Update: Click here to visit The Atlantic and read more about Mutobo demobilization camp in a post by Committee on Conscience Director Michael Abramowitz. 

Here at the Mutobo demobilization camp, near Rwanda’s border with Congo, former soldiers from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation on Rwanda (FDLR) begin the process of re-entering Rwandan society.  The FDLR is one of the most violent guerrilla armies in the world and has been responsible for widespread looting, torture, killing and rape in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  But the Rwandan government takes the position that if FDLR soldiers were not involved in the genocide of 1994, they are welcome to rejoin society; the camp has seen an upsurge of returnees since the Rwandan and Congolese governments staged a new military crackdown on the guerrilla group earlier this year.

We spent an afternoon talking to some of the soldiers and a camp administrator, who outlined a policy of reconciliation towards the former soldiers. There are no fences and little overt security at this World Bank-funded camp; the residents sleep in bunk beds in corrugated aluminum dormitories. When we visited the facility, many of the residents were visiting family in other parts of Rwanda, on government-funded furloughs. There is little doubt among the administrators that these former soldiers will return to Mutobo camp, to finish the process of coming home to Rwanda.

Michael Abramowitz

Posted By: Michael Graham | April 15, 2009 | Comments (0)

Part of what drives Bishop John Rucyhanana is a conviction that organized religion failed Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. Dozens of priests throughout Rwanda collaborated with the killers, and tens of thousands were murdered in churches they thought would be a refuge. He notes that over 80 percent of Rwandans are Christian, a faith that commands its adherents to love their neighbors. “How could we have a genocide?” he asks.

Bishop John is one of 10 Anglican bishops in Rwanda, but easily the best known, thanks to a charismatic, ebullient approach to his ministry that has attracted attention from many prominent American Christians and politicians. We had breakfast with him at his guesthouse in Musanze, the northern Rwandan town formerly known as Ruhangeri, to discuss the status of reconciliation and the church’s role in helping rebuild society.

Bishop John was born here 62 years ago, but left Rwanda as a young man in 1962, part of a wave of Tutsi familes that sought to escape violent attacks orchestrated by Hutu radicals. He lived in Congo and Uganda, and even spent time in the United States, receiving a masters degree at the Trinity Episcopal School near Pittsburgh.

Rucyahana returned to Rwanda in 1994, in the aftermath of the genocide, and took up his current post at the end of 1996. His diocese is intensely involved in community outreach, education and reconciliation: It also operates an orphanage (known as “Sonrise"), 65 primary schools, seven high schools, a hospital and a variety of other health facilities.

“We have betrayed the people, we have betrayed their trust in the church,” Bishop John told us. Now, by showing that actions speak louder than words, he aims to earn back that trust.

Michael Abramowitz

Posted By: Michael Graham | April 14, 2009 | Comments (0)

KIGALI, April 7—Silence fell over the thousands who gathered on this picturesque hill in Kigali as Karasira Venuste began the simple story of what happened to him and some 5,000 other Tutsi near this exact spot 15 years ago: “Evil people killed many of us in unspeakable conditions.” The hush was punctuated only by the occasionally audible sobs and cries from those in the audience for whom such testimony can never fail to shock.

On the morning of April 7, 1994, Venuste and his neighbors in a nearby village heard the news on the radio that the plane of Rwanda’s Hutu president had been shot down the night before. Thinking of the threats and violence directed at his fellow Tutsi over the past several years, he believed it likely that he and his neighbors would be blamed by the government and their allies for the incident.

“We are done for,” Venuste thought to himself. “We are finished.”

Venuste, who looked to be in his 50s or 60s, with a dignified bearing, proceeded to tell the hushed crowd how his family and neighbors decided to take refuge at the nearby L’Ecole Technique Officielle, thinking that might be a safe refuge because of the small contingent of Belgian United Nations soldiers stationed there. But four days later, to their great shock, the small U.N. force departed, telling those gathered on the school grounds that “gendarmes” would rescue them.  The U.N. soldiers ignored their desperate pleas not to leave them at the mercy of a menacing crowd of government soldiers and armed militia that surrounded them outside the gates of the school.

After the departure of the last U.N. soldier, Venuste and some 5,000 others who were gathered on the school grounds were forced to walk a jeering gauntlet of Hutu militiamen, soldiers and civilians wielding machetes, guns and other weapons. Some of those who survived described it as a “death walk.” Venuste lost his right arm, hacked off by one of the tormentors. The walkers came to this unremarkable hill, where they were encircled by a gang of killers and set upon with grenades, machetes and clubs. Within a few hours, Venuste said, “We were lying in pools of blood.”

Of the 5,000 or so who sought refuge from the U.N. near here, roughly 100 survived, according to Venuste. He lived only because he laid still under dead bodies, overlooked by the killers searching the carnage for signs of life. The next day, the survivors were rescued by RPF fighters, the rebel force that ended the genocide and took power in Rwanda.

