IGIHE

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  • ISOKO Theatre relives the genocide through drama

    There’s a scene near the end of The Monument, Colleen Wagner’s searing 1995 drama about wartime atrocities, when a young soldier is forced to remember in detail the 23 women he has raped and murdered. “I killed a girl named Mini. Fifteen. She had a sun-burned face,” he recalls. “A girl named Sara. She wore glasses. She was short and chubby… Eva. She was a swimmer in training for the Olympics.…”

    The list goes on and, as it does, the anonymous, half-rotten corpses in a mass grave begin to take on names and, however rudimentary, identities. It’s an act of resurrection and reclamation that lies at the heart of Wagner’s Governor-General’s Award-winning play. And it becomes the resonant centrepiece of the touring production by Rwanda’s ISÔKO Theatre, which closes Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage season.

    As the soldier, Stetko (Jean Paul Uwayezu), recollects his victims, he draws their personal effects from amid the exhumed bodies – a bracelet, some pimple cream, a crucifix, a bra. Each item is snatched away in turn by a pair of female phantoms (Solange Liza Umuhire and Ruth Nirere) clad in dresses the colour of dried blood. We’re in Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. But we’re also in Bosnia, the original setting of Wagner’s play, and these personal items – the most poignant touch in director Jennifer H. Capraru’s stark staging – may also remind you of the ones that were raked from the ashes of the Nazi ovens.

    Wagner’s play begins with suggestions of a revenge fantasy. Stetko, about to be executed for his war crimes, is offered a reprieve by a mysterious older woman named Mejra (Jaqueline Umubyeyi). The catch is that he must obey her for the rest of his life.

    After slicing off one of his ears and nearly beating him to a pulp, Mejra turns Stetko into her slave and torments him with mind games concerning the fate of his virgin girlfriend. But it turns out she desires something more than vengeance – it’s that famous casualty of wartime, the truth.

    Leaving aside the characters’ east European names, it would be easy to believe The Monument was originally written about the systematic rape that occurred during the Rwandan genocide, with Stetko as a Hutu fighter and his victims as minority Tutsi. The play’s truth-and-reconciliation theme also jibes with Rwanda’s postwar policies. Capraru, a Canadian, obviously recognized these parallels when she founded ISÔKO a few years ago in Kigali. Her production originated there and has toured Rwanda prior to its North American debut at World Stage.

    The dialogue – performed in Kinyarwanda, with English surtitles – stays faithful to Wagner’s text, but the trappings are entirely East African. The show, in Harbourfront’s flexible Brigantine Room, is presented as intimately as a village storytelling, with the audience seated in a circle around the candlelit playing space. The Rwandan cast members are musicians as well, and there is a cappella singing and drumming during scene transitions. The drums also furnish the few sound effects – Stetko’s beating, a gunshot – while Sandra Marcroft’s subtle lighting does most of the scene-setting.

    The acting is spare and intense. Stetko is Wagner’s variation on the banality-of-evil theme – he’s the Devil as the boy next door – and the lean, handsome Uwayezu brings out the confused and immature kid under his soldier’s swagger. It’s Umubyeyi who most impresses, however. Her Mejra is a fierce enigma for much of the play, regarding Stetko with cold eyes. When at last she unfetters her grief, like a modern Andromache, it’s heart-rending.

    Capraru – who is also artistic director of Toronto’s Theatre Asylum – favours a stylized approach that de-emphasizes the play’s violence and physicality. Instead, we often feel like we are watching an ancient, cathartic ritual. That was probably the best way to offer the play to Rwandan audiences for whom the subject matter alone is bound to be painful. This is a chance to re-appreciate Wagner’s regrettably timeless tale from a fresh perspective.

    ISÔKO is a new intercultural theatre company founded July 4th, 2008 in Kigali, which creates contemporary theatre for human rights. ISÔKO contributes to civil society, social development, and creative economy in Rwanda. The company is founded in the spirit of exchange, to celebrate Rwandan artists and to further global peace building, while promoting equality for women and girls.

