Rwandans are commemorating the 1994 genocide for the 19th time. The welfare of survivors, the preservation of genocide archives are at the centre of debate this time round.

Jean de Dieu Mucyo, the executive secretary of the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG), spoke to Rwanda Today’s Emmanuel Rutayisire:

Take us through the 19th commemoration of the genocide.

The first week is characterised by low activity countrywide — that is from July 7 to13, when we visit Rebero Genocide Memorial Site. This is at national level.

After that, communities remember their dead on various dates at different places. We encourage survivors, local leaders and clinical psychologists to be present at these activities. There are also debates on how the genocide was planned and executed and how we have fared after the trying moments of 1994.

People discuss how the aspirations in the theme can be realised. People also assist needy survivors. Here I think we made huge strides; people donated cows, money and goods.

We also encourage organisations such as schools, hospitals and ministries to put up monuments bearing names of their staff or students killed during the genocide. The monument must tell the story of the victims — their life and how they were killed — as was recently done at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

Their photographs are displayed to preserve evidence of the genocide while staff at the organisations pool resources to help the bereaved.

In your view, what is the biggest challenge that genocide survivors face, 19 years down the road?

The livelihoods of the majority of survivors remain unimproved despite efforts by government and other players.

There is an initiative on housing headed by the Prime Minister, the budgetary allocation to FARG has been increased, doctors at Kanombe Military Hospital are traversing the country providing medical assistance to the victims....

The poverty results in psychological problems among the survivors, who live in a state of self pity.

But, in my view, trauma has been the biggest challenge to survivors. Some mistake trauma to be scars, mental disorders, but there are other extreme cases.

For example, there is a woman who used to produce breast milk in her sleep. Her baby was killed during the genocide and she would dream that she was breastfeeding it.

She has ‘lived’ with her baby for years, although I am told she has since recovered after her case was handled by professionals. Other women have had to live with unstoppable menstruation.

There are serious challenges — we need professional counsellors to talk to the survivors. It is disturbing.

How are far are the efforts to preserve evidence of the genocide?

We have a laboratory, donated by Cranfield University in the UK, in Murambi. Experts will show us how to make use of it in preserving the remains of the victims and the tools that the perpetrators used, such as machetes. We intend to begin with, say, 20 bodies.

Then we can continue on our own. We already have some specialised coffins. 

Further, we are in consultation with AEGIS Trust about digitisation of the documents. We have Gacaca files, but we call upon other departments that could be having documents related to the genocide to forward them to us.

I was recently in California to study how they are preserving the remains of the Jews (killed in the Holocaust); they very advanced, and they exhibited their willingness to assist us in this area.

Survivors have on several occasions complained about unexecuted Gacaca verdicts; how is this being handled?

This is a serious and challenging problem. In the majority of Gacaca cases the culprits own nothing; they are the poorest of the poor. But in some cases, relatives or sympathisers of perpetrators refuse to compensate the victims or offer low amounts; a Rwf1 million house can be undervalued to Rwf100,000.

The other problem is that there are many appeals by convicts to the contemporary courts to overturn verdicts handed down by Gacaca courts. This causes stress to the judicial system and, worse, forces the survivors to frequent the courts, which is costly in emotional and material terms.

It is traumatising. It negates the role of Gacaca courts in justice and reconciliation. I think the law should be reviewed to take care of this.

What are the preparations for the next commemoration, two decades later?

People should plan early for the next commemoration. It will be 20 years.

At the national level we are already making preparations, but if we have well prepared information right from the grassroots and organisations we will have a clear picture of how the genocide was planned and executed. This documentation also assists us to challenge the forces that negate the genocide.

I encourage people to disclose where the bodies of the victims were dumped; year after year remains are uncovered. People should take ownership of commemoration activities — at the organisational and individual level.