Rwanda: escaping history

Getting ahead, looking past the past, Kigali Jan 8th-15th 2011

Those getting on board the plane tell you something about the destination you are going to. The flight from Johannesburg to Kigali on Rwandair, the country’s small but oddly endearing national airline, is nearly half empty and the passengers are a mixture of mildly prosperous Rwandans, mostly families, and a smattering of expatriates, who seem to be business people, aid workers and some young American women who are probably with the Peace Corps. Rwandans are discrete and courteous and there is little noise and no fuss.  My seat mate is a South African business consultant who is working with the Rwandan government’s business development agency, which he says has strong backing from the country’s president, Paul Kagame.

Ah President Kagame. This austere and enigmatic man who came to power as a rebel commander, has ruled for 16 years and, through force of will, helped bring the country back from the ruin of war and genocide to what it is now—a small, orderly and growing but still poor country that is infinitely more prosperous and safe place now than it has probably ever been. Kagame is an international star and a darling of the aid and development world, on a first name basis with Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, and someone who can match wits with world leaders and be comfortable in any forum, whether discussing trade liberaliation through the WTO or the impact on developing countries of global carbon trading. He is on record as saying his country must uplift itself through its own efforts and that it has no indefinite claims to the help or generosity of the rest of the world. This is a refreshing break from the entitlement and finger pointing of many African leaders and points to an important lesson that has been absorbed locally: self-responsibility.

He is also an authoritarian leader who has narrowed political space and in the last year overseen elections described internationally as deeply flawed. As a poster child for good governance and post conflict reconstruction, the more recently negative news begs the question of whether if, like many an African success story, Rwanda’s good news is drawing to a close.

The answer appears far more nuanced than this. With genocide a recent, not distant, memory, and the country’s entire independent history marked by violent ethnic conflict, Kagame and his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), predominantly the minority Tutsis on the receiving end of this violence, are not yet willing to trust their, or the country’s, future to competitive democratic politics. The political scene have been closely managed since the RPF took power in 1994 and put an end to the first bonafide genocide since the holocaust against the Jews, with 900,000 killed in 1994 in four months.

Appeals to ethnic identity or mobilisaiton are explicitly banned under Rwanda’s Constitution. Officially, ethnicity does not even exist, a refreshingly ambitious approach in a country where, despite the murderous past, it is difficult to define actual differences between Hutus and Tutsis who share a single national language, Kinyarwandan, and do not even have easily identifiable genetic or other differences beyond historically being agrarians vs pastoralists, a distinction that no longer exists. Despite these obscure origins the concept of sub-identities in a single state were real enough for most of Rwanda’s modern history, having been reinforced by Belgian colonialism and then taken further through cultural processes that ultimately became self-reinforcing, with the tallest, thinnest, most aquiline nosed people assumed to be Tutsis. Although the topic is officially frowned upon and discussion uncomfortable, the issue of the T-people and the H-people remains the great and unstated national issue in the country, a secret, and not so secret, sadness, that seethes quietly among a people known for discretion and watchfulness, even self-censorship. A public opinion survey will not tell you much in this country.

Despite its high mindedness, the government’s chosen approach has an ulterior motive and serves the interests of a governing elite that has become narrower over the years and power is tightly held. Beneath the surface this is an authoritarian government, even a police state, where there are clear boundaries and those who step outside them are acted against, often brutally. Those are not necessarily restive Hutu politicans, but Tutsis of any political stripe, including former government colleagues. But in now tightening the screws rather than loosening up after 16 years in power the government is storing up problems for the future.

The flip side of the argument is that it is order and discipline with a purpose, perhaps even a noble one: to keep ethnic politics at bay and put in place the policies for growth and poverty reduction that can uplift what is an extremely poor country. Kagame and his government are not faulted for ambition, and this tiny overcrowded country with few resources is, undeniably, making the best of the opportunities available to it, something that cannot be said of many others. That may be no bad thing—valuable resources are proven to be a curse in Africa and Rwanda and Rwandans have nothing but their own ingenuity.

