Season of Blood

I have just finished reading Fergal Keane's book Season of Blood, about his time spent reporting in Rwanda during the genocide of 1994.

It's one hell of a book. It leaves you cold. If you have seen Hotel Rwanda, then you will be familiar with what went on. This takes you right up close and personal, into an horrific madness that took the lives of around a million men, women and children.

What I find particularly difficult is that this was thirteen years ago. I was thirteen at the time. I remember the news coverage. This was well within my lifetime, not something that happened back in the 70s or 50s.

The following is the introduction from the Lonely Planet Guide to East Africa:

Welcome to 'Le Pays des Milles Collines' or the Land of a Thousand Hills: Rwanda is a lush country of endless mountains and stunning scenery. Nowhere are the mountains more majestic than the peaks of the Virunga volcanoes in the far northwest of the country, forming a natural frontier with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and Uganda. Hidden among the bamboo and dense jungle of the volcanoes' forbidding slopes are some of the world's last remaining mountain gorillas, and it is the opportunity to encounter these contemplative creatures at close quarters that continues to draw visitors to Rwanda.

A beautiful yet brutalised country, Rwanda is all too often associated with the horrific events that unfolded here in 1994. It has been etched into the world's consciousness as one of the most savage genocides in the history of mankind. What happened here is beyond belief, but the country has taken giant strides towards recovery in the years since.

Rwanda has more than the magical mountain gorillas. The shores and bays of Lake Kivu conceal some of the best inland beaches on the African continent, pretty handy given how far it is to the sea. Deep in the southwest, Parc National Nyungwe Forest is the most extensive mountain rainforest in the region and provides a home for many primates. But it's not all monkey business in Rwanda, as the capital Kigali is safe and sophisticated.

Many visitors are unsure about travelling to Rwanda given its history. However, as long as security and stability persist, Rwanda is a refreshing country in which to travel, where tourists remain a novelty and the rewards of the present outweigh the risks of the past.

It goes on to talk about 'Rwanda Today':

Rwanda has done a remarkable job of getting back onto its feet and has achieved an astonishing level of safety and security in a remarkably short space of time, albeit with considerable help from a guilty international community that ignored the country in its darkest hour. Visiting Kigali today, it is hard to believe the horror that visited this land in 1994, although the scars are much more visible in the impoverished countryside.

Things have been rather less remarkable on the international front, as Rwanda has been embroiled in the conflict in DR Congo, which has cost somewhere between three and four million lives. Rwanda and Uganda joined forces to oust Mobutu in 1996 and then tried to use the same tactics two years later to force out their former ally Laurent Kabila. What ensued was Africa's first great war, sucking in as many as nine neighbours at its height. Rwanda and Uganda soon fell out squabbling over the rich resources that were there for the plunder in DR Congo. Rwanda backed the Rally for Congolese Democracy and Uganda the Movement for the Liberation of Congo and the two countries fought out a proxy war. Peace negotiations began in 2002 and DR Congo continues to edge towards peace. Rwanda withdrew its forces, but if and when an international inquiry is launched into the war in DR Congo, Rwanda may find itself in the dock. Rwanda's motives for entering the fray were just, namely to wipe out remnants of the Interahamwe militia and former soldiers responsible for the genocide, but somewhere along the line, elements in the army may have lost sight of the mission.

Back on the domestic front, Paul Kagame assumed the presidency in 2000 and was overwhelmingly endorsed at the ballot box in presidential elections in 2003 that saw him take 95% of the vote. Parliamentary elections followed in October, but EU observers say the poll was marred by irregularities and fraud. Meanwhile, the search for justice continues at home and abroad...

Looking at the bigger picture, Rwanda is home to two tribes, the Hutu and the Tutsi, and the former Belgian colonialists encouraged a hostile division of the two. The Hutu outnumber the Tutsi by more than four to one and while the RPF government is one of national unity with a number of Hutu representatives, it's viewed in some quarters as a Tutsi government ruling over a predominantly Hutu population. However, the RPF government has done an impressive job of promoting reconciliation and restoring trust between the two communities. This is no small achievement after the horrors during the genocide of 1994. It would have been all too easy for the RPF to embark on a campaign of revenge and reprisal, but instead the government is attempting to build a society with a place for everyone, regardless of tribe. There are no more Tutsis, no more Hutus, only Rwandans. Idealistic perhaps, but it is also realistically the only hope for the future

I will be based in Kigali, the capital, as far as I’m aware at present. Lonely Planet sounds quite encouraging about that:

Population 600,000
Rwanda was known once as the 'Land of Eternal Spring' and its capital Kigali still fits the bill. Sprawled over ridges, hills and valleys, it is a small, attractive city with superb views over the intensively cultivated and terraced countryside beyond. The mountains and hills seem to stretch forever and the abundant rainfall keeps them a lush green.

The city took a pounding during the genocide in 1994, but a massive amount of rehabilitation work has been undertaken in recent years and there is a major construction boom in the city centre today. This is a city on the move, looking ahead to development rather than looking back at its destruction.

There aren't a huge number of sights in the city, but the Kigali Memorial Centre, documenting the Rwandan genocide, is a must for all visitors to Rwanda. The city has a reasonable range of hotels and restaurants to suit most budgets, and while the nightlife is not quite as pumping as Kampala or Nairobi, it is worth a whiff at the weekend. Many of the most popular restaurants and nightspots are spread across the extensive suburbs that surround the city centre.