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GENOCIDE IN RWANDA: Personal Reflections
Colin Murray Parkes1
Abstract
During the 100 days which followed the assassination of the Presidents of
Rwanda and Burundi on 6th April 1994 up to a million people, mainly
members of the Tutsi tribe, were massacred in Rwanda. This paper describes
the consequences and provides a personal view regarding the factors that,
taken together, explain this awful act of genocide.
Factors that are considered include population pressure in a densely populated
country, conspiracy by members of a ruling elite whose power was crumbling,
brutalisation and indoctrination of a local militia, alienation of victims, an
escalating cycle of violence, rites of passage, ethnic hatred, repression of
affects and collective psychological disorder. Each of these seems to have
interacted with the others to bring about a brush-fire effect which resulted,
within two weeks, in massacres, rapes and other acts of extreme violence in
huge numbers in townships across the country. The danger of further violence
remains high.
If further repetition of the horrors of genocide are to be prevented a proper
study should be made of the circumstances and the international actions that
need to be taken. In addition to the Trauma Recovery Programme that is
currently in train the following interventions should be considered if the cycle
of violence is to be broken; economic aid to set up the industrial base that is
needed to ease population pressure and allow displaced persons to return, the
establishment of a system of justice that ensures that those who organised and
incited the genocide will not go unpunished, a programme of re-education to
counteract the effects of the programme of indoctrination that has taken place,
expansion of the existing psychological support to make it available and
acceptable to all of those Rwandans who have been and are continuing to be
traumatised by violence and displacement.
Introduction
During the week of 3rd to the 10th April, 1995 I visited Rwanda as guest of The United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Rwandan Government. This, of course, does not
make me an expert in Rwandan psychology but it has triggered in me a strong desire to find
some way to mitigate the sufferings of that tortured country and to reduce the chances of
1 Colin Murray Parkes, MD FRCPsych. Consultant Psychiatrist to St Christopher's
Hospice, Sydenham and St Joseph's Hospice, Hackney. Address for correspondence : 21,
South Road, Chorleywood, Herts, WD3 5AS, UK. Phone and fax (01923) 282746.
further genocide.
A useful account of the genocide is a 742 page volume by a group calling themselves
"African Rights" (1994) this has been my main source of information about the history of
events leading up to and including the genocide. It may show some bias towards the Tutsi
side in the conflict. Also relevant is the report of a group of Physicians who visited Rwanda
for "Physicians for Human Rights" in July 1994.
The situation is, as everyone knows, a complex one and there are several contributory factors
that I have been able to identify. They should be taken as working hypotheses rather than as a
definitive list of all possible explanations.
The Genocide and its Aftermath
What is undoubted is that, during the 100 days between the death of President Habyarimana
on the 6th April 1994 and the successful conquest of Rwanda by the Rwandan Patriotic Front
(RPF) a huge number of people (estimated at up to 1 million), most of them members of the
Tutsi tribe, were massacred in an attempt to exterminate them. Since then large numbers of
Tutsis, who had been living in exile, have returned to Rwanda while even larger numbers of
Hutus have left and are now to be found in huge refugee camps in all the neighbouring
countries. In several places they are said to be rearming and members of the world press
whom I met in Kigali and who had been visiting the refugee camps said that they had
interviewed Hutus who are planning to return and "finish the job" of genocide.
The current Government in Rwanda is attempting to close down the refugee camps within its
borders and to return the refugees to their homes where anyone who is thought to be guilty of
genocide will probably be arrested or assaulted. Fourteen Hutus returning to their homes in
Huwe in southern Rwanda are said to have been stoned or beaten to death (McGreal, 1995a).
It is hardly surprising that those who remained in the camps resisted repatriation and the
deaths in Kibeho Camp on 22nd April 1995 seem to have resulted from an attempt by the
RPF to use force to achieve their aim (Hawke,1995)
All Tutsis to whom I spoke have lost numerous members of their families and there seems to
have been a more or less systematic attempt to kill male Tutsis, both adults and children, and
to rape (and/or kill) female Tutsis. Most of the killings were carried out by local interahamwe
militia, a kind of Hutu Home Guard, backed and often assisted by the Rwandan Army (FAR).
