The government has embarked on a campaign which it says will foster true reconciliation and forgiveness among Rwandans.

What began as a youth initiative organised by Imbuto Foundation and the Ministry of Youth and ICT, aimed at seeking forgiveness and doing away with the legacy of genocide as the country attempts to bury its ethnic past that pitted Hutus against Tutsis and led to the 1994 mayhem, has now turned into a national campaign.

During a Youth Connekt event at the end of June, a debate that was aimed at encouraging children born to Hutu parents or relatives to apologise to Tutsis and to say “Never Again” in their own name was started.

Some high-ranking government officials – including the Prime Minister Dr Pierre Damien Habumuremyi and the head of Itorero, Boniface Rucagu – led the way, apologising for the sins committed by Hutus against their Tutsi compatriots.

However, the Youth Connekt initiative was to be highly criticised, especially by opposition groups operating outside Rwanda, who accused the current government of using the programme to victimise Hutus through collective guilt.

READ: Genocide: Debate rages on over call for apology

Debate has been raging on the programme, which some say could set the country 19 years back by undermining reconciliation achievements registered since 1994 and at the same time bring back ethnic divisions in a populace which was beginning to see itself as Rwandan and not Hutu, Tutsi or Twa.

The initiators of the programme, which is now backed by the government, however defend it, saying it is not a way of resurrecting ethnicity in the Rwandan society but rather a channel through which what befell Rwanda during the dark days can be discussed and addressed as a way of entrenching true reconciliation and forgiveness.

Addressing a retreat for journalists and musicians that was aimed at charting the way for the campaign, whose name has now been changed to Ndi Umunyarwanda (I am Rwandan), the Minister for Defence, Gen James Kabarebe, said there will be no policy, decree or government framework under which it would be implemented.

Entirely voluntary

“It is entirely voluntary,” said Gen Kabarebe.

“There is no policy document, there will be no instructions whatsoever, but the government supports these initiatives which bring people together to speak about their past and, if necessary, apologise on behalf of others if they deem fit to do so.”

The forgiveness programme is a brainchild of Edouard Bamporiki, a film producer who, through his Arts for Peace initiative, started the campaign for Hutus to apologise to the Tutsi on behalf of those who committed crimes, mainly their relatives.

Mr Bamporiki says while he or his late father could have not participate in the genocide, he took it upon himself to speak about the issue of ethnicity and apologise on behalf of his Hutu relatives who took part in the killings as a way of reconciling Rwandans and doing away with the burden of guilt and hate.

The initiative was to be supported by the Ministry of Youth and ICT, the First Lady’s Imbuto Foundation and the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC), among other government institutions, who felt the campaign was timely.

Break the silence

Youth and ICT Minister Jean Pierre Nsengimana said the campaign was not aimed at bringing Hutus to their knees but rather it was an initiative for people to break the silence, discuss the way forward and move away from the shackles of the past.

According to the initiators, the campaign is more deep-rooted than just one group of people seeking forgiveness from another.

They say it is a platform for Rwandans to know the history of their country, especially how the divisions amongst Rwandans arose and pitted Hutus against Tutsis and eventually escalated into hostilities.

While the government admits it is a delicate path, it reckons that it is the only way true reconciliation can be achieved if the problem of ethnic divisions is to be tackled from the causes and not keeping quiet and covering up issues yet they could blow up in future.

President Paul Kagame has backed the programme, saying that for a people to co-exist one group had to own up the wrongs committed on the other on behalf of those who committed them.

This way, the head of state said, even young people (who were either too young or were not born in 1994) will be “liberated” from carrying the burden of their parents and relatives.

As Gen Kabarebe put it, there has been some sort of silence that has haunted many Rwandans who live with the burden from the past which was passed on to them, and that if such people want to come up and speak out and shed the burden and guilt they should be given an opportunity to do so.

Shot down by critics

“No one will be forced to come up and apologise, but, again, why should we deny an opportunity to someone who wants to get rid of the guilt and burden they have been carrying for many years?” he asked.

The intervention by top government officials and scholars to redirect the course of the forgiveness programme came at a time when the campaign had been shot down by critics, especially exiled politicians.

Former Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu, ex-defence minister BEM Emmanuel Habyarimana and many other exiled opposition politicians were quick to dismiss the campaign as discriminative.

Minister Nsengimana however says the essence of the campaign was in the first place misunderstood and misconstrued to send a wrong message that the government was going to force all Hutus, including children, who did not witness the genocide, to apologise.

The campaign comes on the heels of a NURC report which shows that at least 30.5 per cent of Rwandans still look at themselves in the ethnic mirror while 40 per cent still think that genocide is possible again in Rwanda.

The reconciliation barometer showed that, were it not for the government, another civil war would have erupted in Rwanda because of ethnic divisions.

Deeper reconciliation

To prevent this from happening, Dr Jean Baptiste Habyarimana, the NURC executive secretary, said Rwandans need to break the barriers and reach out for deeper reconciliation, which could be rooted in forgiveness.

“People have done it before and it has worked,” he said. “We have evidence at the commission. They do it in groups, individual to individual or village to village. Some of these initiatives have actually not been reported but they have been ongoing.

“I don’t know why people are showing concern now.”

After a raging debate, Mr Nsengimana suggested that the name of the campaign be changes so as to remove any ethnic-related confusion and his suggestion was adopted.

However, opposition from outside Rwanda remains.