    ISÔKO THEATRE is a local NGO based in Rwandaand is partnered withTheatre Asylum, Canada. We are members of Theatres Against War, Dramatool, and Theatre Without Borders, and collaborators each year in the Centre x Centre Kigali International Theatre Festival at Ishyo Arts Centre.

    The Monument

    • Written by Colleen Wagner
    • Directed by Jennifer H. Capraru
    • Starring Jaqueline Umubyeyi, Jean Paul Uwayezu, Ruth Nirere and Solange Liza Umuhire
    • Produced by ISÔKO Theatre and presented by World Stage

     

  • Kagame in New York for Time 100 Event

    President Paul Kagame is in New York where he will, this evening, join a host of celebrities and media personalities at the annual Time 100 Gala at the Lincoln Centre.

    The event honours past and present nominees to the annual Time 100 list, which profiles the most influential people in the world, including artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry.

    President Kagame was nominated to the list by Pastor Rick Warren in 2009, who said that he was “the face of emerging African leadership. His reconciliation strategy, management model, empowerment of women in leadership and insistence on self-reliance are transforming a failed state into one with a bright future. ”

    Rwanda ’s rapid improvements have impressed the rest of the continent and Kagame’s influence is exponentially greater than the size that his small country might warrant.

    Paul Kagame is one of few leaders who has successfully modelled the transition from soldier to statesman. During the atrocities of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the world watched in horror, but did nothing. Kagame, with no outside help, was solely responsible for ending the slaughter that murdered over a million citizens in 100 days.

    When his best friend was killed, Kagame was forced to assume the leadership of the Rwandan exiles that ended the killing spree. He was hailed as liberator by his countrymen, but wisely refused the presidency at that point.

    “What we needed most was unity”, he said, “and I had not been elected,”

    After the genocide, the nation was in shambles. Kagame and other began the slow process of rebuilding. But the process moved into hyper drive when he was elected president in 2000.

    He launched a series of reforms and reconciliation strategies that have caught the attention of investors worldwide.

    He has since taken Rwanda from division and devastation to unity and stability, fostering a social and economic recovery unimaginable 15 years ago. Even his critics respect his accomplishments.

    Ranked 24th in 2009- the highest ranked African- President Kagame outpolled global luminaries such as Russian Premier Vladimir Putin (35th), Morgan Tsvangarai (32nd), Oprah Winfrey (98th), Australian PM Kevin Rudd (114th), UK’s Gordon Brown (132nd), recently elected South African President Jacob Zuma (180th) and, even more surprisingly, US President Barack Obama, who was ranked 37th.

    What is the TIME Magazine 100 most influential people in the world list ?

    The Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by TIME. Developed as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has developed into an annual event.

    The list was started with a debate at a symposium at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center on February 1, 1998 with panel participants CBS news anchor Dan Rather, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, former New York governor Mario Cuomo, then-political science professor Condoleezza Rice, neoconservative publisher Irving Kristol and Time managing editor Walter Isaacson.

    The list was first published in 1999, when Time magazine named the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

    Based on the popularity of the installment, in 2004 Time magazine decided to make it an annual issue, listing the 100 people most influencing the world. Making the list is frequently mistaken as an honor ; however, Time makes it very clear that people are recognized for changing the world, for better or for worse.

    Those recognized fall in one of five categories : Leaders & Revolutionaries, Builders & Titans, Artists & Entertainers, Scientists & Thinkers, and Heroes & Icons. Within each category, the 20 most influential people (sometimes pairs or small groups) are selected, for a grand total of 100 each year.

    Selection criteria

    In 2004 Time’s editors “identified three rather distinct qualities”, when choosing the Time 100 explained TIME’s Editor-at-Large Michael Elliott :

    First, there were those who came to their status by means of a very public possession of power ; President George W. Bush is the pre-eminent example. Others, though they are rarely heard from in public, nonetheless have a real influence on the great events of our time.

