Chesa's Rwanda Photo Album
Chesa's Ethiopia Photo Album

Rwanda publishes most wanted list of genocidaires. We met the quoted attorney this week.

Article by the Amazing Gabi, Rwandan jounalist for Hirondelle News agency:

CLAMPING KILLERS AND SURVIVORS TOGETHER


By Gabriel Gabiro


Shyorongi, February 18th, 2004 (FH) – After a brief wait inside a stuffy little house in the middle of a thick banana grove, a small shy man dressed in tired farm clothes and a flat cap made of part cloth, part red mud emerges from the front door clutching a machete.


One can’t help but immediately try to visualize to how many uses Evariste Ahimana, 50 and a confessed killer, may have put the soiled machete in his hands. At the start of the 1994 genocide, Ahimana and a group of his ethnic Hutu friends and fellow farmers swept through the hills and valleys of this remote Central Rwanda town of Shyorongi rummaging through all possible hideouts for their Tutsi neighbours before killing them. For the ‘work’ - a popular euphemism for ‘killing’ - they used machetes, cudgels, hoes, axes or any other farm tool they could lay their hands on.


Seven months ago, Ahimana, together with over 10,000 other confessed genocidaires were released after spending varying periods in detention. This followed a presidential decree issued in January 2003 for the release of suspects that had been (or risked spending) in detention without trial longer than they would serve should they be convicted, as well as confessed criminals that had served most of their time in jail.


Rwanda’s recently enacted genocide law provides for reduced punishments for peasants like Ahimana, especially when they confess and express remorse before a prosecutor. Confessed criminals who are not suspected of being master minders of the genocide, committing rape or having been ‘distinguished’ killers, serve half of their sentences outside prison doing community work in their areas. Reconciliation is the underlying principle of this law.


Ahimana pleaded guilty to clubbing to death a Tutsi neighbour and erstwhile friend called Mulinda. “We picked him up from a house where he had been hiding for some days”, narrates Ahimana. “Then, as you know, those were days of killing”, he adds before looking away, seemingly expecting one to imagine what had followed.


After a pause, Ahimana, still facing away, volunteers details of how he, in the company of five men, attacked and killed Mulinda and several other Tutsi men. “I personally killed Mulinda. I repeatedly hit his head, stomach and back using a cudgel”, he says, adding, “We had been told by the authorities that we had to kill or we would be severely punished. I regret what I did”.


Prior to his release from jail, Ahimana like all the others were taken for a mandatory three month ‘solidarity camp’, a kind of rehabilitation centre. Top on the subjects taught there were reconciliation and the importance of asking forgiveness from victims and their families.


‘I haven’t been to their home’


From the time Ahimana returned to his home after nine years in jail, he admits he hasn’t visited any of Mulinda’s surviving family members to ask for forgiveness. “I’m planning to go and see his younger brother and his sister one of these days”, he says as he peels some dry mud from his arms.


Mulinda’s sister and brother live about five hundred metres away from Ahimana’s house. From the yard of his house, Ahimana points at both locations.


Asked again why he hadn’t been to see any relative of Mulinda’s as encouraged by the authorities, Ahimana remains evasive. Then, once more facing away, he mutters something to the effect of the necessity to first probe if he is welcome at Mulinda’s relatives. He denies harbouring any fear for what would happen if he visited the Mulinda’s. “I have seen his brother a couple of times as I went to church. I have also seen his sister”, he says. “Each time, we exchanged quick greetings and continued our way”, he adds.


A trip to Mulinda’s


Then, albeit with a little hesitation, Ahimana accepts an invitation from Hirondelle to go find Mulinda’s brother and talk to him a little more than exchanging quick greetings.


Once inside François Munyambabazi’s living room, it is difficult to even suspect that anything ever went wrong between them. Both men show respect and calm.


“He hasn’t asked me for forgiveness”, says Munyambabazi. “But I’m ready to forgive him. That is what this country is all about. It is about giving people second chances regardless of what crimes they committed”, he calmly adds reclining in a chair. Ahimana quietly listens.


After a long positive speech that would impress any reconciliation enthusiast, Munyambazi with an expression of ‘its-your-turn-to-speak’, looks at Ahimana.


“What we did is a shame”, Ahimana explains. “When I look back at those days, I can’t believe it was me. Worse still, I can’t understand how I did this to your family”, he adds. Like Munyambabazi’s speech, Ahimana’s is a near photocopy of the spirit of the policies sung by all authorities in Rwanda day in, day out.