Venuste’s testimony was among the most emotional moments in a highly emotional day here, devoted to the government’s morning-to-midnight official commemoration of the 1994 genocide that saw some 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus murdered by the direction of the radical Hutu government in just three months. My Museum colleagues John Heffernan and Michael Graham and I were privileged to be invited to attend the ceremonies, which included similarly heart-wrenching statements by two young people orphaned by the genocide and a stadium gathering highlighted by the lighting of 10,000 lights to symbolize Rwanda’s recovery from darkness.  To some Rwandans, memories of the genocide are still so raw that medical personnel were required to tend to wailing participants whose painful memories were re-awakened by the testimony they witnessed this week.

My colleagues and I have been spending the week meeting with Rwandans, visiting memorial sites and discussing the terrible events of 15 years ago with colleagues gathered from around the world.

As I first-time visitor to Rwanda, it’s hard not to be mystified by the mismatch between the ferocious events of just 15 years ago and apparent calm and prosperity in Rwanda, which aspires to be the hub of an economically vibrant East Africa. As we drove out of town to one of the churches where you can still see the skulls and belongings of murdered Tutsi, we passed by workers digging up ditches on the side of the road to lay down new fiber optic lines. A newcomer thinks: How can this beautiful country, routinely described by Africa hands as one of the better functioning countries on the continent, have experienced such savagery?

As the scholars gathered here this week reminded us, a variety of factors contributed, particularly a long legacy of sowing ethnic discord for political purposes, first by occupying European powers, then by the succeeding Rwandan governments. A complete indifference by the rest of the world to the outbreak of genocidal violence, as exhibited by the behavior of the UN forces stationed near Nyanza, allowed the killing to rage out of control.

This, in fact, is one of the main messages this week from Rwandan president Paul Kagame, who offered a blunt appraisal in his speech to the dignitaries and ordinary citizens gathered on the hill at Nyanza. Responding to criticism of the government’s tactics in recent years, Kagame decried the “cowardice” of the U.N. and the rest of the world. “We are not like those who said, ‘Never again,’—yet they abandoned those they were responsible for,” he said. “They abandoned them even before one shot was fired.”

We were all intrigued to see Kagame first-hand. He is one of the world’s most interesting political leaders; his handling of Rwanda’s economic and political affairs has attracted favorable attention from a diverse lot of world figures, from Tony Blair and Bill Gates to pastor Rick Warren and Bill Clinton. He is also considered by many to be an authoritarian leader whose ruthless anti-insurgency tactics helped fan conflict and misery in the neighboring Congo and brought “suffering and death to many innocent Rwandans,” in the words of former New York Times reporter Stephen Kinzer, in his fascinating account of Rwanda’s rebirth, “A Thousand Hills.”

The task of recovering from the kind of genocide experienced here is immense, and Kagame evinced obvious pride in the steps he says the nation has taken to achieving reconciliation. He has mixed a hard-line against the leaders of the genocide while offering lower-level perpetrators and killers a chance to reenter society if they admit their crimes and repent.  He tells his countrymen to remember the past but look to the future. As one of his admirers told us this week, his policy has been to offer his countrymen a chance “to get ahead” through economic development and political reconstruction—not to “get even” with the thousands of fellow Rwandans who participated in the killing.

It’s impossible for us to know how deeply this ethic has taken root and how much reconciliation has penetrated beyond a surface level, so crucial to making “never again” a reality here in Rwanda.  But that’s one of many questions we have during this sobering week.

Michael Abramowitz, Director, Committee on Conscience

Posted By: Michael Graham | April 08, 2009 | Comments (3)

UPDATE: See at bottom of post for a list of humanitarian organizations expelled and the expected impact on the ground.

In the wake of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, the Sudanese government has expelled at least twelve major aid organizations working in Darfur, and sources suggest it plans to expel even more.

The groups have been responsible for delivering lifesaving aid to millions of Darfur civilians caught up in violence over the past 5 years.

The groups expelled include Oxfam, CARE, MSF-Holland, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre la Faim, Solidarites and CHF International. 

According to the Sudan Media Center two Sudanese organizations were also expelled, supposedly for cooperating with the ICC: the Khartoum Center for Human Rights and Environmental Development and the Khartoum Amal Center for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Violence.

This retaliation against humanitarian relief groups, whose work is non-political and independent from the ICC, will cut off millions from health services, food and other lifesaving care.

Operational director of MSF Holland, Arjan Hehenkamp, expressed outrage and stressed the impartiality of the humanitarian relief groups.  “It is absurd that we as an independent and impartial organization have been caught up in a political and judicial process.  MSF has worked tirelessly to deliver medical aid to the people of Darfur since the beginning of the crisis. It is completely unacceptable that the people of Darfur are being deprived of essential medical care.”

The Museum has issued a statement strongly condemning the expulsion of the aid groups.

Expulsion of 13 Darfur Aid Groups & Repercussions

Groups Expelled:

1. Oxfam GB
* Program in Darfur is group’s biggest in the world.
* Operates in rural and refugee camps.
* Provides clean water and sanitation services.
* Its expulsion affects 400,000 people in Darfur, 200,000 elsewhere in Sudan.