    Think of Ali Husaini Sistani, the Grand Ayatullah of Iraq’s Shi’ites, who in effect has a veto on plans to transfer power from those who occupy his country to its people. Still others affect our lives through their moral example.

    Consider Nelson Mandela’s forgiveness of his captors and his willingness to walk away from the South African presidency after a single term.

    In the 2007, Time 100 list managing editor Richard Strengel explained that the Time 100 was not a list of the hottest, most popular or most powerful people, but rather the most influential, stating :

    Influence is hard to measure, and what we look for is people whose ideas, whose example, whose talent, whose discoveries transform the world we live in. Influence is less about the hard power of force than the soft power of ideas and example.

    Yes, there are Presidents and dictators who can change the world through fiat, but we’re more interested in innovators like Monty Jones, the Sierra Leone scientist who developed a strain of rice that can save African agriculture.

    Or heroes like the great chess master Garry Kasparov, who is leading the lonely fight for greater democracy in Russia. Or Academy Award winning actor George Clooney who has leveraged his celebrity to bring attention to the tragedy in Darfur.

     

  • Primary court judge nabbed obtaining bribe

    A judge was recently caught red-handed in an act of corruption through a clever scheme masterminded by the Police. Liliane Maombi, a Judge at a primary court in Kanombe, Kicukiro District of Kigali, was allegedly caught accepting a bribery of Rfw 100,000 from one Francoise Nyirabihogo.

    The latter was alleged to have committed a criminal offense in a case, which through the progression of the trial did not seem to be turning in her favour .

    This may have perhaps precipitated Maombi to ask for a bribe to alleviate the punishment that Nyirabohogo would potentially receive or better yet to turn the case around and exonerate her . This act of treachery prompted the defendant to take matters into her own hands and consult the police on the issue.

    This led to the formulation of a plot orchestrated by the police that would require Nyirabihogo to go along with this conspiracy.

    The scheme was initiated Wednesday 27 April at around 1.15p.m. after the court’s hearing. Nyirabihogi went on to hand out the money to the accused. On receiving the amount, police officers immediately intercepted the money thereby catching her red-handed. Upon suspicion, the judge reacted by throwing away the bag containing the money, in a pretentious act of rejection.

    Witnesses within the vicinity confirmed the real intents of the accused, some of whom were insiders in the intrigue.

    Maombi is presently apprehended at the Kicukiro Police station awaiting a trail. We shall continue tp update you on this story as details emerge. 

  • Five year ICT plan in services sector underway

    Plans to improve the services sector through the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) programmes are in progress. This was announced during a one-day conference that brought together officials from the Ministry of ICT along with stakeholders in the information technology sector at Umubano Hotel today.

    The plan follows the first and second NICI’s programmes, which dealt with environment and infrastructure, respectively. The Permanent Secretary in the ministry of ICT, David Kanamugire, highlighted that the plan would give a principle guide towards the country’s ICT programmes in the next five years, adding that the plan would also improve service delivery.

    “We want to make learning easier in schools, for instance, through the use of latest technologies like online studies. In banks too, we want to improve the network connection where one would conduct their transactions at ease, Mutuelle de santé should be automated where a patient can access their medical history in any health centre,” he remarked.

    He encouraged the private sector to work closely with the government in implementing some programmes since they also benefit their business. Kanamugire, however, noted that capacity building matters a lot saying that the private sector’s role was needed.

    “An investor in Kirehe District, for instance, can manage an IT centre and then the government would assist in maintaining the computers,” he alluded.

    Among the main clusters to be considered during the third NICI includes development of skills in ICT, and equipping the private sector with knowhow that enables competitiveness through new technologies. Community development would also be essential especially in transforming societies through improved access to information and services. This also goes hand in hand with e-government, which improves operational efficiency and service delivery.

  • Rwanda becomes first African country to provide free cervical cancer vaccination

    Rwandan girls aged 12 to 15 years have become the first in Africa to receive free vaccination against cervical cancer, while older women aged 35 to 45 will be screened and treated for the same.

