, even though she was the godmother ofthe child of my older sister Batrice. I couldn't understand her but since we, that is the descendants of myfather, were considered Hutu despite our height or physical appearance, we were free to walk around.

Another time, Bernadette delivered a soldier from my sector. He was admitted to Butare GroupeScolaire hospital. Indeed, this soldier's parents were at Muzenga and they had faked their identity cards tobecome Hutu well before. He thought that they had been spared. When he got to the hill, this soldier sawthat all the members of his family had been killed. Unfortunately, he wasn't armed and when theinterahamwe saw him they alerted Bernadette who came by to give out the order to kill him so that hewouldn't take revenge on the Hutus. Effectively, the interahamwe killed him. This was at the roadblock atthe house of the so-called member of parliament.

Bernadette was the one who gave out the order to kill the children of the following Hutu widows:

Batrice Kubwimana, married to Charles Ayabagabo, Tutsi. All her children and her husbandwere killed;

Ccile Nyirandugu, married to Emmanuel Rugemintwaza, Tutsi. Her husband was killed andthe children were abducted to [Bernadette's house].

Monique described the fate that her victims would like to visit upon Bernadette.

If we had a chance to see Bernadette, we would kill her ourselves.

She spoke of the efforts by the widows to help each other and to see that justice is done, even when

the criminals are family members.

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I am currently staying with my family. As elsewhere with most of the Hutu widows, we have made a sortof Association of April 1994 Widows and there are now twenty-five women. In our association, theHutus outnumber the Tutsis by far. Amongst these Hutu women, there are those whose brothers havebeen imprisoned. They have been really affected by the genocide. Our association is called Abisunganye"those who help each other". We are still poor, with hardly fourteen thousand francs when we hadforeseen building houses so that we didn't have to stay with our families anymore. The association is a

gathering of widows just from my sector.13

Flicite Semakuba

"She threw grenades as if she were sowing beans. I saw her on her knees shooting into us. Mme

Semakuba did all this whilst she was pregnant."

Flicite Semakuba, a former gendarme from Cyangugu, is another woman who has been accused of participating actively in the genocide in Ndora. She has the dubious distinction of carrying out hermurderous activities, including shooting unarmed refugees herself, while pregnant. She collaboratedwith Bernadette Mukarurangwa and worked closely with one of her brothers, an employee of GisagaraHealth Centre.

Gnvieuve Mukarutesi, thirty-three, lives in cellule Rugara, sector Ndora, where she is a farmer.Like so many Hutu women in Rwanda, she has been forced to pay for the "mistake" of marrying a Tutsiman; her husband and three of her four children were murdered in the genocide.

I am Hutu. My husband was called Viateur Ndamage, an archivist at CUSP. He was killed at Kabuye inthe genocide because he was Tutsi.

We were forced to leave our property on 22 April. On this date, the situation deteriorated sharply inour sector. The Hutus wanted to exterminate the Tutsis. My husband was Tutsi and we had four children,three boys and one girl. Like other Tutsi families, we went to Kabuye hill where there were a lot of us,about fifty thousand. At least forty thousand perished on this hill.

The first attack was led by Hutus from our district directed by a pregnant Hutu woman who wasarmed with a gun and a lot of grenades. She is Mme Flicite Semakuba, a former gendarme. She isoriginally from Cyangugu, probably Gisuma or Gafunzo commune. She was together with her brother,Silas, who worked at Gisagara Health Centre.

During this attack, I, myself, saw Mme Semakuba with a gun and grenades. She was on her kneesshooting into the crowd of refugees all the while giving out orders to her team. She would often get up tothrow grenades; she was very active. But, as there were so many refugees, they repulsed the attack bythrowing stones. Mme Semakuba went and asked for a reinforcement of soldiers from Butare afterrealising that the three attacks she had just directed against us had not achieved a great deal. When theButare soldiers arrived, they told the Hutus to separate from the Tutsis, which is how I came to leave thecrowd with my four children as I was Hutu. I don't know how my husband died. What I do know is that

he was killed there.

Having lost her husband, Gnvieuve was left with the responsibility of protecting her childrenfrom the predators.

I am not originally from Ndora and when I wanted to go back to my husband's land, the Hutus refused.Our house had already been destroyed. So I made my way to my commune of origin where my parentslived. It is Shyanda commune, sector Bweya, cellule Gisanze. All along the road my children wereabducted and killed by Hutus. I lost three of them, two boys and one girl. I was left with my oldest soncalled Richard Bayingana, a twelve-year-old student in his fifth year of primary school at Gisagara. It ishard to explain how my son was saved. It was the will of God who didn't want me to be left alone.14

13 Interviewed in Ndora, Butare, 20 July 1995.14 Interviewed in Ndora, Butare, 19 July 1995.

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Gorette Mukandamage is another Hutu widow who holds Flicite Semakuba responsible for thekilling sprees in Ndora which have deprived Gorette of the love and support of her husband and twochildren. Gorette, who is from the cellule of Nyabitare, suffered at the hands of both Flicite andBernadette Mukarurangwa.

