WITH a bare chest, he tills a piece of land in Rwanda, whistling away as if happily tilling his farm. However, he is actually doing a punishment.
As he tills the land where some of his victims were buried, the old man is sorry and only hopes that one day he will forget what he did. “It is time we put the past behind us and focused on ationbuilding.
I am alive because of reconciliation,” says the 45-year-old Habyarimana, as he rests his hoe on
the ground.
Habyarimana is one of the thousands of genocide perpetrators doing community service as a punishment
under the auspices of GACACA.
There are two camps –– one in Ruyumba district in Gitatarama province and another in Nyanza in Butare
province.
The camp in Ruyumba has 798 people doing community service as an alternative penalty to imprisonment. These are people who have confessed with 798people doing community service an alternative penalty to imprisonment. These have confessed through GACACA courts.
The camp in Nyanza has about 200 people building houses for the vulnerable people including survivors of the genocide.
By next year, the executive committee of GACACA will organise other similar community services. Gacaca is a traditional court system in charge of trying perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
There is great hope that GACACA will continue to propel the reconciliation process in the country.
Rwanda’s future looks bright amidst efforts to forge national unity and reconciliation after a ghastly genocide that left close to one million people dead.
Since its inception in 2004, GACACA has moved from a pilot phase to a national phase.
“Previously, we were working on only information gathering sessions, but now GACACA is also trying people.
From January 15, 2005, we launched trials in pilot sectors. By January 2006, we shall host trials in the whole country. Already GACACA courts have tried 3,700 people since March 10,” says Domitilla
Mukantaganzwa, the executive secretary, national service of Gacaca Jurisdictions.
“GACACA is a local translation for a certain specie of grass, which forms lush lawns to look like a
carpet. In the past, elders would sit on these lawns under a big tree to amicably settle disputes in communities.
This is something we thought would bring the problem and its seriousness at the heart of the community,” Mukantaganzwa said. The capacity to handle the cases is slowly picking up.
“We are training judges picked on merit depending on their moral standing and reputation in society. We are conducting national training to prepare judges specifically those going to try cases of
the second category. By the end of January 2006, trials for the second category will start in the remaining sectors,” Mukantaganzwa says.
The success of GACACA has mainly come from increased mobilisation of the population. This has been demonstrated by the fact that the number of people confessing is about 65%. In other prisons, it is about 85%. There are thousands of people doing community service after confessing through the mobilisation drive.
However, Mukantaganzwa notes that cases of witnesses being killed are still common.
“When the project was at pilot level, we had serious problems including killing of witnesses. This is still a big problem. Just last month and this month, we had cases of witnesses being killed. It is a sign that we have to mobilise again, but so far, we are on course.”
In each district, every resident knows when the GACACA courts sit. Even key personalities including those in government have gone to local courts when summoned.
Last year, the remains of many genocide victims were accorded decent burial. They were identified after confessions by the genocide perpetrators during GACACA courts. They disclosed where they buried their victims.
“This is a big achievement in light of GACACA objectives. People know who killed their relatives and
where their bodies are,” says a resident of Gitarama who lost four members of his family in the genocide.
Associations of perpetrators and survivors have sprung up with a common agenda –– to push for
national reconciliation and development.
In prisons, the perpetrators say apologising is not enough; they deeply regret their actions.
The reconciliation process has come a long way. It started with the adoption of the African traditional way of settling disputes. It has been a long journey, but the benefits are slowly being
realised.
In traditional Africa, there were mechanisms of conflict resolution, which were costeffective
and time-saving.
However, with time, colonialism and modernity eroded the cherished traditional systems. But for Rwanda, decades after colonialism, they turned the hand of time to employ the traditional modus operand in conflict resolution to bring justice after the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
With thousands of people to be tried in the face of limited resources, Rwanda opted for GACACA, a traditional system that was long ago used by ancestors in dispute settlement within communities.
“GACACA is a local translation for a certain specie of grass, which forms lush lawns to look like a carpet.