    The initial three year comprehensive integrated cervical cancer prevention programme will be facilitated by MERCK, a research institute, which came up with the vaccine. the institute will work closely with QIAGEN staff who will conduct screening services in order to offer treatment among those affected.

    Speaking shortly after launching the campaign at Kanyinya Primary School in Nyarugenge District, the First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, noted that Rwanda was proud to be the first African country to roll out free Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Vaccination for girls and screening for women. This is unlike other African countries where the vaccine is unaffordable to the majority due to high costs.

    She further advised that in order for children to maintan a high immune system, it was necessary for them to be immunised three times within a period of six months. Parents and teachers were also encouraged to report any cases of side effects the children might develop. The effects include mild headache, nausea and skin rash. 

    Reacting on the issue, Agnes Binagwaho the permanent secretary in the ministry of health commended the initiative adding that it was helpful since out of the 2.72 million women aged 15 years and older are at a risk of developing cervical cancer

    Mark Feinberg, the Chief Public Health and Science Officer at Merck Vaccines highlighted that his institution would donate more than 2 million doses of GARDASIL (vaccine) while QIAGEN would provide 250,000 Human Papillomavirus Vaccination (HPV) screening tests at no cost.

    Over 80 percent of cervical cancer cases occur in the world’s poorest countries, having a severe impact on the women affected, their families and communities. The program is expected to provide access to a comprehensive cervical cancer prevention to help reduce the burden of disease and improve public health outcomes and capacity in the country.

    If treated earlier, the cervical cancer can be completely cured, hence the need for earlier prevention.. The vaccine is appropriate for girls who are still virgins since the virus is passed through sexual intercourse.

     Most cervical cancer is caused by a virus called [human papillomavirus->http://www.webmd.com/hw-popup/human-papillomavirus-hpv], or [HPV->http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/HPV-Genital-Warts/]. Scientists have identified several types of the HPV virus though not all can cause cervical cancer.

    Some of them cause [genital warts->http://www.webmd.com/hw-popup/genital-warts-8035], but other types may not cause any symptoms. However the most common signs include bleeding when something comes in contact with the cervix. This leads to pain during sex which is a common feeling that later develops to [vaginal discharge->http://women.webmd.com/vaginal-discharge-whats-abnormal] tinged with [blood->http://www.webmd.com/heart/anatomy-picture-of-blood].

    An infected person can have HPV for years and not know it. It stays in your body and can lead to cervical cancer years after you were infected. This is why it is important for Rwandans to have regular [Pap->http://www.webmd.com/lung/pulmonary-alveolar-proteinosis] tests. A Pap test can find changes in cervical cells before they turn into cancer. If you treat these cell changes, you may prevent cervical cancer. 

  • Joy as Rwandan refugees from Congo Brazzaville meet their families

    Representatives of Rwandan refugees living in Congo Brazzaville last week met their families in Rwanda, 17 years, after the Tutsi Genocide that dragged them into exile. The visit is part of a wider government program to sensitise all the refugees to return home and take part in the development of their country.

    Mrs. Afisa Murebwayire, who is part of the group of four refugees, visited her family in Ruhango Sector, Muhanga District in southern Rwanda.

    She was excited and said she has been receiving false information about Rwanda but after the visit, she has a clear picture of the changes the country has undergone.

    She said she would encourage other Rwandan refugees in Brazzaville to return home. Her father was equally emotional and shed tears of joy when he saw his daughter. “I’m happy,” he told IGIHE.com in an emotional tone.

    Murebwayire’s young sister Marie Shantal Kagoyire stays in Kibungo, East of Rwanda but she had returned home to see her elder sister. They were both elated. Kayogiye asked her sister to sensitise other Rwandan refugees to return home.

    More Rwandan refugees continue to visit their families to witness how safe the country is.

    This could lead to better understanding of why they should return, according to government officials.

    Families of some refugees have also requested them to return saying that the country is safe and is developing so fast.