But, when quizzed further about his feelings towards the man sitting before him - a man that brutally killed his brother and presided of the killings of his father and his younger brother - Munyambabazi can no longer keep behind the façade.


With his index finger pointing at Ahimana, Munyambabazi angrily speaks out. “Look, you have no guarantee to life as long as you haven’t asked for forgiveness from me and my family”, he says shaking his head. “I can shoot you. In fact, get out of my house quickly”, he adds. “These people have no truth. Get out of my house”, he repeats.


Ahimana, with a face of more fear than surprise, mumbles a farewell and quickly walks out of Munyambabazi’s house.


Other cases


Ahimana and Munyambabazi are not an isolated case. Across Rwanda, victims, killers, suspects and their families are struggling to understand the dynamics of being neighbours as they used to about ten years ago albeit in totally changed circumstances.


Jean Tuyisenge, 38, returned from jail and resettled on his little property with his wife and three children in the East Rwanda district of Bicumbi last May. He was released after pleading guilty to killing two young men from his neighbourhood.


He says he is now a changed man. “I feel terrible about that period. I wish I hadn’t been there”, the well-built farmer says quietly.


Tuyisenge has been working on his small farm since his return. However, he admits he hasn’t done any work on asking for forgiveness from relatives of his victims. “They live quite far away; I need to prepare a lot before I go to see them,” he explains.


Walking away from Tuyisenge’s house, his cousin points at a woman walking along a narrow path in a maize plantation. “That is the lady Tuyisenge was talking to you about”. The lady is one of the relatives of Tuyisenge’s victims whom he said live “quite a distance away”.


Tansiana Mukarwego’s house is 50 metres from the point where she was. “Those people are unrepentant”, she says. “I have seen him pass by several times. I can’t stop imagining that he is still a beast”.


“We shall even share water”


Whereas most of the released killers and suspects interviewed by Hirondelle hadn’t visited families of their victims to ask for pardon, some appear to have started to mend their relationships.


The first stop for Theoneste Habimana, 32, on the day he was released from prison last May, was for the family of his victim. “We saw Theo appearing through the front door. He put down a sack containing his belongings”, recalls Maria Mukamusoni, the mother of Habimana’s victim. “We didn’t know what to say to him. He asked for mercy. We didn’t know what to do”.


Today, Habinama and Mukamusoni both admit that even as good neighbours, they need time to return to pre-war friendship. “I’m sure we shall even share water (a domestic practice that symbolises friendship between neighbours) in future”, says Habimana.


“Personal initiative”


Spokesperson for the ministry of justice, Fidele Masengo denies any suggestion that a process normally flaunted as a quick route to reconciliation and co-existence after the genocide may not exactly have worked.


“Reconciliation was not the reason for the release of these people. It was purely a judicial process”, says Masengo. However, he concedes reconciliation was a major consideration in the drafting of the genocide law that has relatively reduced sentences. A law that Ahimana has benefited from.


“Reconciliation will take longer. We can’t put a deadline. It will come as people meet more and more in their day-to-day activities”.

Bernadine and Chesa write:

"Our time in Rwanda is moving way too fast for us to keep a detailed account of everything we are seeing and doing. Even if we could find time to write about it, there is no way our words could do justice to the intensity of what we are experiencing.

Since we last wrote to you, we have visited the Murambe genocide site, the National University of Rwanda at Butare, the Kigali bar association, the Commission on Unity and Reconciliation, visited a widows’ survivor organization Avega, went to the Kigali Court of 1st instance, and perhaps most shockingly, went to Central Prison 1930.

But for now, we will write about yesterday’s visit to Central Prison.

The prison is a five minute drive from our hotel, a large brick compound built by the Belgians in 1930. It is, like all prisons here, barely minimum security by US standsards, being imposing in the front, but open to the hills and the Kigali neighborhoods in the back. There were a few dozen guards, some with rifles, some with billy clubs, and over 7,000 prisoners – apparently a majority genocidaires. Presumably the vast majority of prisoners were Hutu and we went in with our Tutsi guides and interpreters several of whom are survivors who had never before been in a Rwandan prison.

We walked through the men’s section, the juvenile section and the women’s building. There is no way we can adequately describe what we saw and felt. All the male prisoners in Rwanda have pink uniforms – strange to our eyes. Many of them are outside the main compound and go out to work on community maintenance projects every day. The prison is paid for their labor, but they are not. The outer perimeter is “secured” by a few gates, some of which are sealed with a thin rope, others with nothing, not even a guard. We asked prisoners who spoke English why they do not try to escape, and one said, “Only petty thieves would try to escape.” A confessed genocidaire told us that he would hurt his family if he escaped, that he deserved to be in prison (“I belong to prison” he said), he trusted the new government and God, and he would be caught. There is allegedly a culture of obedience in Rwanda that may contribute to this.

