Think of genocide and prejudice, hatred, violence and death come vividly to mind. But can genocide be prevented? Is it possible to reverse the destructive cycle that leads to it, developing in its place virtuous circles through which understanding is fostered and peace built?
Could a fragile reconciliation lead to forgiveness, a growing unity, hope, and that most elusive of human conditions – peace?
All this might sound highly fanciful, especially when applied to a geography with the tribal and colonial histories of central Africa. It’s only 21 years, of course, since one million people were killed in a brutal genocide in Rwanda.
Yet, something remarkable has happened since in this mountainous nation of ten million people, with personal stories of reconciliation not only building peace within its borders but also spreading the message to neighbouring countries where there has been a repetitive pattern of bloodshed and violence.
For the first time, survivors of one genocide are becoming active participants in preventing mass slaughters elsewhere. Campaigners stress that this is very much a work in progress. Yet the initial results look promising and, vitally, such initiatives are being driven by the communities at risk.
Take the Central African Republic (CAR). A year ago, it was widely seen to be on the verge of genocide, with tens of thousands of people displaced by brutal ethnic and sectarian violence. Against all expectations, just 12 months later there is hope for the future. It’s fragile, but it’s there.
What happened? Personal testimonies and storytelling have played a part. Guided by peacebuilding non-profit Aegis Trust, survivors of Rwanda’s genocide have taken their personal experiences of suffering, and their stories of reconciliation and hope, directly to the people of CAR, with some astonishing results.
Personal Testimonies
Freddy Mutanguha lost 80 members of his family, including his parents and four of his siblings in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide when he was 18.
Now Africa Director for Aegis, leading its peace education work from its base at the Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali to Eastern and Central Africa, he says he and Aegis’s founder and chief executive James Smith heard about the violence in CAR in 2013 and decided they had to act.
“Rwanda was abandoned by the international community during the genocide,” says Freddy. “We couldn’t do the same to people in CAR. We didn’t want them to say: ‘You knew what was happening, why you didn’t do anything?’
“We knew the violence was in the name of religion, and faith leaders could help stop it. So, during the 20th commemoration of Rwanda’s genocide in April 2014, we invited Christian and Muslim leaders from CAR to Rwanda to hear our story.”
The visit was a success, with the religious leaders asking Aegis to organise a return trip to CAR’s capital city, Bangui, in September 2014 to see what was happening there. That, recalls Freddy, was a “frightening and harrowing experience”.
“The country was destroyed, the people in despair,” he says. “It was just like Rwanda after the genocide. My heart broke for them.”
Rwandan genocide survivors spoke in churches, at public meetings and on the nation’s radio and television, telling personal experiences of violence, loss and division.
They also spoke of how survivors and perpetrators in Rwanda have built new lives through forgiveness and reconciliation. The reactions were dramatic.
“People wept; they embraced,” says Freddy. “One woman stood up and said: ‘If you are ready to forgive the people who killed your entire family, I also am ready to forgive the people who killed my son."
“We had a deep effect on people simply by telling our stories. Our shared experience brought us together. We showed these broken people that hope and reconciliation is possible even after such terrible events.”
Alain Lazaret saw from the inside what Freddy was witnessing externally. “I grew up in the Central African Republic,” he says. “To see it tearing itself apart was heart-breaking.
“I’d been in Rwanda two years when I met Freddy and Aegis. They helped me understand how Rwandans united to rebuild their country. It glowed like a spark, that working for peace is the most important message that anyone can have.”
The September visit to CAR involved a roundtable event, with about 150 attendees across religious, ethnic and tribal divides.
Powerful Memories
Alain has poignant memories of its effect. “A Muslim lady stood up and spoke of her son who was murdered, and a Christian lady told how she was raped and her husband killed,” he recalls.
“Everyone was weeping; they realized the effect of violence on both communities. They saw themselves not as enemies, but as survivors together. It was a very powerful moment.”
Political leaders took notice. CAR’s interim president Catherine Samba-Panza asked Aegis to build a memorial for peace and reconciliation in Bangui.
Then in May this year the interim government organised a peacebuilding forum that was attended by 700 people and broadcast on radio to the nation. Rwandan genocide survivors travelled to Bangui to tell their stories and again there were powerful results.