    Jean Claude Rwahama, an official from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees commented, “Rwandans in Diaspora get false information about the country but those who visit will always tell the truth since they get first hand information”.

  • Government to put up cultural centre

    The government has announced plans to build a national cultural centre in Gahanga sector, Kicukiro district with construction works scheduled to start next year.

    The national cultural centre will be equipped with a library, stage performing theatre, movie theatre and exhibition stalls to display cultural products among others.

    “This will not only be a national theatre but a one stop cultural centre since it will be equipped with different cultural materials,” Jean Pierre Karabaranga, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Sports revealed.

    “At a moment, we cannot tell how long this process will take because the study is not yet done,” the Permanent Secretary explained, adding that once the construction process starts, it would not take long to be accomplished since it has been one of the major projects earmarked on the ministry’s seven year plan.

    The ministry observed that it was imperative to have such cultural centrers hence the plan to have at least one well equipped centre. He added that this was the first time the proposal featured in the ministry’s action plan.

    “We were not taking it as a big issue because we thought people would use other centres but we have now found it is necessary,” Karabaranga said.

    For many stage performers, it has been challenging since they had no special place to execute their activities which forced them to hire halls in private institution’s halls, which at times would either be too small, booked for other functions or too expensive to rent.

    “Most of the time, our performances are commissioned by other institutions and this is not because, we cannot have self-sponsored performances and deliver good and interesting messages to the people, but it’s because we have no facility specifically for such performances and this hinders our popularity and development,” Hope Azeda, Mashirika’s founder and Artistic Director told IGIHE.com in an interview.

    With the acting and the theatre scene still embryonic, few professional groups have managed to survive and this has led to slow progress of performing arts in the country.

    The Managing Director, Urunana Development Community, George Gahenda reiterated that lack of a cultural centre was a big hindrance towards their development, though they had tried to rectify the problem by moving to the local communities to deliver their message besides conducting radio shows. 

  • Job market in need of vocational skills

    A rush for white-collar jobs has led many to be unemployed simply because they believe its fancy and well paying yet vocational skills are in high demand perhaps due to the robust economic growth in the country.

    Even though there are few vocational institutions presently, there is still low interest in the sector among the majority. It seems people have not grasped the advantages. Similar skills are associated with illiterate people, which is rather a misnomer.

    It is due to this wrong mindset that the youth who are the most affected by lack of employment ; need to be encouraged on vocational skills while still in college. In neighbouring countries like Kenya and Uganda, this concept has attracted people to vocational training institutions as a lucrative option after high school, rather than institutions of high school failures.

    This also goes hand in hand with career guidance which should be provided at early stages of a students learning with general emphasis on the market demand for vocational skills and knowledge thus enabling students to determine and make better career choices. 

    Applied skills including carpentry and joinery, building, brick making, computer repair, auto mechanics, biogas construction, electrical installation, plumbing, creative art and crafts, etc are on high demand in the Rwandan market currently experiencing a construction boom including complementary services.

     However, the country’s youth have not realised the unequalled demand for vocational skills since most of them and their parents prefer direct entry into university after high school to pursue degrees despite their usefulness in the market thereafter.

    It also due to the wrong mindset that guardians continue to privately sponsor their children to study for expensive but spurious university degrees leaving their children unemployable in the competitive job market.

    Although the government has recently been encouraging the youth to join vocational institutions, the idea is not attractive to them. Acquiring a university degree is more appealing to both the youth and their parents.

    However, with a few vocational institutions like Kavumu Technical College and Eto Muhima, there is still a challenge on learning equipment hence the need for more modern facilities and harmonisation of training standards with those in the region while encouraging accreditation and exchange programs with international institutions.

    Cultural attitudes on the other hand are a huge impediment towards encouraging female youths to take up training in specific traditionally male biased vocation schools including carpentry, construction, electrical installation, para-veterinary, auto mechanics among others.

