Day 2 – Hotel Rwanda

On April 8, 1994, I woke up to the news that ten Belgian commandos had been killed a day earlier in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. It is yet another incident in Rwanda after the plane of Rwandan President Habyarimana was earlier shot down on April 6. That same day, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines calls on the Hutus to start a hate campaign against the Tutsis and moderate Hutus. An unprecedented massacre is the result. It was to be the start of hundred days of genocide that would eventually kill almost one million people. And for the Rwandans it is as clear as water : as an intrinsic culprit for the genocide, the finger is pointed to Belgium. Why? Rwanda consisted of two population groups, the Tutsis and the Hutus. When Ruanda-Urundi came under Belgian mandate, the Belgians used the existing structure that consisted of a ruling Tutsi class with a population that mainly consisted of Hutus. Belgium accepted the theory that the Germans had put forward that Tutsis would be superior to the Hutus. That theory was based on the interpretations of explorers who believed that Tutsis were of ‘white’ descent and Hutus of ‘black’ descent. But Belgium went a step further. They introduced the obligation to state ethnicity on the identity cards. Since 1931 and years before the Jews had to make themselves known in Germany, this was already the usual practice in Ruwanda-Urundi. And it is those identity cards that were used during the genocide to determine ethnicity. That was our decision and it turned out to  be a bad one. It is not that we have called for racial hatred. Nor that we've been on the barricades calling out to kill each other. Belgium is blamed as the guilty party because we were so insistent at the time on the ethnic differences between the population groups. Our attitude has probably contributed to a latent racial hatred and sowed the seeds of genocide.

Hôtel des Mille Collines is a luxury hotel in Kigali that was founded in 1973 by our former national airline SABENA and is Rwanda's most famous hotel. That celebrity does not come from the excellent service, the culinary level or the beautifully decorated rooms. The hotel became world famous for its role during the genocide, as a refuge and light in the darkness, for more than a thousand mainly wealthy Tutsis. The events at the hotel during the genocide are the subject of the movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’. Hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina managed to keep guests safe by buying off Hutu militias with money and alcohol, thus preventing the extermination of the guests, while mass execution occurred elsewhere in the city. The United Nations, foreign governments, and the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) also urged government forces for the safety of refugees in the hotel that was under siege. In 2005 after the bankruptcy of SABENA, the hotel was sold to a large chain.

The hotel still looks as it did then, although the impacts of bullets and guns were removed from the side wall over time. In the hotel car park  a small memorial  was errected with a memorial plaque for the victims of the genocide and in particular for the employees who lost their lives during these events.

Unfortunately, when UNAMIR (the UN Peacekeeping Mission for Rwanda) was founded in 1993, Belgium was the only Western country willing to send professional troops. Unfortunately, because normally former colonial powers are not used in peacekeeping missions given the hostile atmosphere that this can evoke within the local population. But since the other countries preferred to look the other way, there was no other choice. However, what would take place was not what everyone expected. What happened was not a general aggression against the Belgians, but a calculated murder of our ten paratroopers . A contingent of Belgian peacekeepers, which was part of the Second Battalion Commands from Flawinne, was designated on April 7 to protect Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. On arrival, however, the soldiers were attacked and overpowered by troops from the government army. They were taken to Camp Kigali and handed over to a delirious mob. Under the pretext of a free passage to safe UN territory, they had previously handed in their weapons with the exception of two firearms that they managed to conceal. They would spend hours fighting for their lives under constant siege from the government army. They were first tortured, beaten and eventually executed. They were not granted a quick death. No bullet in the head but killed in a horrifying way. And even after their death, they were dumped on a pile in the morgue without any respect. Moreover, the  assassination of the President was al attributed to them. It had been rumored for some time that Hutus planned to murder Belgian soldiers so that Belgium would withdraw from Rwanda and the United Nations would stop the peacekeeping mission. On top of that, Paul Kagame, you know the current president, called for hatred against Belgium. What everyone feared also happened. Belgium immediately withdrew all troops, other countries evacuated their citizens. The Hutus were given free rein.

Ten Belgian soldiers' lives lost was all it took to make the world run with its tail between its legs and then stand by while nearly a million Rwandans were systematically slaughtered.

Could the murder of our soldiers have been avoided? General Roméo Dallaire, the Canadian in charge of UNAMIR, drove past Camp Kigali and saw the blue helmets fighting the Rwandans but did not stop because he had to go to an important meeting. He expected them to be treated with respect under the Geneva Convention. Moreover, he argued, the Belgians were being held by the Rwandan army in their own barracks. Invading those barracks  of the Rwandan military by the United Nations would be viewed as an active participation in the conflict and would expose the peacekeeping force even more to danger. In any case, our soldiers have been let down big.The Belgian Memorial Camp Kigali was established by the Belgian authorities on April 7, 2000 on the spot where their lives ended so horribly. A tribute to our ten murdered peackeepers but also a place to reflect on how Rwanda was later abandoned by the world.

Upon entering, you cannot miss the barrack where our paratroopers were brutally murdered. The bullet holes and grenade impacts are still a chilling reminder of what happened here. The place where they fought for hours and eventually found peace in death. There is also a small memorial garden containing ten granite obelisks, each representing a paratrooper. Each stone is identified by the soldier's initials, and each pillar has a number of notches corresponding to the age of the fallen. Every year, the families still gather here to commemorate. 

It is a small site, but historically important,  and the bullet holes still present make it real and tangible. The raw authenticity of pure emotion. Only two-handful of people died here, but they are the first deaths of the genocide. The genocide that subsequently gripped the country for a hundred days began with their death.

And then there is the great Genocide Memorial in Kigali. Not only a place erected as a memory, but also the place where about 250,000 victims of the genocide are buried under concrete slabs. The monument was opened in 2004. 

In addition to the cemetery, there is also the Genocide Archive of Rwanda which gives an insight into genocides worldwide and in particular, of course, those of Rwanda. In this way one hopes to make people understand where genocide ideology and their consequences come from. With its historical documents, photos and video material, it is a poignant exhibition. Even more emotional are the testimonies of the survivors. Testimonials from Rwandans who have seen their parents, siblings or grandparents murdered before their eyes. How incredibly resilient this population is when you see how many people retook their lives and make the most of it, but with heavy scars on their hearts and souls. A good example of how man can bend but not break and looks to the future with optimism. By the way, did I see a smile there, the beginning of ‘a million smiles’?