Alain remembers sitting in a car whose driver was listening to the broadcast testimony of a Rwandan man who had demonstrated forgiveness by marrying the daughter of the murderer of his own parents.
“The driver started sobbing,” Alain recalls. ‘Such courage, tolerance and forgiveness,’ he said. ‘We need Rwanda to stand by our side, and help us find peace too.’”
LeAnn Hager is CAR country representative for Catholic Relief Services (CRS), a partner of Aegis, World Vision and Islamic Relief in the CAR Inter-faith Peacebuilding Partnership.
She says she has seen genuine positive progress towards peace, with some of the nation’s armed groups signing accords stating that they want a truce, peace and reconciliation.
“I truly believe we are creating history right now,” she says. “In the past there has been a coup d’état in the CAR every seven years on average. But the past two years has been much worse in terms of the level of violence, and the prolonged brutality.
“Many people see a resemblance between the genocide in Rwanda and what has happened here. Like in Rwanda, mass and group hatred rose up very quickly and manifested itself in horrific acts.
“There are half a million displaced people in CAR, and close to half a million refugees outside of the country. There isn’t an individual or a family that hasn’t been affected in one way or another.
“But now from Rwanda we have the example of hope, and how communities and individuals can come together; how a country can turn itself around. The possibilities are tremendous. There are real changes taking place.”
Raising Funds For Peace
Building peace needs resources and James Smith and Glen Ford, Aegis’s director of strategic development, took the message to the U.S. in September, 2014, meeting U.S. state department officials, businesses and individuals in a bid to raise funds.
Within a few weeks, philanthropists Rick and Nancy Moskovitz, and Jon and Linda Halbert, executive producers of the Rwandan cycling documentary Rising from Ashes, had come forward to offer support. Aegis subsequently secured other pledges to an online challenge fund to support its regional Africa strategy, including CAR, and address concerns about ethnic violence in South Sudan and Kenya. Support came from the London-based Pears Foundation, Strive Masiyiwa, an African business leader and founder of Econet Wireless, and Houston-based John Montgomery, founder of Bridgeway Capital Management and the Bridgeway Foundation.
The CAR Inter-faith Peacebuilding Partnership, which Aegis joined in March 2015, is also in the final stages of negotiating a five-year grant of $3.5 million from USAID for work on peace education and global engagement, and another $5 million of private support, including partnerships with Palo Alto University and John Hopkins University to provide expert support on trauma healing in CAR.
Rick Moskovitz sees his donation as an investment in peacebuilding that has already yielded returns. “The most remarkable evidence of success,” he says, “was the agreement the week after the Bangui Peace Forum by leaders of both sides of the conflict to release 350 child soldiers into the care of UNICEF. These children can now be rehabilitated from the conflict and hopefully get back what is left of their childhood.
“The Central African Republic has backed a step away from the brink of genocide and continued war. These are remarkable achievements in a very short time, and a priceless return on our investment.”
James Smith feels genuine progress has been made. “The situation in CAR is now much more settled, and there’s some hope and optimism,” he says.
“Many people refer to CAR as the world’s forgotten crisis and this renewed optimism is mixed with a fear that reduced tensions and violence in CAR will also lead to a dearth of support, when this is most needed.”
"The funds raised may seem a lot but CAR is the size of Texas. The payback from breaking cycles of hatred is substantial, but this requires social investment - an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.
"On average it costs just $50 to put one person through Aegis' peace education program, and evidence shows a strong multiplier effect, as people become agents of positive change. Every $50 adds up to creating an army of peacemakers. We really all can make a difference."
Aegis's website here gives more details, but those directly involved in the peacebuilding are also progressing their personal journeys.
Alain Lazaret has moved back to CAR with his family to become Aegis’s country co-ordinator in CAR. “We cannot rebuild our country from the outside,” he says. “We need to be inside to make a difference. We were on the verge of genocide.”
Freddy Mutanguha meanwhile, has begun to talk about how genuine reconciliation means reaching out not only to victims of violence and genocide but also to their perpetrators.
“For me, this has been transformative,” he says. “Now we want to reach more hearts and minds. People in these situations don’t think reconciliation is possible, only revenge. We showed them that forgiveness is possible; peace is possible. It may take a long time, but the most important thing is to begin the journey.”