In the past, elders would sit on these lawns under a big tree to amicably settle disputes in communities. This is something we thought would bring the problem and its seriousness at the
heart of the community,” the Executive Secretary National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions said.
Mukantaganzwa says between 500,000-800,000 genocide perpetrators will be tried for genocide-
related cases.
In 1994, the government faced an enormous task of handling genocide cases. By 1996, about 120,000 people were in detention in Rwanda over genocide crimes.
“Yet by then we had only 12 and 244 prosecutors and judges respectively in the entire country. What government did was to embark on a country-wide massive training of people without any knowledge of law to give a helping hand,” she adds.
At the end of 1996, a law was passed to create special chambers in courts of first instance specifically to deal with the genocide problem.
In 1999, an evaluation of the special chamber’s performance was conducted and it revealed that only
5,000 people had been tried out of the 120,000.
Working at that pace meant the country needed 100 years to try 120,000 people. On the other hand, there were also cases other people seeking justice.
Realising this problem, the government called religious leaders, civil society, the business community and all Rwandans to specifically find a solution to the genocide problem. At the end of
the consultation, GACACA was born.
In 2000, a law legalising GACACA was passed, but based on key specific points. The genocide perpetrators were categorised into four groups:
- The first category were the planners of the genocide including, coordinators and politicians.
- The second category were murderers.
- In the third were those who committed crimes like inflicting injury, but not killing.
- In the forth category were those who destroyed property.
The ultimate aim of GACACA is to encourage people to confess and apologise for the crimes they
committed in the spirit of national reconciliation.
The judges a.k.a Inyangamugayo (people with integrity) are chosen by the community. They do not
have any formal qualifications, but the community recognises and respects them. Most of them are
opinion leaders held in high regard.
GACACA operates through 751 courts at the cell level. All these courts were involved in investigation
work. Issues that come up are; how the genocide was planned; by who; who did what? The work of these
courts was to piece up all the information related to the genocide.
The result of this work is a pile of 12,000 files of cases ready for trial. Already, about 2,400 people have confessed in GACACA courts. Another 390 people have been freed by GACACA courts because the community exonerated them.
Currently, there are 9,013 courts at the cell level and 1,545 courts at the sector level. There are 12,103 courts countrywide.
GACACA investigates and categorises the genocide crimes and is going to try the suspects in category two and three. Courts at cell level will try suspects in the third category, while the sector court of the first instance will try suspects in the second category.
GACACA is a huge project and a lot of resources both human and financial are needed to run it. The government of Rwanda alone cannot fund this project.
Funding is still not enough. When the process began, there was enthusiasm from the international
community and a lot of support came in.
“But as we progress, the interest is reducing now. That is why we are expediting the process before
donors completely lose interest because this is a worthwhile project and an important milestone in the reconciliation process.”
Tourism boosts growth
TOURISM was identified as one of the key economic drives by the government way back in 2001. All indicators show that Rwanda tourism has consistently met its target-visitor numbers and length of stay. The sector has also exceeded its average receipts expectations.
“Our vision was to generate $100million in tourism receipts annually by 2010 with a target in mind of 70,000 tourists. This was based on the assumption that the tourists would be staying in the country for seven days and spending 200$ per day,” says Rosette Chantal Rugamba, Director General Rwanda Office of Tourism and National Parks.
Rugamba says to date it is estimated that on average tourists are staying for four days while their expenditure has doubled from the projected $150 to $250. This has been coupled with a 17% increase of international tourists in 2005.
“It would be wrong to judge development on figures only, the quality of tourists visiting are exactly in line with our strategy, we are beginning to see the true eco-tourists who are very much interested in nature, its preservation and also keen to spend extra days to understand our way of life and our culture,” Rugamba adds.
Country wide conferences on tourism have painted a promising picture about the future of tourism. This has not only generated income for the country but also boosted the image of Rwanda.
Provincial leaders are beginning to see the need to be partners in the unleashing of tourism potential in their provinces and protection of natural assets. The army and police have been great stakeholders in the preservation of natural resources.