My husband was called Alfred Ndambaje and he was a farmer. He was killed in the genocide because hewas Tutsi. I also lost my two children, the only ones I had; a girl and a boy.

I am Hutu. But as I had married into a Tutsi family, I followed them to Kabuye hill where there wereso many of us it is difficult to count how many.

With her brother Silas, Mme Semakuba came to kill almost every day. I saw Mme Semakuba with agun and a lot of grenades. She threw grenades as if she were sowing beans. I saw her on her kneesshooting into us. I saw her with my own eyes more than five times. I would dare say that she was the onewho killed my husband as my husband was killed on 25 April when an attack of soldiers launched anassault against us in which she took part.

The group [of soldiers] asked the Hutu women to leave the Tutsis. That's how I came to leave withmy three children. [They] were killed when I got to my own family under orders from the accursedformer member of parliament, Bernadette Mukarurangwa. In this attack of 25 April, there were alsocriminals who had come from Mugenza commune with their bourgmestre, Elie Ndayambaje.

Mme Semakuba did all this whilst she was pregnant. What is a shame is that she is still in Rwanda.Information that comes by us says that Mme Semakuba and her brother are in Cyangugu.15

Loncie Nyirabacamurwango

"Loncie went looking for lists and communal documents to enable her to draw up an exhaustive list of

people to kill."

Loncie Nyirabacamurwango lives in Uruyange cellule, Muzenga sector and has been accused ofparticipating in the genocide. She was an instructor at IGA (a Kinyarwanda acronym which stands forcommunal centre of reading and writing). She has been arrested and is currently detained at KarubandaPrison in Butare. Her husband, Vianney Bunege, is not known to have participated at all in the genocideand continues to live at his home.

One of those prepared to testify against Loncie Nyirabacamurwango is Josephine Mukarutesi, atwenty-one year old Tutsi peasant who lives in Nyabitare cellule in Ndora sector.

With the outbreak of the killings in our sector, my mother who was Hutu was forced to leave herproperty and go back to her parents, my grandparents. As we knew girls were often spared, I decided toleave with her given that my two brothers had already been killed on Kabuye hill.

You can't tell by my size or physical appearance that I am Tutsi. That's the main reason why I amstill alive. During the genocide, I went almost everywhere since there were some leading criminals in mymother's family, some real interahamwes.

I am an eyewitness to all the obscene acts that Mme member of parliament BernadetteMukarurangwa did in collaboration with Mme Loncie Nyirabacamurwango, who was arrested aboutfour months ago.

As far as these two women were concerned, you shouldn't spare a single Tutsi. [There was] noquestion of crossbreeding between the Hutus and Tutsis. Loncie went looking for lists and communaldocuments to enable her to draw up an exhaustive list of people to kill. She was therefore able to identify

Hutu women who had married Tutsis and had children with them. The first time the two women put out

15 Interviewed in Ndora, Butare, 19 July 1995.

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the order to kill Tutsis girls, descendants of Hutu mothers, it was applied in certain cellules like Nduba,Uruyange...

In our sector, the order had not been enforced. It was necessary to wait for Mme PaulineNyiramasuhuko to visit her parents who lived in the same cellule as me. During her visit, the two womenrushed to tell her about the problem that certain interahamwe were still keeping Tutsi girls in their homes.

Mme Nyiramasuhuko, surrounded by her brothers, said that it was a shame to see that Ndora communehad come last since Tutsi girls were still alive.

After saying these words, several Tutsi women and girls were killed by the interahamwe who hadraped them. But I was lucky that the interahamwe who was protecting me didn't kill me. All the same, Ihad to pay money.

Amongst the girls killed because of this speech were the three daughters of Marguerite who wasHutu and who currently lives at Rugara; and also Scholastique...

Loncie was even determined to kill a girl that Loncie's own mother had saved.

During this period, there was a daughter of Sylvestre Muhiza who had faked her identity card and lived at

the house of Loncie's mother who had agreed to protect her. Mme Loncie forced her to take off all herclothes and took her to the roadblock herself where the girl was once again raped before being killed.16

Annonciata Nyirangendahimana, forty-two, lives in the cellule of Rugara. A Tutsi whose Hutuhusband had died before the genocide, she was welcomed by her in-laws which gave her a measure of

protection against Loncie's campaigns.

After the killings started on my hill, I fled to Kabuye hill where I found other hunted Tutsis like me. Ispent a day there. As my husband, who was no longer alive, was Hutu, I had the idea of going to my in-laws. They welcomed me and looked after me during the tragedy.

We lived very close to Loncie. What I did not see with my own eyes I heard from the criminals.

But, as I was privileged to be able to move around, I saw a lot with my own eyes.

The amount of times Bernadette and Loncie passed our house to go and launch attacks against Tutsifamilies in the company of leading killers! They were actually their guides and moreover they were theso-called intellectuals of the region. Loncie had the list of people to kill as

Rwanda Not so Innocent When Womens Became Killers- Africa Rights- August 1995

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