Remembering Rwandan genocide

Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and John Magufuli (L) of Tanzania light torch of hope at the Genocide Kigali Memorial Centre recently.

What you need to know:

Bloodbath. April 7 is a sad day in the history of Rwanda. It is the day when the 1994 genocide started. In a period of about a 100 days, nearly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus opposed to the regime of president Juvenal Habyarimana or who were relatives, partners, and friends of the Tutsi were exterminated in a State instigated genocide

“Uganda is the only country in the whole world that stood with Rwandese in their greatest hour of need.” This retired Flight Capt Michael Mukula, the NRM national vice chairman eastern region, told Witness at his home in Bugolobi, Kampala.

Capt Mukula and other Ugandans are known to have participated in organising fundraising functions and Rwandese music concerts in Uganda during the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) war.

The first ever television pictures aired on BBC television shot from Kasensero Landing Site showing the floating dead bodies from Rwanda was done with the help of Capt Mukula.

When the dead bodies started flowing into Lake Victoria, Capt Mukula got in touch with BBC correspondents in Nairobi, Kenya.
“I brought in BBC reporters from Nairobi and we flew over Lake Victoria to film those dead bodies. I remember Patrick Mazimpaka who was like the RPF spokesperson in Uganda telling me to ensure that the world knows that there was genocide happening in Rwanda. That is how BBC became the first media house to televise picture of genocide in Rwanda,” he says.

Later throughout mid-1994, Capt Mukula, Joan Kakwenzire, then from President’s office, Emmanuel Pinto (RIP), then Constituency Assembly delegate for Kakuto, Rakai District, as well as then Mpigi District central government representative, Victoria Namusisi, and others especially from areas near the shores of lake Victoria were among the “good Samaritans” who mobilised and participated in removing of the dead bodies brought in by River Kagera from the shores of Lake Victoria.

Burying in mass graves
Capt Mukula said although he had lost his personal friend Maj Gen Fred Rwigyema, the first commander of the RPF at the beginning of the RPF war in October 1990, when Pinto approached him to assist in the removal of the corpses from Lake Victoria, he did so in the spirit of Pan Africanism.

The captain also recalls an incident while in Kalisizo near Lake Victoria when Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala was devastated and burst into tears after the seeing a bundle of corpses which had been tired together with ropes. The cleric exclaimed: “Bikira Maria, Yezu Katonda waffe Tuyambe,” loosely translated: “Blessed Mary, Lord Jesus help us,” Capt Mukula recalls. “President Museveni made an effort to save lives in Rwanda. And he should be recommended for that,” notes the former Soroti municipality MP.
“When he [Museveni] had got in contact with the international community for assistance, he sent buses to cross into Byumba in northern Rwanda to save the lives of survivors in the territory held by the RPF.” Capt Mukula travelled in a bus with the wife of then prime minister of Italy, Maria Pia Fani. She was the Global Ambassador for Peace. She had come through Uganda, to take a genocide orphaned child to Italy for adoption as well as medical treatment.

Baby suckling a corpse
While in northern Rwanda, Capt Mukula witnessed one of the most heartbreaking scenes of Rwanda genocide.
“We were going house-to-house looking for survivors. We were being guided by the RPF [fighters] then suddenly in a banana plantation, we heard a voice of a child crying. What we saw was horrible. A baby of about three months was on the breast of her mother suckling, yet the mother was long gone. It was the most traumatising experience I had ever seen,” he narrates.

Another scene imprinted on Capt Mukula’s mind was seeing the First Lady Janet Museveni overwhelmed by emotion after seeing more than 140 children filthy, malnourished and severely wounded who had arrived at Entebbe airport on their way to Italy.
“I remember Janet Museveni personally bathed some of those dirty children who had deep cuts allover their bodies. About three times, she broke out crying. The sight of those children was too traumatising,” Capt Mukula reveals.

Because of his effort in fighting for humanity, in November 1994, Capt Mukula was given the International Peace Award by the International Peace Corps. Since last month, Mukula has been involved in the attempt to amicably solve the Bamba-Bakonjo conflict and to restore peace and tranquility in the ethnically volatile Rwenzori region in western Uganda.

Preaching against genocide

Last Saturday, April 9, the Rwandan Ambassador to Uganda, Maj Gen Frank Mugambage, addressed Rwandans, Ugandans and foreign diplomats who turned up at Gollo Mass Grave Site in Mpigi District at a function to commemorate 22 years after the genocide in Rwanda. Ambassador Mugambage without naming anybody told journalists that there are people in the region as well as in the western world who are promoting genocide ideology – and want to see another genocide in Rwanda. He, however, said that Rwandans are determined to defeat that ideology and its perpetrators.