Arriving at Kigali’s Lilliputian airport things are orderly and quick flowing and there are even crowds waiting after the arrivals gate, which is a good proxy for activity and vitality. More happily, there is none of the menace or pestering touts as with most African airports and a visitor will easily pass through without notice or bother.  With the taxi pulling away from the airport a telling billboard sign comes into view: “Foreign Investment yes, corruption no”. This is a strong statement into which you can read much about the country and its official goals, but seems primarily to be a message aimed at Rwandans from the governing authority. Almost on que that authority now comes into view as the lane ahead of us is shut down by security and the presidential motorcade, a dozen vehicles long, but composed of SUVs rather than Mercedes limousines, passes by on route to the city.

***

Kigali is a calm and orderly place where one feels safe and can walk just about anywhere in peace, day or night. That may not be the most exciting claim a city can make for its attractions, but does add to the almost small town charm of this green and pleasant place. It may also be the only city that, amazingly, has farms in the middle of it—the city is built on a series of large hills but the valleys are green and cultivated. There are more crowds and traffic than this correspondent’s last visit and there is even some big city buzz in this compact capital of a postage stamp sized country, hundreds of miles from the sea. But the main thing apparent is a quiet prosperity that is most noticeable to those who can recall the depths of its previous fall and the long climb back. And visitors to Kigali, whatever the current successes, can forget that this is a deeply scarred country that lives in the shadow of genocide, with victims and perpetrators living in close proximity to one another. Riding into the city centre every day on the back of a Motorcycle taxi, the cheap, fast, ubiquitous way to get around, one passes the old national parliament, pock marked by RPG and artillery fire, an abandoned hulk and reminder of that past.

The local press now seems less diverse and the main paper available, The New Times, has the dead look and feel of the state press. There are dull articles on shoring up the state pension fund, expansion at the University, and other, more telling, news pieces that point to darker currents beneath the surface. A Catholic priest has been arrested, tried and convicted, after preaching “divisive” messages to his flock, who are portrayed as hard working honest folk trying to pull together and implement the government’s programme in their area. The offending priest is pictured in the back of a small white pick up truck, manacled, but otherwise looking unperturbed.

And, there is one story straight out of the worst darkness of the country’s past: A senior commander of the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), the rump of the old genocidal Interhamwe, that has been fighting in eastern Congo for the past 15 years has defected from the movement, surrendered to the UN and asked to be repatriated to Rwanda, the country of his birth. The officer concerned, Lieutenant-Colonel Amri Bizimana, is quoted speaking of the misery of this bitter existence in the jungle:

“The Congolese army bombing us, the diseases in the bush, and the continuous wars in eastern Congo made life unbearable, yet the Rwandan government wants us to return voluntarily”.

Now 45, he was a former second lieutenant in the ex-Rwanda army (ex-FAR)  who left Rwanda in 1994. The grainy newspaper picture shows the face of a beaten man who has lived the life of a cornered animal, finally throwing in his lot with the former enemy and throwing himself at their mercy. It is also the face of a hard man who has seen and done unspeakable things  as only the Interhamwe, as evil personified, can be, and all this before its transformation into the FLDR, who have marauded through eastern Congo like a plague.

***

If the presence of foreigners, whether tourists, businessmen, or even aid workers, can be taken as a proxy for the attractiveness of a country as a place to visit, do business, or even run aid projects that have a reasonable chance of success, then Kigali is certainly a magnet. There is a huge and increasing number of visitors to this country which, truth be told, has few natural wonders to compare with its neighbours in East Africa, but draws visitors nonetheless. This includes not just the foot loose backpackers who are the shock troops of many a country’s infant tourist industry, but large numbers of academics, exchange students, interns, writers, aid workers, volunteers, missionaries and business people. North Americans, particularly Americans, are a large presence and to walk into the Bourbon Café in Kigali, kind of a home grown Starbucks with wifi access and a light, snappy menu, is to find the feel of a campus café, full of kids with ivy league sweat shirts and smart Rwandans with business suits.