Our tendency, both of us, was to identify with prisoners and their humanity, and it became more intense when we walked through large crowded courtyards packed with thousands of people, and looked into their living quarters which resembled slave ships. Five beds high, row after row without any space in between, each bed was too small for one person, each bed had two people in it during the day and presumably two more in each during the night. Each prisoner has just over 1 sq foot. We peered down a long corridor and saw two heads in each cot. Most prisoners seemed eager to shake hands, say hello, look us over curiously (“muzungu” or white person), but others were understandably upset with our voyeuristic invasion of their already infinitely-invaded privacy. It was overwhelming to see how many people, many of them hateful, brutal killers, fathers, sons, brothers, and no doubt much more, were crammed into a tiny space. Heads and arms and legs kept appearing. It was absolutely overwhelming. The people were crushed into small spaces everywhere, and we could hardly breathe.

The woman head-prisoner told us “We are very sick”. HIV/AIDs I asked? Yes and malaria, TB, cholera, dysentery – there is a large clinic apparently operated by the Hutu doctors who are prisoners. The people looked relatively healthy – not emaciated, not with the oozing eyes and running open sores of prisoners we have seen in South Africa. But the possibilities of disease in these conditions is incomprehensible.

All of a sudden we were out of the men’s housing section in burning hot sunlight, face to face with a mass of juvenile offenders crammed tightly behind a thin rope. Some adult males followed us and we all stood there talking to them in small groups, looking at the kids pressed tightly together, listening to the sweet singing coming from the prison chapel next door. Then as we entered the chapel, we walked along the line of juveniles greeting them with Muraho, Bonjour, Hello, Ca Va, and Amakuro and shaking as many outreached hands – so many that it was often two small hands in our one – making eye contact with as many people as possible. Supposedly they were in transit to a juvenile reformatory but who knows how long they will be stuck there.

Even our Tutsi hosts, many survivers, were outraged by the conditions. When we came out on the other side of the chapel, we were on the outskirts of the prison compound with nothing separating us from the shanties of families living “on the street” going down the hill – in the shadow of the prison with prisoners in pink walking thru their back yards freely. In the near distance, was a gorgeous lush green valley between two steep rolling hills – a typical Rwandan skyline.

Some of the male inmates were still following us and we stopped to talk to one of them who spoke fine English, still in view of the crowded benches of the chapel.

This man was one of the few hundred genocidaires who had confessed just last September 2003, although he had been in prison here for nine years. He was a second lieutenant in the Rwandan Army and he confessed to killing five people in Gisenyi– specifying their names, the method of killing, their families, his remorse. He told us that he felt that he had confessed to the victims, the community and to God. I asked whether he killed in his role as soldier and he said yes but he touched his head with his hands and said “we all went crazy”. He also told me walking along that there were other massacres after the genocide, did I know about those? This he said out of the hearing of our Rwandan guides (Tutsi).

Another prisoner confessed to having been part of an Interhamwe militia that took part in the massacres, after which he fled to Zaire where he stayed in a refugee camp for two years. When he returned to Rwanda in 1997, he was accused and incarcerated. He has been in prison since, teaching English to other prisoners. Both of the confessed genocidaires we spoke with hope to get out (perhaps as part of a mass comutation at the anniversary?) but don’t seem highly anxious about it. They said they sometimes receive visits from family, but they are only allowed 3 visits per week, for 3 minutes each.
We did watch the “visiting room” for a while. It is a series of long low wooden benches outside the prison gates, with prisoners on one side and visitors on another. There did not seem to be any security procedure for incoming visitors.

One of our Tutsi hosts, Emmanuel – who is a survivor whose entire family was killed – said that he believed the confessions because they had to confess in front of a large group and so although they then receive a reduced sentence, because it is so public they have decided to actually tell the truth and clear their heart.

The women’s section was smaller than the men’s but equally crowded. There were very old women as well as young women and 27 children who were still living with their mothers. They were sewing, many, on old treadle Singer sewing machines, singing and praying. One wore a T-shirt, a donation no doubt, that said in huge letters: Kill Them All. The children eagerly approached us. One boy latched onto Chesa’s hand and wouldn’t let go.

