Forgiving One's Enemy in Rwanda
What does forgiveness have to do with economic development? It has everything to do with creating an enabling environment that will make it possible for development to take place. Rwanda is a test case for such a concept. When in 1994 about 1 million Rwandese were brutally killed in a span of 100 days, one quick response was how to bring to justice those responsible for the killings.
Approximately 112,000 people were rounded up and imprisoned in several detentions facilities that quickly became overcrowded. In January 2003, a Presidential decree was issued to release detainees who were sick or elderly, and those whose folders did not have enough evidence to warrant their detention. About 53,000 people were provisionally released pending trial by the courts or gacaca (local grassroots courts).
CWS partner Rwanda Women Network (RWN) created a project of conflict management and prevention mechanism that is helping to reintegrate the released prisoners into various communities living side by side with families whose loved ones were brutally killed. The RWN initiative is called "UKURI KUGANZE," which loosely translates as "let the truth reign." The association is based in two Districts, Kicukiro with 60 members and in Bugesera with 2,000 members. With a mission to facilitate and support activities for prisoner reintegration through: truth telling, justice, peace building and reconciliation.
Here is an example of several testimonies from the association. "Mr. A" a genocide survivor living side by side in Nyamata with "Mr. B" a Hutu. As members of the association, they participated in the truth telling dialogue which gave Mr. B the courage to say that he escaped being apprehended and imprisoned but that he was responsible for the killing of Mr. A's family and showed him where they were buried. Mr. A was glad to learn the truth about the killing and was able to arrange a proper burial for the remains of his family. As a sign of forgiveness and friendship, he gave a cow to Mr. B.