Machetes (pangas) were the main means of killing and fragmentation grenades were used in
crowded places, particularly churches and schools where people had gathered to seek help or
sanctuary. Rifles were also used and there are several accounts of people paying or begging to
be shot because death by machete was so cruel. There are large numbers of unwanted babies
born of rape (Rwanda is a Catholic country and few raped women were aborted.). AIDS is
common among women who have been raped. Statistics are unreliable but the following
figures were quoted :-
UNICEF (1995a) estimate 95,000 orphans and other unattached children of
whom 40,000 remain in Rwanda, 30,000 in Goma, 12,000 in Ngara, 11,000 in
Bukavu and 2,000 in Uvira.
A random survey of such children in Rwanda showed that 91% had lost family
members, 77% a sibling and 42% of them both parents. 48% had been
threatened with death themselves, 25% had been injured, 20% had witnessed
rapes, 64% had witnessed massacres, 91% had had to hide (45% of them
alone). 47% had witnessed other children participating in the killings.
(UNICEF 1995b)
Juristes Sans Frontieres report that in February 1995 there were 17,620 people
awaiting trial in prisons in Rwanda 77 of whom were under aged 10 and 343
11-17 yrs of age. Most are charged with genocide. Since the judges have been
killed it will be a long time before they are all tried. Conditions in the prisons
are deplorable and 22 prisoners are said to have suffocated to death recently.
"African Rights" suggests that the genocide would have succeeded if the RPF had not
defeated the FAR in the field but I am not sure of that. Most of the large massacres took place
during the three weeks after 8th April. It was another month before the RPF made substantial
gains and two months before the war was won. It looks as if, by the beginning of May, most
of the male Tutsis who remained in Rwanda had been killed and the rest had succeeded in
escaping across the border into neighbouring countries. There are no figures to indicate how
many Tutsi women and children remained in Rwanda but the number of "unaccompanied
children" without identifiable parents was estimated as 45,000 in March 1995 with a greater
number in other countries. Many of the Tutsi women who remained had been raped and some
were adopted as "second wives" by Hutu men. I don't have statistics of the numbers who
remained unmolested or succeeded in hiding from their would-be killers. Nor do I have
figures for the numbers who escaped across the border. The impression I get is that, by the
time the RPF arrived, there were very few Tutsis left alive to rescue. Quite how many
moderate Hutus were killed is uncertain as is the number who refused to participate in the
killings.
Apart from those who are awaiting trial for "genocide" there are now said to be 2,000,000
exiles needing repatriation. Most of these are assumed to be Hutu. This leaves about 3 million
Hutus in Rwanda who have not been charged with genocide. Reporters who have visited the
refugee camps have been shocked by the lack of shame and the number of Hutus who have
expressed a wish to finish off the remaining Tutsis. It appears that they are now fully
indoctrinated to the need for continuing the genocide.
I took part in a conference on 'Traumatic Stress' organized by UNICEF with the permission of
the Rwandan Government but timed, on their insistence, to precede the first anniversary of
the onset of the massacres. The world press were in attendance and this conference was one
among several which were clearly intended to support the caring, compassionate image of the
Government. I also attended the reburial of a large number of victims of genocide. The
official figure was 6,000 bodies which had been recovered from mass graves.
UNICEF has recruited Rwandan staff to work for them and two of these, a man and a
woman, were willing to talk to me about their own experiences. Both had been out of the
country at the time of the genocide and returned to find many members of their own families
dead. They had felt drawn to visit the places where their families had died and to ask for
details of what had happened.
I talked at the conference in Kigali on the 5th April 1995 and subsequently on Radio Rwanda
about the management of Traumatic Bereavement and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the
hope of helping local people to cope with their own trauma and to organize support for other
traumatised people.
The staff of UNICEF's Trauma Recovery Programme have a mammoth task if they are to
reach the many women and children who have been traumatized. They are doing this by
training Rwandans from each part of the country to spearhead local services and by more
direct work with unaccompanied children in the homes which they and other welfare
agencies are running. But this will have been of little value unless we can find some way of
breaking the cycle of violence in Rwanda and preventing this sort of thing from happening
again. Since 1959 there have been at least eight major massacres in Rwanda (African Rights
1994) and I understand that massacres have also taken place in neighbouring Burundi which
was a part of Rwanda/Burundi and is ruled by Tutsis. If we are to take or recommend
effective action to break the cycle we must understand why it has come about and how it is
being perpetuated.
Causes of the Genocide
I would like to review some of the factors that together seem to have contributed to bring
about the genocide in Rwanda and to consiuder the implications of these.
