I
have read many books and journals articles on the nasty 1994 Rwandan genocide
including the classics by Phillip Gourevitch, Gerard Pruinier, but this one by
Malagasy journalist is unique in that it gives voice to the killers, the mass
murderers called the interahamwe in the local Kinyarwanda language. Most of the
thousands of books, films, newspaper and academic journals on this genocide
perpetrated by the Hutu against the Tutsi in 1994 focused on the origins,
course and other ugly scenarios, and the survivors or refugees. But this book
gives the parole to the men and women who killed, killed and killed up to i
million Tutsi in a period of 100 days in April to June 1994.
From
this book, we learn that the killings were done not by trained soldiers, but
ordinary farmers, clerks, mayors, bar owners and drifters many of whom had
never killed before, and who up to that fateful
April 4 1994 when the volcano of
hatred erupted, lived nicely with their Tutsi neighbours. Then suddenly,
cutlasses which used to cut grass and coffee beans were now killing tools. Few
guns were ever used in the genocide. Machetes, cheap and easy to carry and hide
did the nasty mass murder.
The
author traces some of the jailed confessed killers to their prison cells and
interviews them: he wanted to know what made good men become cold killers of
their neighbours overnight. All the men he spoke to confessed to murders, and
many were contrite but most were expressionless, meaning that they did not regret their cowardly deeds. This is
explained by the strong dose of hatred which the media controlled by the Hutu
extremists such as Radio Milles Collines diffused to the public. No doubt
certain nasty journalists such as Hasan Ngeze of the Hutu racist press are to
die in jail following his sentencing by the Rwanda tribunal last year.
This
was one reason why ordinary bakers, fishers, teachers were overnight turned
into professional murderers. In some instances, the killers recount how they
fed in goat meat, drank wine and sang Hutu extremist songs before starting
their attacks on Tutsis, p.6, 8.
Such
was the wanton callousness of the genocide which Hatzfeld’s book has brought
out very well.
This
is an excellent book. It is highly recommended for the general public,
especially students of history and politics for it gives an insight into the
brutality of our age, the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
Available
at Timbooktoo.Tel:4494345
