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Downloaded from the Humanities Digital Library Open Access Books Made Available by the University of London Press Downloaded from the Humanities Digital Library http://www.humanities-digital-library.org Open Access books made available by the University of London Press ***** Publication details: Reconciling Rwanda: Unity, Nationality and State Control by Jennifer Melvin http://humanities-digital-library.org/index.php/hdl/catalog/book/ reconciling-rwanda DOI: 10.14296/0420.9781912250400 ***** This edition published 2020 by UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY HUMAN RIGHTS CONSORTIUM INSTITUTE OF COMMONWEALTH STUDIES Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom ISBN 978-1-9122504-0-0 (PDF edition) This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. More information regarding CC licenses is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses In July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic RWANDA RECONCILING Front (RPF) set out to stabilise and secure Rwanda, a country decimated by genocide. This mandate was later extended to include the herculean task of promoting unity and reconciliation to a population torn apart by violence. More than two decades later, these goals appear to have been achieved. unity, nationality and state control nationality and state unity, Beneath the veneer of reconciliation lies myriad programmes and legislation that do more than seek to unite the Spectators listen to testimonies given by defendants population – they keep the RPF in power. at gacaca in Burema, Kigali Province, Rwanda, In Reconciling Rwanda: Unity, Nationality 5 May 2009 and State Control, Jennifer Melvin analyses the highly controversial RPF and its vision of reconciliation to determine who truly bene ts from the construction of the new post-genocide Rwanda. How does a country reconcile “in the wake of genocide? In Rwanda in 1994 neighbour killed neighbour; dehumanising propaganda stirred up unresolved grievance, and one in ten of the population died. Melvin examines how the Rwandan government has tried to eradicate impunity while nurturing national unity. Her understanding of the gacaca process, where courts based on traditional justice provided swift justice, is ground-breaking. Her objective analysis shines a much-needed light on a modern challenge: how do fractured and traumatised societies come to terms RECONCILING with individual responsibility for atrocities while nding a shared truth? Rebecca Tinsley, founder of Waging Peace RWANDA Jennifer Melvin Jennifer Jennifer Melvin’s meticulous critical Unity, nationality and state control “analysis of the post-genocide Rwandan regime’s policies for national unity, reconciliation and justice shows that in reality they served rather di erent JENNIFER MELVIN functions. It deserves to be widely read. Martin Shaw, author of What is Genocide? HUMAN RIGHTS CONSORTIUM Critical Studies in Human Rights Reconciling Rwanda: unity, nationality and state control Jennifer Melvin Critical Studies in Human Rights This interdisciplinary peer-reviewed series investigates a wide array of human rights issues from diverse intellectual perspectives. It seeks to move beyond standard academic approaches to embrace critically engaged scholarship, creative non-fiction writing, and works that take positions on the issues. The series interrogates the human rights-related dimensions of phenomena such as colonisation, genocide, ecocide, reconciliation projects, racism, poverty, indigenous peoples’ rights, corporate power and extractive industries. Following Colin Samson’s ground-breaking work A World You Do Not Know, this is the second book in the series. Jen Melvin’s superb critical study of the Reconciliation project in Rwanda is a significant contribution to empirical and theoretical understanding and will be vital reading for students and scholars of post-genocide politics in Rwanda. More generally, it makes a significant contribution to wider debates on reconciliation projects and transitional justice, identity politics and difference and the sociology of human rights. Professor Damien Short Reader in Human Rights Director: Human Rights Consortium Series editor, Critical Studies in Human Rights © Human Rights Consortium, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2015 ISBN 978-0-9931102-0-7 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-9122504-0-0 (PDF) Institute of Commonwealth Studies School of Advanced Study University of London Senate House Malet Street London WC1E 7HU Cover image: Rwandan flag Contents List of images v Abstract vii Acknowledgements ix Acronyms and abbreviations xi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) government departments Glossary of Kinyarwanda words xv Chronology of key events xvii Introduction 1 1. Contribution and engagement 23 2. Conflict in context 45 