The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

always lived together as brothers prior to the colonial period. Certainly,
there were power struggles at court, but when it came to defending the
territorial integrity, the whole population rallied without distinction. Every
adult male went to the front to defend the integrity of the country. Everything
started with the colonial ideology, which spawned the ideology of
genocide against the Tutsi.” (Report, p. 161)
During the 1930s, a massive programme of Christianization was carried
out. The Catholic Church thus became the educational institution for
Rwandan children. It played a special role in virtually wiping out the traditional
culture and religion of Rwanda: “The culture of Rwanda has
been killed, and no people has survived the death of its culture.” (Report,
p. 157). In 1959, the first Hutu massacre of Tutsis occurred in Rwanda,
and many people fled to neighbouring countries. In 1961, Rwanda was
proclaimed an independent state, and the Hutu majority took power. Tutsis
continue to be persecuted or excluded from the life of society, and
murdered. Neither at the national nor at the international level did anybody
take note of the persecution of the Tutsis: Since killing Tutsis had
become normal, nobody cared, either nationally or internationally. “Nobody
was ever punished for killing Tutsis between 1959 and 1994. Thirtyfive
years of impunity. Rwanda has become the largest producer of
refugees.” (Report, p. 160)
In answer to the question as to why the genocide became possible, certain
socio-cultural factors must be considered. The colonial masters and
the Catholic Church destroyed the identities of the people in Rwanda,
and forced them to see themselves as deficient and in competition to
one another. They were told that they belonged to different ethnic
groups, and that one ethnic group was better than the other two. They
were told that they had come to Rwanda from different areas, first the
Twa, then the Hutu and finally the Tutsi. “The Tutsi obtained, without
their knowledge, three poisoned gifts: racial difference, racial superiority
(which earned them a monopoly on power), and alien status. The Hutu
were relegated to the margins, a marginalization which would lead to
resentment, then to conflict … and finally to the violence of 1959 that
led to the genocide of 1994 ...” (Report, p. 164). In 1959, the issue of
the separation into a Hutu country and a Tutsi country was raised; in 1960,
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