There were several times when we came close to breaking down in tears: listening to confessions, holding hands, seeing the living conditions, holding the young boy, and thinking about the massive numbers of lives destroyed. Of course it reminded us of Cook County Jail, also holding 7,000 people under dehumanizing conditions. In addition to the security distinction, the other dramatic feature of Central Prison was the relative quiet and calm. Compared to the din of US prisons and jails, it was striking. They also denied that there is significant violence among the prisoners, and it seemed that there was not. The Rwandan prisons are certainly prisoner-managed.

We left to go to the court of 1st impression, where we met a fantastic presiding judge named Fred. But that’s another story."

Hibiscus flowers in Rwanda are very shy. They bloom
with their subtle sweetness of honey, yet they do not
dare allude to the fact that ten years ago the streets
were ridden with violence, blood, dehumanization,
hatred, fear. Utter Chaos.

The hilltops in Rwanda are very secretive as well, for
they shine in bountiful green beauty without as much
as a hint that they once formed a basket of hell.

Joggers and regal Rwandan women too fail to convey the
fact that at one point in recent history health and
beauty was a luxury.

Yet entrenched memories do linger through the thick
humid air, jumping from hilltop to hilltop.
Occasionally the skies open up and tears flow. It is
this daily rain that reminds me of the sorrow
permeating Rwanda. But even then the rain is also a
reminder of life, sustenance and relief. The
freshness of the air after a late afternoon rain is
always therapeutic.

According to a survey, 99.9% of Rwandan people
witnessed and/or experienced serious violence or
killing. Memories pervade nearly every individual
aged over ten. Men, women and children alike
suffered.

It is this constant tension in my brain between horror
and disbelief, which often renders me at a loss for
words and analytical thoughts.

All I am left with currently is amazement.

Remarkable is the ability of those at the genocide
memorial to relive the horrors every day day so that
people can move forward in the hopes of preventing the
return of genocide.

Remarkabe is the amount of ingenuity, dedication and
hope that is required in the establishment of unique
forms of delivering justice. Although Gacaca is not
perfect, it is a beginning step toward reconciliation
and reconstruction.

Remarkable are the women's groups dedicated to
providing trauma support, job opportunities, health
care, and child care for those whose families were
killed. Thousands of women were left behind with
nothing more than sorrow, HIV/AIDS, humiliation,
trauma and even pregnant with children of their
rapists. Yet they are able to mobilize. Perhaps they
were left with no choice.

Remarkable is the ability of Rwandans to adapt and to
allow life to move forward.

I cannot try to pretend that I even begin to
understand the complexities of post genocide Rwanda
and the emotions of the survivors. Right now I am
only a sponge, absorbing information. I am not ready
to respond critically in any way, shape or form. I
think that it takes time for such intensity to sink
in. But I am ready and willing to be witness to the
enduring strength and perserverence of the Rwandan
people.

Yesterday, as I was standing on the street, a
canary-yellow bug landed on my shoulder. It had the
shape of a white diamond on its back. Initially it
startled me until I realized that it meant no harm. A
random stranger looked over at me with a smile and
assured me that it was chance, or good luck.

I smiled back, thinking in admiration and amazement
about the Rwandans who still have enough heart and
optimism to speak of luck.

Bernadine write:

"Dearest friends,

Monday was our first full day in Rwanda.  We left by van and 4-wheel drive
land rover early in the morning for Butare, after stops to complete the
reservations for the gorilla trek next week, money-changing, water-buying,
and all the delays that accompany moving 15 people plus our incredible
guides and interpreters.

The countryside is everything that is written about why people from
everywhere fall in love with Rwanda and her people.  Lush green hills and
terraced farming, banana trees and deep red earth, elegant people making
bricks, farrming, and carrying things on their heads to markets.  It is a 2
hour plus drive to Murambi, which is on a high hill (as is everything here).
  There is a large new museum building under construction at the entryway to this
site, which was a place in April 1994 where 50,000 Tutsi were herded after
having sought refuge in nearby churches and schools.  They were murdered
here, all but 4 survivers, over a 3 day period.  Their bodies were buried in
3 shallow mass graves.

One of the survivers is an old man, he is 47 years old, who has a deep hole
at the top of his head from a bullet.  He was left under a pile of hundreds
of bodies, including those of his wife and children, and after a day made
his way to through the woods and after several weeks crossed the border into
Uganda.  He comes every day to offer to explain to people what happened.
When the government has money, he is paid by the Department of Youth, Sports
and Culture which is in charge of the genocide sites.