1. Population Pressure
2. Conspiracy
3. Brutalisation and Indoctrination.
4. Alienation.
5. Ethnic Hatred and Rivalry.
6. Cycle of Violence (Vengeance)
7. Genocide as a Rite of Passage
8. Repression of Affects
9. Collective Psychological Disorder
1. Population Pressure Malthus' "Essay on the Principle of Population"(1798) Asserted that
any improvement in the subsistence of the poor would be cancelled out by an increase in
population. This view influenced Darwin who found plentiful evidence for it in biology. More
recently studies of population changes in western countries has demonstrated that Malthus
was not necessarily right. Improvements in subsistence as a result of industrialisation have
been associated with a decrease rather than an increase in the rate of population growth. This
has been attributed to birth control.
Rwanda is the most populous country in Africa and is said to double its population every 24
years (Lacey,1970). Although it is a fertile country which supports two harvests a year its
people are among the poorest in the world. The predominant religion is Roman Catholic and
few people use contraception. Although the population density in 1988 of 663 per square mile
is not much different to the UK (609) it lacks the industrial base to support this population.
Since 1959 when the Hutu tribe started massacring Tutsis large numbers have left the country
to live in exile in neighbouring countries. The late President Habyarimana, when asked why
he would not let them return was inclined to say "The pot is full". Most of the massacres that
have bedeviled Rwanda since 1959 have been triggered by invasions by exiles.
300,000 died in the famine of 1943-44. Since then harvest failures in 1991 and 1994 have
been attributable to war. The collapse of the coffee market in 1989 affected the Rwandan
balance of payments since this is their principle export.
Over-population has been studied in rats and shown to be associated with increases in intra-
species aggression and even killing of cage mates and young (Calhoun, 1970). But the
circumstances in which these experiments were carried out involved large densities of
population in laboratory conditions which bear no resemblance to the density or other
conditions in Rwanda.
Conclusion Population pressures may have contributed to increase tension and rivalries in
Rwanda but is not an adequate explanation for the genocide since there are many countries
under similar pressure which do not have the same record of violence. On the other hand the
provision of an industrial base coupled with adoption of birth control would reduce the
population pressure and make it possible for exiles to return. This would reduce the risk of
invasions from outside which have triggered most of the massacres in recent years.
2. Conspiracy Theory "African Rights" attribute the genocide to a conspiracy by the ruling
elite, the Hutu-dominated government which came to power after a coup d'etat against
another corrupt Hutu Government in 1973.
Rwanda had a highly centralised and hierarchical administrative system. All prefets, sous-
prefets and bourgmestres were Presidential appointments. This ensured that loyalists
occupied most positions and great pressure could be brought to bear on them to comply.
Community policing was carried out by the Gendarmerie who were themselves answerable to
the bourgmestres. They are said to have played a major part in training the interahamwe and
supporting the massacres. The interahamwe were recruited from unemployed young men and
trained to see themselves as the front line in the attack against a civilian "fifth column". Like
the Hitler Youth they disrupted political meetings and terrorised anyone who dared to criticise
the government. It was they who did most of the killing during the genocide starting with the
massacre in Bugesera in 1992.
After the ruling party were forced by international pressure to release political detainees in
October 1990 assassination by interahamwe "death squads" rather than detention became an
accepted method of dealing with opponents. "The majority of killings were never
investigated. No attempt was made to identify or apprehend those responsible for a series of
massacres."
By April 1994 the World Bank had blocked new funds, the UN and Ambassadors from
France, Belgium, Germany and the surrounding African countries had forced their president
to accept the "Arusha Accord", an agreement to move towards democratic government via a
transitional government which would share power and allow exiles to return. "African
Rights" claim that many of the members of the ruling group knew that, if a democratically
elected multi-party government had come to power, they would have not only lost power
themselves but been charged with serious offenses such as the assassination of their
opponents. They claim that it was this ruling elite who stirred up hatred against the Tutsis,
then murdered its own President knowing that this would trigger genocide and hoping that the
country would then unite behind them.
