Episcopal Press and News
Churches Continue Rescue, Relief Efforts Despite Horrors of Rwandan Crisis
Episcopal News Service. November 21, 1994 [94185]
Mike Barwell, Charles Rice
"I was there the day the exodus began," said the Rt. Rev. Edwin Nyamubi, Anglican Bishop of Ngara, Tanzania. "I cried 'O my God, what is happening in Rwanda now?' There were streams of people, thousands upon thousands of women, children and old men. The numbers were overwhelming. Finally I couldn't stand to look at them any more, so I put a handkerchief over my face."
While the world continues to be horrified and numbed by reports of the massacres in Rwanda, and scenes of mutilated bodies floating down the rivers and of villages and churches filled with decomposing bodies, the crisis of dealing with hundreds of thousands of refugees continues throughout the region. Relief agencies contend that the Rwandan exodus from the former Belgian colony is the largest and most intense refugee movement in history.
As reports of the atrocities trickle out to the rest of the world, accusations are surfacing that some church leaders may have organized or participated in the massacres.
Churches, international relief agencies and the United Nations High Command for Refugees (UNHCR) continue efforts to support the refugees still streaming across the borders of Rwanda and Burundi into Tanzania, Zaire, and Uganda. According to a recent report by the Christian Council of Tanzania, as many as 3,000 refugees per day crossed the border into Tanzania through the middle of October.
The Rev. Benjamin Musoke-Lubega, vicar of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, shared his own stories emerging from interviews with east African Anglican and other church leaders following a visit to the region. He was one of four Americans participating in an assessment of relief efforts provided by Church World Service (CWS) in Tanzania and Zaire.
Born and raised in Uganda, Musoke-Lubega said in an interview that he was "unprepared for what we saw, heard and smelled in the camps. Nothing could prepare you for that."
"The camps are unbelievable," Musoke-Lubega said, after visiting seven camps in Tanzania and several in the Goma region of Zaire. "You are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people. Tents spread as far as the eye can see. And there is a pall of smoke over everything. It was overwhelming to see the suffering of the children. Thousands of people -- women, children, old men -- are living in the most wretched conditions, sometimes 15 people to a tent. But at least many have clean water and some food now," he said.
The most horrific encounter for the group was watching workers fill a mass grave near the Benaco refugee camp in Tanzania, near the Kagera River, which houses nearly 500,000 refugees. Musoke-Lubega said the grave is about 75 feet deep, 15 feet wide, 100 feet long and contains the bodies of more than 10,000 people, according to CWS estimates. The 100 people who die each day die are buried in a separate burial ground.
"It was an emotional moment for us. Our eyes filled with tears and we knelt and prayed, thanking God for our own lives, and praying for these people, our brothers and sisters in Christ, whom we shall never know," Musoke-Lubega said, adding that the stench of decay overpowered the group. "In a way we also took the guilt on ourselves because we knew these people were being killed -- we knew, but nothing was being said or done about it."
The plan to exterminate the Tutsi apparently was well calculated, Musoke-Lubega explained. The Hutu majority leaders formed a militia whose members were young, unemployed street boys bought for small sums of money and large quantities of beer. "They were made to believe that their only way to get ahead was to exterminate Tutsis by destroying every member of every generation, so that no one would come back to claim the land, which they could then seize for their own," he said.
For centuries, the Tutsis of Rwanda dominated the Hutus, who make up about 85 percent of the population. European domination of the Tutsis by Germany and then Belgium ended in 1961 after a civil war. Tutsi power was ended in a referendum that abolished the monarchic Tutsi system.
Hutuism, the driving force behind the latest civil war and massacres, is a belief that genocide against the Tutsi and their supporters is the only solution to cultural dominance. While most Rwandans are too young to have experienced Tutsi slavery, the hatred and fear have been passed on from the older generation, Musoke-Lubega said. "The Hutu swear that they will never forget how the Tutsi enslaved them."