We will send you photos but it is impossible to describe how it is
experienced.  There are a terraced series of simple wooden barracks, long
with open window.  Inside each rather small room, perhaps 5 rooms to each
barracks, are wooden slatted benches or tables, with corpses who have been
covered in a sort of white plaster.  Some of the bodies have fragments of
clothing, a wedding ring, a few have hair.  Most however are simply bones
and teeth.  Some are curled up, some with arms outstretched, some encircling
a child.  Almost half of the bodies are children, some whole rooms of
children.  I always tell my students that half of the world's people are
children, but here it seems to shocking and impossible.

There are wildflowers growing outside, and the lavish green of corn and
beans and bananas growing, and the villages on the adjoining hillside.
There are people working to construct the museum that will open at the
entrace to the site.  There is ordinary life.

For two of our guides, it was their first time there.

Zack asked the surviver guide if he could imagine forgiving the people who
did this.  He said that the head of the town, the main perpetrator who
brought in the army soldiers and militias who did the killing, the official
was well and living abroad.  He said also that if people admitted what they
had done, he could forgive because what good would it do if he killed them
in retaliation.  He has an inward look to him.

Emanuel, one of our two main guides who is a law student at the University,
is himself a surviver and lost his entire family.

We then spent two hours with the Rector of the National University of Rwanda
in Butare, a physician who was out of the country for much of his life.

more tonight.  The students are fantastic.

all love to you.

Bernardine"

Chesa writes about Addis:

"i do want to tell you about our full day and night 20 hours in
Addis Ababa.  We arrived from long flights thru Rome at 9am and had 3
wonderful friends of an Ethiopian class mate of mine waiting for
us at the new modern huge air[port.  They all spoke very good English
and had been loaned cars from the National University to take us around
for the day.  We dropped our things at the Hilton where Ethiopian Air
gave us layover rooms and were off on a whirlwind which did not stop
until we crawled onto the plane at 3:55 AM the next morning.

We all fell in love with Ethiopia and plan to return.

Addis is high, 7,000 ft, with great dry sunshine and vistas.
There are 5 million people in Addis and 68 million in Ethiopia.  In
Ethiopia, there are more than 80 different ethnic groups but the most
amazing to us over the long day was the almost 50/50 Greek Orthodox/Muslim
nature of the population who seem to be highly secular as well as quite
religious and thoroughly integrated and cooperative.  Most of
the ethnic groups are represented in Addis as is clear from dress,
physique, etc but the main language is Amharic.  Life expectancy
is 41, and street children, disabled homeless, and prostitutes are a
constant reality.  But of course Addis has its share of Mercedes, Land
Rovers and luxury hotels and sees itself as the center of African
economic union.  The guides told us that the US embassy has over 1,000
people // dealing with terrorism in the region *Sudan, Somalia, Yemen
etc.

First we went to the national university and museum, which used
to be the site of Emperor Haile Selasie's palace and were we saw his
bed, his toilet and bathroom and his clothing.  We also got a brief
introduction to ethiopian history. The university is lovely and filled with
gardens, on a high hill.    We met the vice/chancellor of the faculty of
law, who studied in chicago at Northwestern.  In the front of the
museum/palace is a sculpture of 14 curving cement stairs
reaching up and going nowhere.  Each stair represents one year of Italian
fascist occupation.  

Then we went to one of Africa's largest markets, the Mercado
where we were promptly overwhelmed and bought almost nothing.  It is like
China in the bargaining, like La Marketa in Nueva York, like none of
those. We were surprised not to see food, and much was t/shirts etc.
Lovely fabric.

We went to Trinity Church, where Haile Sellasie and his whole
family are buried.  It and the gardens are lovely with a strange
juxtiposition of stained glass windows of a white Jesus and colleagues, and
Ethiopian nationalism in the person of Sellasie.  The church itself in
terms of both appearance and practice shows the influence of Islam,
Judiasm and Rastaffarian as well as Christianity  // for example there were
stars of David on the ceiling, the lion of Judah is a prominant symbol
throughout, and people are on their knees in a Muslim/like
prayer prostration.  All visitors take off shoes, as in mosques.  In
spite of all this, it is an orthodox Christian church.

We went to a coffee service, with cardamom, some drank beer of
every type.  We talked about the world.