When the President's death occurred there was an immediate polarisation with all
interahamwe now expected to take part in planned massacres. At first interahamwe from
neighbouring communities would be brought in when some were reluctant to kill their
neighbours and friends but as time passed all were expected to participate and increasing
pressure was placed on other members of the Hutu community to prove their loyalty by
killing Tutsis. Professor Sidney Brandon, who has made several visits to Rwanda, confirms
that he heard many accounts of neighbours who tried to stop the killing of Tutsis but were
then forced to participate or forfeit their own lives. Women were given the job of "finishing
off" those who were wounded and close to death. Some were forced at gunpoint, others were
less directly threatened but the implications of refusing were clear (Brandon, 1995).
Evidence to support the allegation that the genocide was the result of a conspiracy is strong
but still requires confirmation in a Court of Law. It includes the prompt actions of the
Presidential Guard (PG) who appear to have had lists of political opponents to be killed
prepared in advance and a "prophetic" article in Le Flambeau in December 1993 which
claimed that it had uncovered a plot by the old regime to use the interahamwe to reach a
"final solution" of the Tutsi problem and their own political opponents.
It is quite possible that the Presidential Guard had lists of political opponents whom they
were ready to kill. Killing political opponents seems to be a Rwandan tradition and is not, in
itself, evidence of plans for genocide. Likewise the hatred between Hutus and Tutsis was long
standing and the possibility of a pogrom must have been in everybody's mind after the RPF
attacked. President Habyarimana was blamed by all sides at one time or another and must
have been at the top of several "hit lists". On the other hand there can be little doubt that
racial hatred was being deliberately cultivated, as it had in the past.
I know of little evidence to support the claim of the interim Government that the President
was killed by the RPF. This would have been a politically stupid thing to do at a time when
negotiations for power sharing were close to fulfilment. The reaction of fear of reprisals
evoked in educated Tutsis and in his political opponents, as soon as the news of the
President's death broke, is a clear indication that they had nothing to gain and everything to
lose by his death.
Perhaps the strongest evidence for premeditation of genocide comes from the speed and
efficiency with which it was carried out. Within a week of the President's death 11 major
massacres had occurred and within three weeks the total reported comes to 23. No more
major massacres were reported thereafter. This either suggests a remarkably efficient plan or
a spontaneous eruption of violence which would have some other explanation.
Conclusion It is most important that these claims be properly investigated as soon as possible
and any culprits be brought to justice, "Justice delayed is justice denied". Quite apart from
anything else there is nothing to deter further acts of genocide if those that have been carried
out go unpunished. It is in circumstances such as these that revenge killings and other abuses
of human rights are likely to take place.
Unfortunately the very act of genocide destroyed the system of justice that might rectify the
situation. An International Court has, however, been set up and it is to be hoped that it will
soon begin to act.
3. Brutalization, Indoctrination and "Thought Reform" There is much evidence that
people have to be taught to carry out brutal and inhuman acts. Many of the killers in Rwanda
have had experience of taking part, with impunity, in previous massacres at least eight of
which had taken place since 1959 and several in the last few years. They have been told that
these were acts of bravery against an enemy which would certainly annihilate them if they
did not kill them first.
I was repeatedly told, while in Rwanda, that Rwandans are brought up to be very obedient
and to respect authority. The good Rwandan child does not think for himself or ask questions,
he does as he is told. Examples are given by "African Rights" of several villages which
initially refused to take part in the massacres and some Hutus even arrested members of the
interahamwe who attempted to attack Tutsis. Their resistance crumbled when senior
gendarmes, army officers and political figures sanctioned these acts.
The reports of newsmen and aid workers in the refugeee camps in Zaire indicate that the Hutu
exiles remain convinced of the rectitude of their behaviour and have every wish to return and
to complete the genocide.
Some of the most painful accounts are of people of mixed blood who were compelled to kill
members of their own families. They usually complied because they knew that the victim
would be killed anyway and they saw no point in sacrificing their own life for nothing.
"African Rights" point out that the killers needed to involve as many people in the killings as
possible in order to establish killing as normal and themselves as normal.
It is appalling to think that, during the 100 days of genocide, the rate of killing in Rwanda
was three times greater than that achieved by the Nazis in their gas chambers.2
Conclusion Long exposure both to hate propaganda and opportunities to learn to kill with
2 Based on the estimate of 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during six years from
1939 to 1945 (Gilbert 1982)
impunity plus the assumption that bestiality would be rewarded played a major part in the
genocide. An equally powerful re-education programme and the restoration of the rule of law
would be needed to undo the damage that has been done.