     Certainly, more female students should be encouraged to join vocational institutions to help improve their employability thus increase their self-reliance and standards of living. This would also discourage demeaning female dominated vocations including prostitution.

    Meanwhile, the privatisation era has overhauled operations in the entire market systems and required basic knowledge and skills. This calls for addition of new modules and subjects in the college and university syllabus to ensure production of graduates with skills compliant with the market demands. 

    Specific subjects including mathematics, environmental management, entrepreneurship and research and principle vocational subjects such as carpentry, plumbing, technical drawing, cookery, agribusiness, among others should be included into mainstream college syllabus.

    High school graduates with the above knowledge and skills will be more productive especially in applying such highly needed skills and knowledge in the undeveloped countryside market. Their ability to create jobs is so high thus could help in quick social economic transformation of the society unlike university graduates that are mostly job seekers.

    The country’s industrialisation program should be quickly implemented to encourage attractiveness of skills training at vocational institutions .building a rice factory for instance in a particular village, the accruing demand for services including accommodation, restaurants, shops, transport, welding, building, hair salons among others, will be handy and thus encourage the youth to acquire relevant vocational skills.

    Equipping the youth with vocational skills would easily curb rural-urban migration challenges. Youth with such skills can easily operate from their rural areas, achieve more financial independence and reduce on poverty related problems experienced in the rural areas.

    However, the government needs to create a more conducive environment that promotes small and medium enterprises common in markets with abundant vocational skills. The laws on starting business and taxes on such businesses need to be carefully considered to encourage entrepreneurship.

    Supportive infrastructure especially electricity, roads and water should be expanded to the deeper countryside to encourage projects established by youths with such skills. The current unattractiveness of vocational institutions is largely due to inadequate infrastructure in the rural countryside.

    The few youths with vocational skills find it challenging to establish projects and businesses in the countryside largely lacking electricity, roads and other support infrastructure. This situation forces them to migrate to urban centres where such infrastructure is available and dependable. 

    Finally, if Rwanda heeds to the proper development and expansion of vocational institutions, a large percentage of the country’s youth would improve their innovativeness, increase financial independence, reduce unemployment and thus boost the private sector. There should be an overhaul of the country’s education system through emphasising vocational skills training and making it appealing to the youth while at high school and establishing supportive infrastructure. 

  • Inkotanyi’s role in the genocide rescue activities, part 1

    Though the RPF soldiers (Inkotanyi) might not have saved everyone on time during the Tutsi genocide, those who were saved narrate the heroism exerted by the peace-aimed soldiers led by President Paul Kagame. Igihe.com brings you an insight of some of the rescue operations conducted in the city.

    Chantal Mukanyandwi, 35, is one of the survivors who were rescued by RPF soldiers at Saint Famille church located in the city’s main roundabout. She and her family run for refuge at the church hoping the militias would spare them as was the case in the 1959 war where militias spared Tutsis who hid in religious centers.

    Venant Ntabwomvura, 80, a doctor at the Butare University Hospital noted that the reason why many saw churches as safe heavens was because the majority respected religious institutions and associated them to holly grounds thats why militias in the first war feared to attack those who camped in churches.

    The lady further explains that some of her neighbors also took refuge in the church’s enclosed premises where priests and nuns lived. They thought militias would still refrain from the known holly grounds but on contrary the evil minded killers didn’t care at all instead they took advantage of the Tutsi gatherings in the church to pursue mass murder on them.

    Mukanyandwi adds that, “at the beginning of April militias came daily to pick people who we suspect were killed since no one ever came back. Whenever we asked their whereabouts they told us that they were taken for questioning which sounded suspicious,” she remarks.

    In addition to mystery, city leaders were often accompanied by militias in taking away some of the Tutsis who were hiding in the church. Among the prominent leader who was seen in the operations was Tharcisse Renzaho who was the mayor, Odette Nyirabagenzi a councilor from Nyarugenge sector was also among the local leaders in the clique.

