Latest from the camp

We've been spending more time in the camp lately and it's been a very eye opening experience for both of us. Last week we completed a fairly big project involving finding out why Rwandan refugees don't want to go home. The international community's position is that the country is safe for repatriation. The picture we got from interviewing camp residents was completely the opposite.

UNHCR headquarters in Geneva asked our office to go ahead with the task as a fairly routine exercise. We were told that high fives are generally doled out when any office succeeds in convincing people to go home and our bosses felt that Malawi shouldn't be left by the wayside. By the way, the decision to return is voluntary - at least until the country in question is so 'safe' that the world believes people who fled no longer require international protection. So Les and I spent the week before last randomly selecting 16 groups of 14 individuals, broken down by sex, age, ethnicity, and so on. Then we sat down for 3 days and listened to horror stories.

Some of you may know Rwanda for what it's most famous for - a genocide that by some estimates saw 1 million people killed with machetes and screwdrivers in just a few months. A rate significantly more terrifying than the WWII genocide. As is often the case, the problem was because ethic group A couldn't get along with ethnic group B. The Hutus began killing the minority Tutsis that held all the political and economic power in 1994. Kind of ludicrous when you learn that Hutus and Tutsis have been intermarrying for hundreds of years and the only reason the divisions still exist is because the German and Belgian colonial masters divided them up according to height and the length of their noses. Phrenology sounds only slightly less scientific. I digress. The Tutsis eventually took back the country after a civil war and millions of Hutus fled, hence our camp's existence.

So we're in the camp listening to these people's reasons for not wanting to return, and if half the stuff they claim is true, I really don't blame them. They're scared witless. Certain issues were raised repeatedly and I have no doubt that this was because these randomly selected individuals were coached by the community leadership. Nonetheless they're valid points. The first one is one that I was already aware of: 'Gacaca' or grassroots/community courts. The idea for setting these up was to promote reconciliation between Hutus and Tutsis and some of the people we spoke with acknowledged it was a great idea in theory. In practice, the courts have absolutely nothing to do with reconciliation, justice or even the rule of law. In practice, joe blow Tutsi can rock up to the village Gacaca and point a finger at joe schmoe Hutu and claim that he killed Mr. XYZ during the genocide. Sentences of 20+ years are routinely and summarily dispensed. By the way, if I seem flippant or sarcastic, it's because that's how I deal with my outrage.

After you're unfortunate enough to pass through this kangaroo court, you're sent to jail. In jail, torture is allegedly the order of the day. In vogue recently is where they put a plastic bag over your face and light it on fire, essentially melting your face off and horribly disfiguring you for life. My coworker Sebastien took a meeting with a guy who had red spots all over his face from where drops of molten plastic was dripped on him repeatedly. The wives of these men don't have it much better. A few people mentioned that when their partners came to bring them provisions, the guards raped them. One poor lady was carrying a baby on her back as African women do, which fell on its head when she was beaten. This should never, never happen.

Another injustice that I was totally oblivious to - which is strange because Rwanda was one of the countries I studied for my Masters thesis - is the 'Ibuka' or remembrance ceremony. I'm a bit hazy on the details (this was all done through a not so professional translator), but every April during this one week, Rwandans 'remember' the genocide. In practice this means that Hutus are forced to dig up the bones of dead Tutsis, then take them to the river to 'cleanse' (wash) them. God forbid that you drop one of the bones while washing them, because that's an offense akin to killing the person a second time, and you will be beaten to death. Only the losers of the war, the Hutus, are forced to perform this ritual.

Why else would Rwandans not want to return? Oh yes, because your former house is currently occupied by the people that killed your entire family. I heard far too many stories about people returning home to claim their property, only to have the police abduct them in the middle of the night and making them disappear for daring to seek justice. These clandestine abductions seemed to be the main fear. Don't think I need to belabour this point.

Several refugees have also claimed that the current president made a speech last year (Although I can find no record of it despite my google skillz) in which he promised his Tutsis brethren that he would wipe out the Hutus through attrition, e.g. the night time disappearances.

And although the Rwandan government has an official policy of providing returnees with support should they choose to come home, nobody we spoke with believed it exists.

I don't know what to believe. Perhaps the refugees we spoke with were exaggerating, maybe they were lying for some unknown purpose, maybe they were simply misinformed. Certainly some anecdotes or urban legends have been taken and been blown out of proportion. But undoubtedly there are still major problems, and I'd go so far as to say atrocities, ongoing in the country. What an eye opening experience - just another that makes me thankful to live in a safe country.