4. Alienation In order to commit inhuman acts it seems to be important for people to distance
themselves from the people they are harming by degrading and dehumanising them (Cohen,
1954). The Tutsi were labelled as "Cockroaches" (inyensi) and Hutu moderates as
"Accomplices" (ibyitso). Bodies were stripped naked and women degraded by being publicly
raped. The greatest degradation was to hand them over to pygmies (Twa) to be raped since
they are regarded as of degraded status whereas Tutsi have, in the past, been proud people of
high status. The approval by authorities of this behaviour confirmed the alienation of the
victims.
Conclusion A consistent programme of enabling all ethnic groups to get to know and respect
each other is obviously desirable but will be difficult to implement in the present state of
polarisation. A period of peaceful coexistence is the first step and can only be expected to
take place if action is taken to reduce the danger of further armed conflict. An international
protective force may be needed to provide security from attack to survivors on both sides.
5. Ethnic Hatred - The antagonism between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda is undoubted but it
would be simplistic to dismiss the genocide as a tribal battle. The initial victims were not
Tutsis at all but Hutu opponents of the Government. To a large extent the hostility between
the tribes seems to have been deliberately fanned into hatred by unscrupulous politicians.
Even if ethnic hatred is a factor the idea that what happened is not our business, that tribal
battles have been going on for a long time in Rwanda and the combatants should be left to
fight it out, is appalling. The world is now too small for us to pretend that what goes on next
door is not our concern. At the present time we are supporting, through international aid, the
refugee camps in which many of the perpetrators of genocide have taken refuge. Genocide is
very much more than a tribal battle. If we choose to ignore it it will continue and we shall
share the moral responsibility.
Conclusion Every effort should be made to combat the propaganda of hate and to include
those in the refugee camps in neighbouring countries in programmes of psychological support
and bridge-building with the ultimate aim of helping them to return safely to Rwanda or, if
they wish, to find new lives elsewhere.
6. The Cycle of Violence It is easy to understand why people who have been victims of
violence easily become violent themselves. Certainly there has been great suffering on both
sides in the conflict in Rwanda and without the constant threat of attack from an enemy of
exiled Tutsis outside Rwanda it seems unlikely that the interahamwe would have attempted to
wipe out the Tutsis within the country. On the other hand most of the massacres that have
taken place in recent years in Rwanda were perpetrated by Hutus against Tutsis and cannot
themselves be seen a revenge killings for earlier massacres. In fact one can argue that the
victims of violence have learned the dangers of violence the hard way and ought to be less
not more likely to perpetuate it.
In recent years I have been consulted by many people who have been bereaved by murder
and manslaughter (Parkes, 1993). They have their own self-help group in London (SAMM).
One of their problems is the management of anger. The wish for vengeance is a powerful
emotion and easily causes people to over-react. Very few people bereaved by murder see the
punishment meted out to the killer as just, but there are a few exceptions. One man whose
wife had been murdered walked the streets with a loaded revolver in search of the killer. He is
quite sure that, if he had found the killer he would have killed him. Fortunately for him the
police found the man first. Two years later this bereaved man appeared on a television
programme speaking out against capital punishment for murder. As he put it, "I realised that,
if I had found this man and killed him, I would have been doing to his child just what he did
to mine." In Northern Ireland a group of women who had all suffered traumatic bereavements
as a result of that tribal conflict started their own Peace Movement. They had become
violently opposed to violence (Dillenberger, 1992).
These examples show that the anger that is a natural and understandable consequence of
trauma can be creative as well as destructive. Vengeance and justice are not one and the same
thing.
Conclusions Counsellors and psycho-therapists to the bereaved (and those suffering other
trauma) have a role to play in helping people to contain their rage until it can become
constructive rather than destructive. When it is not an individual but a whole society that is
traumatised what responsibility do we have to protect one group of people from another ?
Can there be a healer of nations, a doctor to treat National Grief ?
At the conference on Traumatic Grief which I had been invited to attend in Rwanda there was
a tacit agreement that the people in most need of help were women and children. None of the
Government representatives to whom I spoke seemed to think that it might be men, soldiers
and the leaders on both sides, who were in need of help. Yet genocide is not caused by weak
women and children, it is most often caused by powerful men. Maybe we need to consider
how psychological support can be given to men, and particularly to people in positions of
leadership on all sides, who carry a great burden of responsibility and are subjected to great
pressure and stress.
