The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
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the period <strong>of</strong> the first two republics), <strong>and</strong> finally the ultimate transition<br />
<strong>to</strong> action (in 1994).<br />
<strong>The</strong>re were, as we have said, additional fac<strong>to</strong>rs <strong>to</strong> nurture <strong>and</strong> grow the<br />
idea <strong>of</strong> exterminating the Tutsis:<br />
Various authors have, each according <strong>to</strong> his or her own taste, taken one<br />
or the other <strong>of</strong> these fac<strong>to</strong>rs as the cause <strong>of</strong> the genocide; one could<br />
also argue that it was the combination <strong>of</strong> all these fac<strong>to</strong>rs which made<br />
the genocide possible or even inevitable, when the mixture reached an<br />
irreversible stage, a point <strong>of</strong> no return. But no single element – population<br />
pressure, poverty, etc. – can reasonably explain the genocide by itself.<br />
<strong>The</strong> following fac<strong>to</strong>rs are <strong>of</strong>ten forgotten or have not attracted<br />
enough attention from analysts:<br />
<strong>The</strong> harassment <strong>of</strong> the inyenzi<br />
<strong>The</strong> fear <strong>of</strong> Tutsi superiority<br />
Hutu triumphalism<br />
Burundi as a mirror<br />
<strong>The</strong> routine <strong>of</strong> killing, or the trivialization <strong>of</strong> the act <strong>of</strong> killing a Tutsi.<br />
<strong>The</strong> harassment <strong>of</strong> the inyenzi created a sort <strong>of</strong> obsessive complex in<br />
the country, the feeling <strong>of</strong> being constantly under siege, which lasted<br />
throughout the two republics <strong>and</strong> until the genocide. <strong>The</strong> inyenzi are<br />
cockroaches which attack under cover <strong>of</strong> darkness, <strong>and</strong> when light<br />
comes, are elusive. <strong>The</strong>y became a metaphor for the Tutsi, an irreducible<br />
force, <strong>and</strong> one impossible <strong>to</strong> get rid <strong>of</strong>; in short, the Tutsi/inyenzi became<br />
an image <strong>of</strong> a fate impossible <strong>to</strong> be rid <strong>of</strong>. Another symbol was the bird<br />
maten, which every morning buries its mother, who always returns <strong>to</strong><br />
its heels, <strong>and</strong> whom it must re-bury the next day, <strong>and</strong> forever.<br />
<strong>The</strong> fear <strong>of</strong> Tutsi racial superiority, inoculated by Western ideology, fuelled<br />
by stereotypes <strong>of</strong> colonial language, <strong>and</strong> transformed in<strong>to</strong> reality by the<br />
Tutsi monopoly on power, embedded itself among the Hutu like a cancer,<br />
<strong>and</strong> continued <strong>to</strong> gnaw , feeding a deep resentment.<br />
This obsession may explain the persistent animosity during the genocide<br />
with which the killer not only killed, but killed with refinement<br />
<strong>and</strong> jubilation (agashinyaguro).<br />
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