By Grace Mugabe

A group of 50 university students from American universities and the Christian University of Mukono in Uganda arrived in the country on April 27, to learn more about post-genocide Rwanda. Addressing the group, the Permanent Secretary for the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, Pastor Emmanuel Gatera, implored the students to convey what happened in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide.
“You have moved around the country and I believe you have seen the atrocities committed in this nation. It’s horrific and I implore you to take this message to the rest of the world,” Gatera told students during a session held at St. Etienne Church Public Hall, in Nyamirambo. He said that there were opportunities for exchanging educational programmes, and noted the newly-constructed Christian University, on the outskirts of Kabuga town, would enhance such programmes.

Following the 1994 genocide, in which a million people lost their lives, the country needed to deal with the complex issues of punishment, justice and retribution.  It was clear that the European-styled justice system was not the only way to go. This is why it began searching for alternatives in 1998. In 1999, this led to the proposal of an alternative justice system: the Gacaca jurisdictions, a new system of participatory justice (a reworking of the traditional community conflict resolution system) in which the whole of society would take part. In July 1999, the government published a paper on the "Gacaca jurisdictions", which was the follow-up document to a series of discussions with a number of groups of representatives of the Rwandan population and the international community. After several redrafts, the "Gacaca law" was adopted and published in March 2001.

Faisal Kanamugire, a Gacaca legal officer, told the participants that Gacaca came as a result of what happened in 1994. “A story of Rwandan Genocide is like the Biblical story of Abel and Cain. It is Rwandans who killed fellow Rwandans; the genocide is unique in its own way because it was planned and executed within 100 days,” Kanamugire said, adding that structures like the judiciary were in shambles.
He further noted that the few judges the country had then were killed, while many others participated in the genocide. “We had to come up with the Gacaca courts in order to help the country solve the cases through justice and reconciliation,” Kanamugire said. He added: “The government of national unity established a law that punishes genocidaires. Formerly, the country didn’t have such a law, and this prompted the past regime to support ethnic cleansing.”

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