7. Genocide as a Rite of Passage In warrior tribes the passage from adolescence to manhood
often involved an ordeal and/or acts of bravery and violence towards others. Sometimes this
took the form of killing your first lion, at other times taking your first scalp or fighting a
battle (which was often bloody) against some supposed foe. Often the ritual involved some
sort of public degradation or other pain. The rules of justice and fairness were set aside in
favour of a more cruel necessity. To be a man was to control emotion and to become brave,
tough and, in these special circumstances, cruel.
The genocide in Rwanda seems to have escalated through a series of phases. Long before
1994 a minority of young men joined one or other of the Rwandan armies. Hutus joined the
FAR or, if they came from the home district of the President, the Presidential Guard (GP).
Tutsi boys brought up in exile joined the RPF.
"African Rights" state that the GP was established shortly after the outbreak of the war of
1990 and enjoyed extensive privileges and immunity from prosecution. The GP played a key
role in organizing, training and arming the numerous interahamwe, local Hutu militia. The
FAR was expanded from 5,000 to 35,000 at that time.
If "African Rights" is correct, Rwanda was divided into killers and victims with a decreasing
number of moderates in between.The entire operation had become a source of new identity
for both sides in the conflict. All Hutus had to join the blood brotherhood or run the risk of
being identified with the enemy which was tantamount to being dead. Looting became the
privilege of the killers and several Tutsis survived because their would-be killers took time
out from the killing to loot.
The Tutsi leadership seem to have tried to prevent similar cruelty in its followers.According
to "African Rights" - "All observers have noted the exceptionally tight discipline to which
RPF soldiers are subjected. Punishments for disobeying orders, engaging in reprisals and
abusing civilians - in particular raping women - are extremely severe, often including the
death penalty." Despite this RPF soldiers, during their advance were responsible for reprisal
killings and the massacre in Kibeho camp has been blamed on them. "An estimated 2000
people were killed in the mayhem (figures vary). Some were killed by the soldiers, others
were trampled to death in the panic, and some died as a result of fighting between different
camp factions"(Hawke, 1995). "African Rights" blames killings by Tutsi soldiers on new
recruits, often themselves former exiles who have been bereaved and traumatised, who lacked
the strict training of the professionals.
Conclusion Having been initiated into their new identity it is not likely to be easy for Hutus
to change their minds. If the ring leaders of the genocide are tried before courts that are seen
to be impartial and world opinion is united in its condemnation of their behaviour it is
possible that respect for law and order as well as the rights of the Tutsi minority will be
established. By the same token the perpetrators of the recent massacres of refugees should be
similarly punished. At the present time the whole infra-structure of Rwandan law and society
has broken down and those who are attempting to revive it are said to be exposed to
intimidation from the army whose members are rarely held accountable and who have
imposed their own form of martial law in many parts of the country (McGreal, 1995b)
8. ) Repression Rwandans of both tribes are proud of the fact that they do not show
emotions. I lectured on Traumatic Bereavement to an audience many of whom had lost their
entire families in the massacres. None of them cried. I attended the public interment of the
bodies of 5,000 people whose bodies had been dug up from a mass grave near the football
stadium. 200 large containers containing 25 bodies each were driven through he streets of
Kigali for two hours to the burial site. The population were given a holiday and told that they
must watch the procession, consequently the roads were lined with people of all ages and
sexes. Interments continued throughout the day, songs were sung, politicians made speeches
and in the whole day I only saw one person cry, a West African. The two friends who
accompanied me agreed that they too had witnessed no public grief. A newspaper reporter,
however, said that some of the women who put flowers on the graves were in tears and
Professor Brandon assures me that, although the "stiff upper lip" is traditional "We found
survivors capable of expressing emotions and of shedding tears".
Rosenblatt et al. (1976), in their comparative study of 78 world cultures found that, where
differences between males and females in the expression of grief exist (as they do in most
societies), it is the men who cry least and express the most aggression. This fits with the
image of the stiff upper lip as a masculine 'virtue'. It is my impression that absence of or
minimal grief is most often found among martial races. Reports from Mintz (1975) a General
Practitioner who serves Navajo Indians, suggest high rates of bereavement-related depression
among Navajos who, like the Rwandans, do not express grief. When a Navajo dies their name
is not uttered again. Mourning customs changed in Britain during the course of World War I.