"The church in Rwanda was divided" when the massacres began, Musoke-Lubega said he was told by Anglican leaders. "Some [clergy] were sympathetic to the Tutsi and the Hutu moderates, and they hid some of the Tutsis in their own houses. Bishop Samuel Musabyimana of the Diocese of Shyogwe, whom we met in Nairobi, said he had more than 10 Tutsis hidden in his house, and fled with some of them to Nairobi to live in exile.
"Some of the leaders of the church were able to speak out, but they were never listened to. If they did speak out, or hid the Tutsi or Hutu moderates, they were threatened," Musoke-Lubega said he was told by clergy and parishioners.
There are an estimated 592,000 Anglicans in Rwanda, representing approximately 7 percent of the population. Musoke-Lubega said that the Anglican Church in Rwanda, founded in 1920, "is one of the fastest-growing denominations in Rwanda because of the renewal movement they have in their seven dioceses."
But that did not protect them from harm.
"Canon Alphonse Karuhije, dean of the cathedral in Kigali, was killed," Musoke-Lubega reported. "One of the reasons he was killed, they said, was that he was harboring the Tutsi and Hutu moderates. We were told that 17 Anglican clergy were killed in Rwanda" because of their views. "Some of them were Tutsi, and others were Hutu moderates. Anyone who had a prophetic voice and spoke against the massacres" was threatened.
"Nobody knows how many Anglicans were killed. But between the Tutsi and Hutu moderates, the estimates now are that more than a million people were killed" in Rwanda, Musoke-Lubega said.
"The church is another whole set of problems. There are some churches in Rwanda which still have bodies in them," Musoke-Lubega said. "The structure was not destroyed, but the psychological damage is immense."
And some of the leadership is suspect
"There are two stories we heard: One is that people ran into the churches to seek sanctuary and were chased there and killed by the militia, Musoke-Lubega said. "There was another story that church leaders, one a Roman Catholic priest, encouraged the people to come to the church, then later called the militia and they torched the whole place. That is why the church can be suspect."
"Definitely there are some church leaders who participated or who collaborated in that master plan of killing, including the Anglicans, whose hands are not clean," Musoke-Lubega said. "Also there are some leaders who did not speak out, but quietly helped the Tutsi and moderates escape by hiding them. There are so many parallels to what happened in Nazi Germany."
"Two Anglican bishops have gone back now, although most of them fled," Musoke-Lubega reported.
But trouble looms as refugees come home.
"Some people who remained inside Rwanda, now say they are the true church which remained. Those who fled are no longer the church. There is going to be a bigger struggle there, because they think that those who fled no longer have a prophetic voice -- they let down the church. And it's only those who stayed who are true believers. And of course, that is not Anglican," Musoke-Lubega said.
In addition to necessary supplies, relief agencies also are supporting counseling, "because these people are going through a lot of trauma," Musoke-Lubega said. "The refugees are like in limbo. They are somewhere, and they don't know what exactly has happened. They are in a world of their own, and they need to be helped, to get some sense of what happened. Then peace and reconciliation can begin."
But healing will take time, Musoke-Lubega said. "We are told that people are traumatized spiritually and morally. They spoke of the need for time to bind wounds, before we begin reconciliation between the Tutsis and the Hutus. That may take generations."
The camps may be needed for a long time, Musoke-Lubega said. "We are talking years. They want to make sure it is safe to go home. One of the clergy from Rwanda said that the international presence is necessary to ensure the safety of the people."
Despite the horrors of genocide and the despair of the refugee camps, Musoke-Lubega said that he saw signs of hope. "The bright side is that it was encouraging to see how the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief through Church World Service is bringing help to people in the form of medicine, food, blankets, tents, day care centers, and so forth. We are planting new seeds of hope in the hearts of people, many of whom have seen hope fold her wings and wither away.
"Rwanda is a political crisis that will need a political solution. This is an area where the church may be able to help. We already have seven Anglican dioceses in the country. Our diversity may allow us to engage the two groups in dialogue to discuss how the two groups can live side by side peacefully," he said.
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