2. CARE International
* Has worked in Sudan for 28 years.
* Key food distributor in Darfur.
* Also provides emergency nutrition and primary health care for refugees and villagers.
* Serves nearly 1.5 million people.

3. Medecins Sans Frontieres – Holland
* Operates in south Darfur, often only health provider in rebel-controlled areas.
* Handles a recent meningitis outbreak in a refugee camp housing more than 90,000 people.
* Says its expulsion leaves more than 200,000 sick Darfurians without medical care.

4. Medecins Sans Frontieres – France
* Operates in west and central Darfur, single medical provider in most rebel-held areas there.
* MSF-France also handling recent meningitis outbreak in central Darfur.

5
* Mercy Corps – US
* Active in Sudan for five years.
* Trains health workers, builds schools and provides skill training for women.
* Assists nearly 200,000 people uprooted from their homes by the violence and living in displacement camps.

6. Save the Children Fund – UK
* Protects more than 45,000 children from violence and abuse in Darfur.
* Provides education for over 15,000 refugee children.
* Treats malnutrition in 1,000 children under the age of five.

7. Save the Children Fund – US
* Largest international relief group for children in western Darfur.
* Started a program two years ago.
* Distributes food, runs a malnutrition clinic.

* Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
* Works in Sudan since 2004, assists refugees in starting a new life.
* Mainly works with refugees living in Khartoum and returnees to South Sudan.

*. International Rescue Committee (IRC)
* In Sudan since 1981.
* Has four projects in Darfur, including:
* Refugee resettlement
* Health work training
* Education programs for about 1.75 million Darfurians.

10. Action Contre la Faim – France
* Distributes food.
* Provides water and sanitation services in south and northern Darfur.

11. Solidarites – France
* Works in south and west Darfur.
* Provides clean water and distributes food for 300,000 people.

12. CHF International
* Has two projects in northern and southern Darfur.
* Provides shelters for the most recent refugees
* Distributes fuel-efficient stoves.

13. PADCO – US
* Works on a USAID-funded program on revitalizing communities and deepening the local population’s understanding of Sudanese peace agreements.
* Provides in-kind and cash grants.

Groups Left in Darfur & What is Being Done

* The expulsion has removed 40 percent of the aid workers in Darfur, roughly 6,500 national and international staff.
* About 76 international groups had been operating in Darfur, (along with all major U.N. agencies), but the 13 aid groups ordered to leave did most of the work.
* The U.N. is consulting with the remaining NGOs about filling the aid gaps.

What/Who is Being Left Vulnerable:
* According to Catherine Bragg, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator
* The 13 aid organizations were responsible for at least half of the humanitarian operations in Darfur and are vital partners for U.N. agencies in delivering food and water and providing health care, education and other services.
* 1.1 Million will be without food aid
* 1.1 Million will be without health care
* Over 1 Million will be without potable water

Some camps where aid workers are no longer present:
* Zamzam Camp (Northern Darfur)
* Kalma Camp
* “The Kalma camp is a very dire situation because the NGOs that are providing water and sanitation to that camp are amongst those being expelled. We are looking at the possibility that come next week we will have difficulty of providing water and sanitation in that camp.” -Bragg

Posted By: Michael Graham | March 05, 2009 | Comments (0)

On March 4, 2009, a Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced its historic decision to issue an arrest warrant charging Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir with five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes for his leadership role in orchestrating the conflict in Darfur.

The charges against Mr. Bashir include murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, rape, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and pillaging.  Notably absent from the warrant is the charge of genocide.

This decision marks the first time the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state.

Some have contended that an ICC indictment of the President of Sudan, which enforces international law and holds him accountable for his crimes, is necessary for sustained peace.  Others are concerned that such an indictment could negatively impact the peace negotiations, prolonging war or perhaps even accelerating it – resulting in more deaths, sexual violence, destruction, and misery.  These debates intensified in July 2008, when the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo presented evidence of crimes to a panel of ICC judges and asked them to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President al-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes for his leadership role in orchestrating violence in Darfur.

The Sudanese government has said it will resist the ICC request, contending that Bashir is innocent.  Two others in Sudan – Ahmad Harun, Minister in charge of security, and Ali Kushayb, a janjaweed militia leader – were indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the ICC in 2007.  They were not considered senior enough to impact peace negotiations.

Based in The Hague, the Netherlands, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent judicial body established to try individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. It prosecutes individuals when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.  The Court emerged from the 1998 Conference in Rome and came into force in 2002, after the 60th nation ratified the treaty.  Presently, 108 state parties have joined the treaty.

* Click here for a podcast interview with Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, formerly a judge and president of the ICTY.

* Click here for a podcast interview with international law expert William Schabas.

* Click here to read the full decision by the International Criminal Court.

Posted By: Michael Graham | March 04, 2009 | Comments (0)