Then we went to a dinner, a huge ethiopian traditional feast at
a tasteful, out of the way, beautiful indoor outdoor restaurant
where we ate wildly thinking of Ficre and danced until the wee hours to
outstanding traditional music from multiple ethnic traditions.
The music and dance were unlike anything we had ever seen, rhythmic
movement focusing on neck, shoulders and chest, with minimal
interest on hips and legs.  The musician, especially the drummer, and the
singers, were world class.  They kept us going even tho we had
not slept the night before. After most of our crew went to the hotel
to sleep for a couple hours before our flight to rwanda, i decided
to stay out and party with our guides, so they took me to two more
bar/clubs and we got to dance and drink ethiopian style all night long. It
was unreal.

We arrived in Rwanda at 5 in the morning, dazed and confused to
say the least.   But hard to miss the stark contrast.  The air here is
heavy with  tropical humidity, the green is lush and lavish, and the
present history is palpable /  at least to me."

Writing from the Hilton in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Some of Chesa's friends picked us up from the airport. We went to lunch, full on using hands real deal ethiopian. very spicy and very good. vegeitarian because this is a fast month in the ethiopian orthodox church. worried about my tummy but so far so good. Then went to the university and law school. On the ground of Halie Selassie's old palace. not as impressive as you'd imagine, especially normal blue porcelain bathroom. Bernardine ran into someone she knew. Part of campus a museum. interesting stuff on myth of Ethiopians being descended from king soloman and queen sheba. tons of religious artifacts. went to the Mercato, the largest market in all africa. very hectic, bought a charm necklace for justin and myself. small leather pouch with some kind of medicinal scroll inside. Found some antiqe pieces from the Falashas, but they were too expensive. Went to Holy Trinity Church, Where Halie Selassie is buried. Largest church in Eth. Beautiful stain glass windows of white God. Mural of HS before the league of Nations. Parishiners looked more Muslim than Xtian with women swaddled in white fabric. Ethiopia smells like Rwanda: white smoke, red dust and diesel fuel.

We arrived this morning at 8am and we leave tomorrow at 3am, so we don't even spend the night. Arrive in Kigali 5:15 manana.

ps

Maybe having drinks tonight with Bob Marley's Ethiopian son.

Hi All,
Arrived in London after a 2 hour delay and a 7 hour flight. Thank God for the IPod. Stopped by Ashlee House to drop off a suit and check out the accomodations. Cute enough. Now back at the airport waiting to check in at Ethiopia Airlines.
More upon arrival in Kigali.

Our Itinerary in Rwanda:

14/03/2004
Host students meet international students at Kigali Airport and take them to their hotel
Briefing from Rwanda partners
5pm Tea Reception

15/03/2004
Visit Murambi Genocide site, Law students, the National Museum and have a discussion with the Rector of National University of Rwanda.

16/03/2004
Visit survivor’s associations – AVEGA and IBUKA

17/03/2004
Visit the National Reconciliation Commission and have a discussion with the Executive secretary of the NURC
Meeting Ministry of Justice and have a discussion with Secretary General on participatory justice “Gacaca Juridictions”

18/03/2004
Visit the General prosecutor’s office and have a discussion with Ngoga Martin on the “Achievements of the ICTR and its relation” with the government of Rwanda and the survivor’s associations”.
Visit the Ministry of Gender and have a discussion with the S/G on the “Women’ Education in Rwanda and their participation in decision making organs”

19/03/2004
Visit the ORINFOR and have a discussion with Director of Radio and television Joseph Bideri on “the role of the media pre, during and post 1994 Genocide” and freedom of press in Rwanda.
Discussion with the Minister of Education
Visit the DED’s Center for Street Children

20/03/2004
Visit civil society organizations including IRDP( Institute of Research for peace and democracy)
Visit the Mountain gorillas in the Virunga National Park.

21/03/2004
Sunday
Visit the Ministry of defense and have a discussion on “the security in the great lakes within the post-Genocide times”.
Visit the Ministry of foreign Affairs and have a discussion with the Minister. Topic: Was the 1994 Rwanda Genocide preventable? The role of international community during and after the 1994?

23/03/2004
General evaluation and issuing of press release.
Thanks giving reception (invite the US Ambassadors and the Foreign Affairs Minister)
Cultural dance

24/03/2004
Depature

We will be staying at Motel Le Garni Du Centre in Kigali from 3/14/04 - 3/24/04
and at The Ashlee House in London from 3/24/04 - 3/28/04.

Here are a few Rwanda travel sites:
Lonely Planet
Official Rwandan site
State Department
CIA World Factbook

We leave for Kigali tomorrow night. Our route is Chicago-London-Rome-Addis Ababa-Kigali. If all goes well we will land in Kigali three days later, in the early morning Sunday March 14th.

Welcome to ZaqAtaq