This influx has led some to compare Kigali and Rwanda to a “Disneyland” Africa experience. Whether that is true or not may miss the point—this country has made the best of its otherwise limited attractions and created a destination based on the virtues it does have control over. This is an extremely safe, and non-corrupt, place to visit. Foreigners can walk the streets unharassed. There is little crime and even less corruption. Soldiers and police guard intersections and, unlike many countries where they are a parasitic plague to be avoided, almost a feared, scavenging sub-class like jackals or hyenas, here the presence of law and authority is welcome and reassuring.

Things are generally well run in Rwanda. The economy is well managed. The government works hard to attract foreign investment, and develop local business and employment, the economy is growing and poverty is falling, although by any measure this remains a very poor country. Foreign aid is well used—something which attracts more aid money as success begets success. Modest signs of prosperity are obvious, and there is even a small but active local arts scene and community of actors and film makers whom I meet while here. The city’s streets and avenues are neatly maintained, with attractive green boulevards and well kept flower beds. An army of public workers in plain green overalls, tend these urban gardens, picking weeds and cutting grass by hand. These may not be “good” jobs, and most of them seem to be done by women, but they are coveted jobs nonetheless in a poor country and this does point to some salutary lessons about the role of labour intensive public works as a poverty reduction measure being put to practice. Most of the public works crews are large work gangs with simple hand tools and sparing use of mechanised equipment, also a lesson regarding appropriate technology and labour intensive employment. The saddest thing to see in Africa is modern machinery in use when labour with hand tools would do the job more cheaply and with an impact on employment and poverty.

While I am here several of the main roads are being repaved and, amazingly, the department concerned has assigned 24 hour crews to work day and night and minimise public disruption. These small signs of order and good management point to something larger—a well run state and a civic minded society. These small gains and virtues, however, banal they appear, count for much.

***

The Democratic Republic of Congo, my ultimate destination, has none of Rwanda’s civic minded virtues, and almost exists as a mirror in opposite—a violent and rapacious place that is almost a byword of suffering and dysfunction and tests the capacity of the visitor to surmount many things and many difficulties. It is knowledge of this that sticks in my consciousness, but almost as an abstract place. The broad terms of it are palatable, it is the detail that is disturbing and I find myself pushing it to the back of my mind, almost like burying a trauma. To go to eastern DRC again is akin to preparing oneself for combat. It is like all the rest of the DRC, with its corruption and odious officials, the sheer capacity for mendacity, greed, and aggression, but with the knowledge that steps beyond the provincial capital of North Kivu, a violent multi-sided conflict remains in course with a dozen armed groups and all the human suffering that flows from it. That conflict has been going on for over 20 years–well before the outbreak of the 1996 civil and regional war–with no sign of a definitive conclusion. But this is the place I have chosen to go to and among these ruins there are people who are remarkable and inspiring, with far greater ingenuity, resourcefulness and humanity than the chaos of their country implys.

Travel in DRC is difficult, but not impossible and it pays to prepare. One of the first hurdles is the Kafkaesque accreditation process that gives you permission to be and work there. Here the local love of paperwork has less than honourable motives and is a pretext to hold things up and get something from you. It is not helped by the local intelligence office, the much feared Agence nationale de renseignements (ANR) being the ultimate arbiters of who is and is not allowed to work in the Kivus and they make it plain from the outset of their “interview” that they don’t want you there and will think of any excuse to prevent it. On past experience, they are not nice people. Extensive documentation is required and the smallest, most pedantic, details seized on; your passport photos are the wrong size, that document is a photocopy not an original, have it notarised. Why are you not registered with an identity document or professional accreditation from your government? But having all the documents they can think of and ask for helps. And, whatever else, it is wise to consider Winston Churchill’s maxim: “when you are going through hell, just keep going”.