Despite many remaining challenges, Rwanda has staged one of the most impressive comebacks of our times. National leaders, led by President Kagame, rejected the policies of hate and division and retribution, and they rebuilt from the ashes. That is a triumph for the people of Rwanda. And it should stand as a model for other nations seeking progress and reconciliation. It is, after all, possible.
In a world convulsed by war, genocide, fear, and disillusionment, imagine a country that has actually rebuilt 30 years after an horrific genocide, a place where reconciliation is widespread, and perpetrators are an integral part of the growth and progress. As we contemplate the future of Gaza, of Palestine, of Israel, Ukraine, and of other conflicts garnering far less press coverage, is there any cause for hope of a better future?
Thirty years after a million people were slaughtered in less than three months in a genocide, there is a country where life expectancy has more than doubled, where a million people have been lifted out of poverty, where women are the majority in parliament, and where 98 per cent of the population has health insurance. A country which is ranked as one of the highest in ease of doing business and investment, and where its method of reconciliation, Gacaca, has led, remarkably enough, to forgiveness and inclusiveness.
Imagine, too, a country that now leads the second largest continent in the world in socio-economic development, and in “homegrown solutions” to poverty, gender equity, and participation. This country is Rwanda. The genocide against the Tutsi began 30 years ago on 7th April, 1994.
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Thirty years ago, instead of intervening to stop the genocide, US diplomats were merely talking about “acts of genocide” and actually blocked opportunities to intervene and stop the slaughter. Some parallels with the Middle East today are unsettling.
How did Rwanda move from slaughter by machete to startling improvements in human development? What lessons might the world learn about peace and reconstruction? Once the killing had stopped, it required vision and creative new ways to hold the post-genocide leaders accountable for post-genocidal progress. Rwanda’s systematic national planning, its vision for the future, national leadership, and performance-based governance (a homegrown solution called “Imihigo,”) are some of the essential elements. Too, a concerted focus on gender equity has transformed politics, economics, and family life.
Gender equity in education and public policy is fundamental to reducing poverty. Research shows that countries that promote women’s rights and increase their access to economic resources and education grow faster, are more peaceful, and have less inequality and corruption than countries that do not support women’s’ rights. In Rwanda, gender equity is embedded in the constitution, in education, and in national and local life. Women are visionary leaders in Rwanda, with 61 per cent representation in parliament and half of the President’s cabinet.
Rwanda is one of the leaders on the continent in education. With a near-universal primary school enrolment, a digital transformation with nationwide network coverage, and IT innovations in education, Rwanda has become a model for the continent in educational progress.
A strong focus on homegrown policies and initiatives such “Imihigo”, or performance-based governance, where local and national leaders are periodically required to show the impact of policies and genuine progress, has contributed to significant improvement in local political participation, in access to services, and in improved human development indicators.
What lessons are applicable to the “acts of genocide” in Gaza and the Middle East? In Ukraine? First, the world can and must try to stop the slaughter–as it did not do in Rwanda. The most immediate needs of food and access to health care must be assured. But what of the aftermath? What hope is there for Gaza and Israel?
Reconciliation is the starting point. The world considers this situation in the Middle East hopeless, impossible — but look at Rwanda. In 100 days, over a million members of the Tutsi minority group, as well as Twa and Hutu who and stood up against the genocide, had been murdered by Hutu militias. Author Philip Gourevitch pointed out: “The dead of Rwanda accumulated at nearly three times the rate of Jewish dead during the Holocaust. It was the most efficient mass killing since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” When peace was restored, political will was the starting point, belief in the impossible. Look at how the Rwandans did it with “Gacaca,” where over a ten-year period, one million suspects were tried in community-based trials, one of the world’s most ambitious post-conflict justice and reconciliation programmes.
Despite many remaining challenges, Rwanda has staged one of the most impressive comebacks of our times. National leaders, led by President Kagame, rejected the policies of hate and division and retribution, and they rebuilt from the ashes. That is a triumph for the people of Rwanda. And it should stand as a model for other nations seeking progress and reconciliation. It is, after all, possible.
Margee Ensign was the president of the American University of Nigeria from 2010-17 and 2021-22. She is currently the president of the American University in Bulgaria and author of Rwanda: History and Hope and co-editor of Confronting Genocide in Rwanda.
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