Before the war mourning was intense and obligatory, by the end of that war the 'stiff upper
lip' had become established as a virtue (Gorer, 1965).
The pattern of repressed grief which is apparent in Rwanda is not typical of Africa as a
whole. Rosenblatt et al. report on anthropological data from 13 African tribes all of which
rated 7 ot 8 on an 8 point scale of frequency of crying after bereavement (8 = very frequent
crying).
Conclusion Maybe it is necessary for people to repress emotion if they are to kill each other.
Conversely it is not unreasonable to hope that any action to encourage people to grieve and to
express their discontent in controlled and safe ways might reduce the risk of uncontrolled
violence. Means should be considered of extending the psychological support that is currently
being given to insure that all those traumatised by violence and displacement are given the
emotional help that they need.
9.) Collective Psychological Disorder - Several people in Rwanda asked me "Are we
mad ?" and it is tempting to suspect that Rwandans, or at least the perpetrators of the
massacres, are suffering from some kind of collective psychological disorder. Like tribalism,
the attribution of madness to people whose behaviour we deplore is a distancing mechanism
that enables us to preserve our own sense of superiority. It enables us to dismiss the
behaviour as something requiring medical treatment rather than understanding. That said
there are important issues to be considered regarding the extent to which people can be
expected to act rationally when they are suffering from the effects of acute traumatic stress
and/or have been placed under extra-ordinary pressure to conform to particular belief systems
(Lifton, 1961). Psychiatrists with special experience in these fields have a valid contribution
to make alongside lawyers, politicians and others.
When "Physicians for Human Rights" visited Rwanda in July 1994 they administered a
Kinyarwandan version of the General Health Questionnaire to 248 adults and adolescents in
Rwamagana and Gahini, south west of Kigali. This is a measure of psychiatric
symptomatology which has been widely used in community studies in western countries. The
mean score of 9.9 was very high and 90% of this population exceeded the score of 7 which is
widely accepted as indicating psychiatric disorder. The authors are inclined to attribute this
finding to the genocide but it is unclear how many of the population studied were Hutus, how
many were Tutsis, what proportion were in Rwanda at the time of the genocide and what
scores they would have obtained on the same questionnaire had it been administered before
the genocide began. All one can conclude from this study is that the kind of traumas to which
the people of Rwanda have been subjected are associated with high levels of psychiatric
distress.(Physicians for Human Rights, 1994).
Comparison with Nazi Genocide
Further support for these theories of the causation of the genocide in Rwanda come from a
comparison with Nazi Germany. In both situations an unscrupulous government maintained
its power by stirring up hatred against an influential ethnic minority group. In both situations
the victims were seen as a threat within the body politic, they were then denigrated and
vilified. In both situations the killers had been brutalised by previous experience of inhuman
behaviour for which they had been rewarded (Bullock, 1962 & Cohen,1954).
In Nazi Germany most of the killing was done by 'experts', guards in the 'death camps' who
used methods of mass production to kill as many people as possible. In Rwanda most of the
killings were carried out crudely by people without special skills and there were attempts to
involve as many perpetrators as possible. In this respect the killings in Rwanda seem to differ
from those in Germany.
Further Conclusions
The evidence on which this study is based is inadequate and any conclusions must, of
necessity be tentative. It is a matter of grave concern to the world that only limited
investigation of the situation in Rwanda has been carried out and my main recommendation
must be that a proper study of the situation be made by internationally accredited and
respected experts and with the cooperation of the Rwandan and other government bodies.
In Rwanda the rule of law has broken down. People no longer sleep securely in their beds at
night. Neither their own government nor the United Nations were able to protect them from
the most appalling horror imaginable. They know that it could happen again and it probably
will.
In Refugee Camps in Rwanda and in the surrounding countries, we have millions of Hutu
people who have been driven out of their homes by armed members of a tribe whom they
have been taught to see as "cockroaches". On the other hand we have millions of Tutsi whose
neighbours turned against them to rape and murder them and whose survival today depends
on the troops who invaded their country and stopped the holocaust. They know that the forces
that are being built up against them are strong and they want to believe that the rest of the
world will prevent another holocaust. But their experience of the last leaves them in doubt.