Tourism cannot prevail in an environment that is not peaceful. The government of Rwanda has created an enabling environment for tourism to flourish. The government has taken a lead in setting up tourism infrastructures that will set the trend and bridge the gap as private investors come on board.
Product Development
Although gorilla tourism seems to be the focus, there has been a lot of diversification of products, which have played a role in having a large number of tourists staying in the country longer.
Nyungwe was declared a National Park bringing the number of protected areas to three. The area of the new park includes the Cyamudongo forest in the southern part of Cyangugu Province.
The rising numbers of tourists in the park has shown steady growth of 40% since 2001.
Akagera National Park, whose area was reduced to its one third after massive repatriation of former refugees, was fully rehabilitated and its infrastructure (roads, hotel) receive increasing numbers of visitors.
The tourism industry has also experienced a boost in terms of investments from the private sector. Indeed about 50% of the existing hotels have been built in the last 11 years and most of the national tour operators are less than 10 years old, the improved services from tour operators have played a tremendous role in the achievements the country is celebrating to date.
Marketing
Tourism has played a role in image building. Rwanda has been participating in international fairs like WTM in London and ITB in Berlin and New York Adventures.
In March this year Rwanda took fourth position at the Berlin fair among 57 African stands.
The results have started showing. This is also reflected in the listing of Rwanda in more than 30 brochures of international tour operators
Capacity building
A memorandum of understanding was signed between a Canadian consortium and the Ministry of Education. A hospitality school is expected to start operating by 2006.
Community sensitisation
With the structure of Rwanda Office of Tourism And National Parks (ORTPN), a department of community conservation was created to sensitise the communities around the park about the importance of these parks both in terms of conservation and tourism. It is in this light that the revenue sharing programme was established and this year 42m Francs were disbursed to the communities around the park.
Plans for the future
The diversification of products is a priority in the tourism strategy. A lot of potential still exists outside the existing sites, which also need more improvements. For example the lake activities on Lake Kivu in Gisenyi, Kibuye and Cyangugu like fishing sport, boat cruises and development on islands in lake Kivu.
With adequate accommodation, these areas will definitely attract tourists and investors in the region.
In the national parks, emphasis will be put on buffer zones demarcation and development with the intention to protect the parks and reduce conflicts with neighbouring communities. Development and maintenance of infrastructure in and around the parks will be essential in the day-to-day management and tourism development.
Exploiting the full potential in every province, especially the non-traditional sites, could complement Akagera National Park. this would also stretch to bountiful scenic views like the Nasho area, Rusumo waterfall and many other sites that are still unexploited.
Rwandan culture is unique and constitutes a valuable tourist attraction on its own. Its developments are definitely an added advantage to the visitors who come to Rwanda especially the explorers who have been identified as one target segment of the visitors.
The tourism office is working tirelessly to make sure that tourism statistics will be available in line with other countries in the world as soon as possible.
Capacity building will continue to be a priority both for ORTPN and the whole tourism industry.
Challenges
There are still challenges for the industry that are worth mentioning both in conservation and tourism
There are problems in protected areas like the fires in Akagera, poachers and cows, the issue of gold miners in Nyungwe, honey harvesters and fire in the park. Encroachment on national parks, bamboo cutting, lack of water just to mention a few, all continue to pose a serious threat to the protected areas and are a major source of conflicts between tourism officials and the locals.
Capacity building in the service sector is also needed from hotels, restaurants to taxi operators, immigration and the sensitisation about the tourism culture. There is need to have institutions at higher level that provide the necessary requirements needed for better service and business management.
There is urgent need for access to financial capital. Use of credit cards will greatly help the industry. Maximising on linkages between institutions, stakeholders and government bodies is very much needed to reduce waste and duplication. There is also urgent need to synchronise policy and implementation at all levels.
There is also a challenge in investment in the tourism sector, which remains relatively low. It is important that the private sector gets involved more aggressively in order to attain the objectives that the tourism sector has set.
Despite the challenges, the Tourism industry is on course to achieve its objectives through continued support from stakeholders, government and striving to build capacity in the tourism Industry in Rwanda.
