Friday, March 20, 2009

Hutus....tustis and Progress

Politics seem to have engulfed me and covered me. i am seating listening to PBS...and listening to the oncoming victorious(or seems so) rise of Rwanda.
Maybe many Burundians and Rwandese have watched Hotel Rwanda and understood that it was worse than this. Two countries...two civil wars..same struggle? Hutus and Tutsis have been fighting, and in both countries each ethnic group has struggled for that seat of presidency since independence, if not before.
I have lived the hate between the Hutus and Tutsis, and almost paid the price with my life. I was among the celebratory gangs when the first Hutu President was elected...and I was among those who ran away from the bullets when the Tutsis decided enough was enough.
Forgive me for making this struggle so simple...but believe me, I know that it is more complicated than this.
The international community is praising Kagame, a man who led uprisings and an army that killed thousands. They are praising his vision for economic growth (which is what the community wants to see) What Rwanda needs is ABOVE ALL economic growth....so says some of the experts. What about the fact that this economic growth is benefiting only one side....? or the fact that Justice is a one-way street. Hutus face criminal charges, and Tustis walk with the bank account. So seriously, how is this going to bring unity? Hutus and Tutsis alike were both offenders and victims of this war....and allow me to be naive and say that Justice is possible...But why not?
Kagame...an offender himself, is supposedly bringing an new china in Africa. All really good reasons. However, I am afraid that we have another Fidel Castro in the making. He suppresses the identity of the people. If you are a Hutu, you are a Hutu...and unfortunately your ethnicity has committed some acts against human rights. If you are Tutsi, you are a Tutsi, and you are part of an ethnic group that took part in injustice. Eventually, the hatred that will(and is) harboring in the people of Rwanda is going to explode...and the international community ( like always) will wonder "What happened?"
Politics are hard, but let us not praise murderers and call them heroes. Unfortunately my own country is far from ending the civil unrest...but at the same time, I dont want a country that I have loved as my own to end up in the same Mass funeral.
Lets not forget that Fidel Castro, Robert Mugabe and idi Amin were all hailed as great liberators.....
So, while the world is thirsty for good news from Africa...lets not be hasty about good news that might turn into a bigger problem.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i actually think you should run for presidency in Burundi..lol...
you are so passionate about politics and stuff..

dmuragijimana said...

No thanks...I prefer to live than be assassinated