RWANDA NOT SO INNOCENT WHEN WOMEN BECOME KILLERS August 1995 PO Box 3836, Kigali, Rwanda Tel: 00 250 501007 Fax: 00 250 501008 Web: www.africanrights.org Email: [email protected] Table of Contents Acronyms and Explanatory Notes .......................................................................................... vii SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 4 The 1973 Watershed: Women Come Into Their Own As Allies Of Killers .................... 5 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................... 10 LENDING A BIG HAND IN THE MASSACRES AND KILLINGS .............................. 14 Women who Led the Killings .......................................................................................... 15 Bernadette Mukarurangwa .................................................................................... 15 Félicitée Semakuba ................................................................................................ 19 Léoncie Nyirabacamurwango ................................................................................ 20 Maman Aline ......................................................................................................... 21 Women Who Were Coerced Into Killing ......................................................................... 22 Women Among The Crowds Of Attackers ...................................................................... 24 Athanasie Mukabatana .......................................................................................... 27 Louise Uwamahoro ................................................................................................ 27 Gaudence Kantwaza .............................................................................................. 28 Women Accused of Killing Their Husbands and Children .............................................. 29 Intimate Murders: Women Who Turned on Their Neighbours ........................................ 31 Madeleine Senguri ................................................................................................. 33 Spéciose Mujawayezu ........................................................................................... 34 Jeanne Mukamugemana ......................................................................................... 35 Solina Rwamakombe ............................................................................................. 36 Mme Suzanne ........................................................................................................ 36 Girls Complicit in The Murder of Fellow-Pupils ............................................................. 36 Solange Uwamahoro .............................................................................................. 37 Marie Louise Uwizeye ........................................................................................... 38 Angéline Musafiri .................................................................................................. 38 Gaudence Uwamahoro .......................................................................................... 38 Alphonsine Uwizeyimana ...................................................................................... 39 Singing In Praise Of Genocide: Ululating The Killers Into Action ................................. 39 Betraying The Hunted ...................................................................................................... 39 Looting The Dead ............................................................................................................. 44 Women Who Encouraged Their Men To Rape ................................................................ 44 MINISTERS IN THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT .......................................................... 49 Pauline Nyiramasuhuko .................................................................................................... 50 Agnès Ntamabyariro ......................................................................................................... 58 ADMINISTRATORS OF DEATH: LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ................ 59 Rose Karushara: The Butcher of Kimisagara ................................................................... 60 Odette Nyirabagenzi: The Terror of Rugenge .................................................................. 67 Euphrasie Kamatamu: Stalking Muhima .......................................................................... 72 Madeleine Kankuyo ......................................................................................................... 77 Thérèse Nyirabititaweho .................................................................................................. 77 Mamashura Mwajuma ...................................................................................................... 78 MESSENGERS OF DEATH: JOURNALISTS WHO PREACHED GENOCIDE ........ 79 Valérie Bemeriki .............................................................................................................. 80 Stéphanie Nyirasafari ....................................................................................................... 82 Agenesta Mukarutamu ...................................................................................................... 82 THE UNTHINKABLE: NUNS WHO JOINED THE KILLERS .................................... 84 Sister Gertrude Mukangango and Sister Julienne Kizito of Sovu, Butare ....................... 84 Sister Bernadette Mukarusine, Sister Bénédicte Mukanyangezi, Sister Josephine 102 Uzamukunda and Sister Pétronile Nyirabirori of Shyorongi, Greater Kigali .................. Sister Elizabeth of Nyamasheke 104 TEACHERS AND SCHOOL INSPECTORS .................................................................... 106 Angéline Mukandutiye ..................................................................................................... 106 Bernadette Nyirabukeye ................................................................................................... 111 WHEN HEALERS BECOME KILLERS: DOCTORS, NURSES & EMPLOYEES OF 113 MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS ............................................................................................... Elianne Mukahirwa .......................................................................................................... 114 Nurses at the University Hospital in Butare (HUNR) ...................................................... 117 Employees of the University Centre for Public Health (CUSP) ...................................... 120 Dr. Jeanne Nduwamariya ................................................................................................. 124 Mme Siméon Remera ....................................................................................................... 128 Nurses at Kigali Central Hospital (CHK) ........................................................................ 129 Josephine Mukaruhungo ................................................................................................... 132 Laurence Nkundabanyanga and Patricie Kanyarengwe, Maternity Hospital, Gisenyi .... 133 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 136 ACRONYMS AND EXPLANATORY NOTES AVEGA Association of the Widows of the Genocide of April 1994 (Association des Veuve du Génocide d'Avril de 1994) CDR Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (Coalition pour la Défense de la République) CND National Council for Development (RPF headquarters from December 1993) FAR Rwandese Armed Forces (Forces Armées Rwandaises) GP Presidential Guard (Garde Présidentielle) MDR Democratic Republican Movement (Mouvement Républicain Démocrate) MRND National Revolutionary Movement for Development (1975-91) and National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (1991-4) (Mouvement Républicain pour le Developement et la Démocratie/Mouvement Républicain National pour la Démocratie et le Développement) PDC Christian Democratic Party (Parti Démocrate Chrétien) PL Liberal Party (Parti Libéral) PSD Social Democratic Party (Parti Sociale Démocrate) RTLM Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines RPA Rwandese Patriotic Army RPF Rwandese Patriotic Front UNAMIR United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda Inkotanyi is used to refer to the RPF by both its allies and opponents. The term, which means "fierce fighter" in Kinyarwanda, was the name given to one of the battalions of King Rwabugiri in the nineteenth century. Inyenzi, meaning "cockroach" in Kinyarwanda, is a term of abuse for the RPF made popular by the Habyarimana government. The term has another connation; after the massacres and expulsions of Tutsis in 1959-63, a group of refugees, called Inyenzi, tried to stage a comeback and were defeated. The term was intended to imply that the RPF had the same objectives, and was equally destined to fail. "Refugee": The vast majority of the people we interviewed referred to those who fled their homes and places of sanctuary as "refugees," although they were not refugees under international law, not having crossed an international boundary. Throughout the report, we have used the term as it has been used by Rwandese themselves, except when, due to the context, there is a danger of