The present Government in Rwanda achieved power by force of arms rather than by
democratic process. So did the Government which it overthrew. Democracy can only work if
polarisation is not so great that opposing sides destroy each other. At the present time the
imposition of democracy in Rwanda would only aggravate the existing tensions between the
tribes and run the risk that the majority tribe, the Hutus, would again attempt to wipe out the
minority. Even the Arusha Accord, which seemed to provide a possible solution when it was
propounded, has been overtaken by events. The road to democracy in Rwanda is likely to be
a long one.
In the short term it would seem to be vital to hold the situation and increase stability by
increasing the aid that is being provided, also to help bring about a return to the rule of law in
Rwanda and in the refugee camps in surrounding countries. The attempt by the European
Union in May 1995 to punish the Rwandans for the massacre in Kibeho by withdrawing aid
only served to increase instability and increase the likelihood of conquest by exiles controlled
by Hutu extremists who would complete the "final solution" to the Tutsi problem. No
responsible power should support any such "solution".
I am no lawyer but I imagine that the legal situation in Rwanda is a minefield. Not only has
the rule of law largely broken down but it seems likely that big problems will arise when it is
re-established. Thus, if everyone guilty of the crime of genocide, the deliberate attempt to
exterminate another race, was to be tried and convicted, it is possible that large numbers of
Rwandans would be found guilty. It is hard to see what form of punishment would be
appropriate3. If, on the other hand, an amnesty were to be agreed then the killers would again
have got away with murder.
Despite these difficulties justice must be seen to be done and soon. We should support all
efforts to bring this about.
These are political and legal issues in which I have no expertise. More relevant to me are the
need to raise awareness, on all sides, of the psychological issues involved and the possible
contribution of psychiatrists and psychologists to the prevention of genocide. Three
possibilities need to be considered :
1.) Education and Support The introduction of a campaign of re-education using all media
(Radio, television, news etc.) to mitigate the effects of the psychological trauma, redirect
anger into more creative directions, foster reconciliation and engender feelings of hope. This
should be aimed at all levels of society in Rwanda and the surrounding countries.
2.) Psychological Support to Traumatised People The expansion of the programme of
psychological help initiated by UNICEF to reach all traumatised people who need it both
inside Rwanda and in refugee camps in the neighbouring countries. To judge from the
statistics quoted above this is an enormous task. It must include the children who have
suffered severe trauma and are the next generation of Rwandans and the women, particularly
mothers who will be bringing up that generation. It must also include the men and
particularly soldiers, gendarmes, civil servants and others in positions of leadership (Even
politicians!).
In Bradford the police who were on duty in the football stadium were helpless to intervene
3 Security Council Resolution 955 , 8th November 1994 established, by a vote of 13
to 1,an International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda under which charges of genocide could be
brought to trial but it did not provide for the death penalty. Rwanda, by chance, was a
member of the Security Council, and voted against the resolution on account of this omission.
while over 100 spectators were burned to death before their eyes. Subsequently many of them
were haunted by memories which sometimes amounted to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD). Thirty three officers were successfully treated by a psychologist who was invited to
help with these problems (Duckworth, 1986). So impressed were the police with the help that
was given that psychological support has now become a regular part of the back-up for police
in the UK and is also being built into the support for armed servicemen. It has also been used
to support aid workers in the refugee camps in Goma but not yet, I believe, among the
Rwandan refugees. Similarly increased recognition of the value of psychological support in
the form of "Rap Groups" for soldiers developed in the USA following the Viet Nam War
(Lifton, 1973)
If policemen and soldiers can acknowledge their need for support at times of crisis in the
United Kingdom is it too much to imagine that they might do the same in Rwanda ? Might
civil servants, politicians and other leaders follow suit ? What kind of a support system might
be set up to enable leaders to take rational and effective decisions in the face of enormous
stress ?
3.) Study and Planning A special study group should be set up to include professionals from
various scientific disciplines concerned with Traumatic Stress as well as people with special
knowledge of Rwanda and the Rwandese who may be in a position to contribute to the above
programme and to further planning in this area. This should be linked with other relevant
bodies such as UNICEF's Trauma Recovery Programme, Medecin sans Frontieres and the
existing working party on the psychological consequences of traumatic bereavement which
has been set up by the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement.
References
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Colin Murray Parkes MD FRCPsych
Consultant Psychiatrist to St Christopher's Hospice, Sydenham and Consultant Psychiatrist to
St Joseph's Hospice, Hackney. Author of Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life; and
numerous other publications President of Cruse: Bereavement Care.
19th October 1995