We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda

Rwanda’s prisons were filled beyond capacity with Hutus arrested for genocide-related crimes. There were 125,000 Hutus incarcerated by the end of 1997 (242). At one prison, over 6,000 men occupied a space for 750; there was no room to sit. Prisoners often “suffered from an atrophying of their swollen extremities and from rot” (247). When one prisoner was released because of insubstantial evidence of his participation in the genocide, he and his family were murdered three days later. With the killings of “prominent civic leaders” (246), the Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, both Hutus, resigned and went into exile. Kagame defended the new government by citing the number of RPA soldiers in jail (246). Yet, even he recognized that it was neither practical nor possible to place all who were guilty on trial.

Ideally, those who organized and planned the genocide would be arrested and put on trial. Rwandan investigators drew up a list of 400 “masterminds and master implementers” (252). Unfortunately, all were in exile. Some were in African nations, where they had the protection of dictators. Instead of helping to turn over as many of the perpetrators as possible to Rwandan authorities, the UN created its own tribunal for those who could be caught.