For Rwandan Tutsis, the return of Hutu refugees from Zaire is terrifying, reports Dele Olojede in Gisenyi, Rwanda
AS he watched thousands of Hutu refugees pour across the border from Zaire, on their way back from self-exile, Jean-Marie Musaidizi seethed with quiet anger.
Musaidizi, a survivor of the 1994 genocide, was angry that the people who killed or collaborated in the killing of his wife and seven of his eight children were now returning to Rwanda. He was resentful that the house he has lived in since the African holocaust will now be retaken by its Hutu owners. And he was exasperated that a whole army of international aid workers, led by the United Nations, was dashing up and down this lakeside town to provide food, water and transportation for the refugees, while he, a genocide survivor, is remembered by no one.
“We have no home and we have no future to look forward to,” Musaidizi said this week. “I ask you, why is the international community only concerned about perpetrators and not the victims?”
Despite a thin membrane of goodwill that has overlaid the massive return of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees to their country, many of the minority Tutsi survivors of the genocide appear angry that the refugees have been allowed to return at all.
Many of the refugees, perhaps hundreds of thousands, are believed to have directly participated in the frenzied killings, in which about 800 000 Tutsis died. But as a Tutsi-led rebel movement defeated the Hutu- controlled government in July 1994, some two million Hutu fled into exile to avoid possible retribution.
When the refugees started flooding back into the country late last week, the reaction of most Tutsis had been muted. But soon, however, many began to voice a deep anxiety, and a few – like a driver who deliberately tried to run down trekking refugees – showed open hostility to the returning Hutus.
“Some say it is a mistake to let them back in,” said Damasene Yoboka (22). “Why must they not suffer as we suffered?”
In interviews with a randomly selected group of genocide survivors and their relatives here, some expressed worry that their lives would once again be at risk from the returning Hutus, who outnumber the Tutsis, even now, by more than four to one. Others spoke angrily of having to vacate the homes of exiled Hutus that they had occupied, their own homes having been destroyed during the genocide. Many spoke of receiving little help to rebuild their shattered lives, while the international community appears fixated by the well-being of the refugees.
And yet others simply spoke of a deep resentment at seeing most of the refugees returning with children in tow, with husbands and wives, uncles and cousins and grandparents. For many survivors, a single person is all that is left of an extended family, or sometimes only a handful remain, in a country where an extended family easily numbers more than 100.
Some survivors were mutilated so badly by Hutu machetes that they have been unable to fend for themselves, relying on the generosity of friends to survive.
“My husband was badly macheted; his elbows were cut off so he cannot carry anything, although he can walk, thank God,” said Esperance Mukasine (35), who was shot in the right eye. “Really, when I see these people, their presence gives me nothing but fear of a repeated genocide. Also we just stay at home, with nothing to do. If you ask how we survive, it’s a miracle to me.”
One particular source of dismay for Musaidizi, a 51-year-old truck driver, is that the Hutu owners of the house he now lives in have returned. Under the law, occupants like Musaidizi have 15 days to vacate the property.
Their fall-back is one of the igloos, constructed of plastic sheeting, being provided by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “Why is it that we are the ones who must sacrifice? They were the killers, and nothing happens to them.”
The Rwandan government, anxious to prevent incidents of street justice, has repeatedly appealed to citizens to let the law take its course, admittedly an interminably slow course. The government is still trying to develop adequate judicial capacity to handle the more than 81 000 genocide suspects who already are languishing in jail. Many more are expected to be arrested once all refugees return to their communes. – Newsday