3. Gacaca: justice and reconciliation at the community genocide courts 75 4. Nation-building and a return to unity 97 5. Teaching the nation: reconciliation through education 117 6. The functions of ‘national reconciliation’: political images of Rwanda 141 7. Conclusion 167 Bibliography 177 Index 205 List of images 1.1 Map of Rwanda (source: Wikimedia Commons) 1 2.1 Placard in Murambi, southern Rwanda, indicating mass graves upon which Opération Turquoise soldiers played volleyball during the final stages of the 1994 genocide (author’s photo, 3 February 2009) 61 3.1 Spectators listen to testimonies given by defendants at gacaca in Burema, Kigali Province, Rwanda (author’s photo, 5 May 2009) 80 3.2 Sign commemorating the ‘Jenoside Yakorewe Abatutsi’ (Genocide against the Tutsi) at former Ecole Technique Officielle, Kicukiro, Kigali Province (author’s photo, 7 April 2009) 88 6.1 President Kagame’s name spelled out by supporters at an RPF election rally, Amahoro Stadium, Kigali (author’s photo, 18 July 2010) 141 Abstract In the 1990s, a number of countries including Guatemala, El Salvador, and Bosnia and Herzegovina implemented conflict resolution mechanisms to confront legacies of past violence. This ‘paradigm shift’ away from the traditional judicial methods of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals sought to engage directly with personal experiences of those who were affected by mass human rights abuses and violations (Kritz, 1996, p. 128). Growing academic interest in this approach to conflict resolution is evident in literature about truth commissions and the concepts of unity and reconciliation more broadly. This volume contributes a case-specific analysis of the National Unity and Reconciliation Programme in post-conflict Rwanda to the broad sociological study of reconciliation and human rights. This book seeks to uncover and interpret how Rwanda’s official reconciliation programme functions in social and political practice. It utilises a social constructionist framework to provide a nuanced, theoretical and empirical understanding of how the stated commitments, power dynamics and political interests of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) government inform this programme. Moreover, this book critically analyses the National Unity and Reconciliation Programme according to its own internal logic, international human right standards, and the theory and practice of reconciliation as a peacemaking paradigm. Rwanda’s official programme is shaped by three major themes: justice; nation-building; and an interpretation of Rwandan history referred to in this work as the ‘victor’s narrative’. The volume examines how these themes reflect changing political interests and conceptions of unity, identity, and ‘national reconciliation’ as defined by the RPF. It argues that Rwanda’s National Unity and Reconciliation Programme is far from an exercise in equality and engagement in the legacies of past violence. Instead, it promotes a singular national identity secured by a distorted narrative of the past and ambitious vision of future development. As such, this programme is best understood as a nation-building and state-legitimisation project that bolsters the political control of the current RPF regime. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Damien Short for guiding me through the process of writing this book. I am grateful for his immeasurable support, advice and encouragement. I would also like to thank Lars Waldorf, Paul Havemann, Leo Zeilig, and Colin Samson for reading early drafts of my work and providing constructive suggestions that helped to shape this volume. I am indebted to Rwandan friends and research participants who took the time to share their experiences and perspectives with me. Their words gave life to this project. My family deserves a special thank you for the encouragement and confidence to complete this book. I am also thankful for the support given to me by the Kent family. I wish to thank the St John’s Rotary Club and the Central Research Fund at the University of London for partially funding my fieldwork in Rwanda. I also wish to thank the International Journal of Human Rights, the Journal of Human Rights in the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Advisory Bureau for the opportunity to publish papers that emerged from this book. Finally, for your patience, advice, humour and love, thank you to Jack. 12 RECONCILING RWANDA Acronyms and abbreviations AFDL Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo) AI Amnesty International ASF Avocats sans Frontières (Lawyers without Borders) CDR Coalition pour la Défence de la République (Coalition for the Defense of the Republic) CHRI Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative CLADHO Collectif des Ligues et Associations de Défense des Droits de l’Homme
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