    To make matters worse, the leaders would on several occasions trick them that the situation was controlled, but too bad some believed in their mere lies which made them loose their lives when they left the church on 16 June 1994. The mayor had faked that peace had prevailed and that everyone should go back to their respective homes. Due to this trap Mukanyadwi claims to have lost the majority of her family members.

    On the following day the blood-thirst militias broke into the church and killed a good number of people, she was lucky since she hid herself with wounded bodies, “my God the church was full of corpses,” she recalled.

    The militias break-in was no surprise since the catholic priest Wenceslas Munyenshaka used to organize masses as a way of inviting militias who would indentify those to kill next. It is also known that the priests made sure that those hiding were present during the preaching sessions.

    To make matters worse, the priest also ordered a good number of huge pits to be dug at the church’s backyard and since it was done in secrecy, no journalist nor UN peace keeping soldiers were allowed to see what was going on, when asked the priest would simply lie that the pits were to be used as toilets. But literally the pits served as graves.

    Killings went on and militias would often commit atrocities in the church, “I remember one day they came and shot people randomly, the anger was a result of a successfully rescue operation conducted by RPF soldiers,” Mukanyandwi comments.

    Igihe.com further talked to some of the Inkotanyi soldiers who are now serving in the Rwanda Defense Forces about some of the rescue activities in the city. Major Gerald Nyirimanzi in charge of Military History Department was together with Major Emanuel Rusakara at a rescue operation at Saint Famille. He noted that among the reasons why they started the war was to rescue and remove an oppressive regime which carried out the genocide. In an interview with igihe.com they told us how they conducted the rescue process.

    Major Nyirimanzi noted that they immediately rescued Tutsis who were hiding at Saint Famille after receiving intelligence reports that there were plans to kill them. RPF mission was to rescue and restore peace in the country, Tutsis who were in the country during the war at least they had heard about the Inkotanyi’s initiatives through Radio Muhabura which was used by the rebels to communicate their plans about Rwanda’s development.

    The small team of soldiers had to find all means to rescue the Saint Famille victims despite the large presence of militias surrounding the church. Of course penetrating through the militias required some skills and among the tricks they used concentrated on corrupting the enemy’s radio communication system. Nyirimanzi noted for instance they tricked that the RPF soldiers were about to attack the presidents house, the aim was to disorganize the large number of militias at the church with the majority rushing to the presidents house, the trick worked and the Inkotanyis fought their way into the church. 

    Major Nyirimanzi disclosed that the rescue operation was a challenge since the victims hesitated to open the door even after explaining to they came in peace , it seems they didn’t trust them given that in the past militias have used a similar statement. Inkotanyis didn’t spend much time on the doors since they were working on a deadline hence they proceeded to rescue those who were hiding in neighboring Sainte Paul premises, here the rescue process was fair since they broke windows and saved those who were inside including the ones hiding in nearby bushes.

    Rescuing those in the city centre also required more military coverage in other suburbs. In this respect a group of soldiers attacked from Gisozi sector were later on supported by a battalion known as Bravo from H Coy three platoons. The first platoon was in charge of taking the lead while the second platoon was assigned to rescue people at Saint Paul premises which is close to Saint Famille Catholic Church and the third took the back cover and also assisted soldiers and civilians who were affected in several cross-fires with the militias. The soldiers rescued more than 500 people who were taken from Gisozi to Kabuye for treatment.

    The major added that ”saving everyone wasn’t easy because they were some who wanted to carry their property along which delayed the rescue process elsewhere . It is due to this delay that some military police from the militia side started shooting at the RPF soldiers in various parts of the city. The crossfire led to injuries of some of the rescued people which made even some to halt their movement due to serious injuries. Those who were left in the swamps were rescued the previous night..

    The rescue process from the city’s Catholic Church and Saint Paul wasn’t the only operations in the city. Details about other hiding spots and how the saving process was conducted will be disclosed in our second part of the story. The second series will highlight rescue activities at Stade Amahoro, Sainte Andre in Nyamirambo and Rebero.

  • Food prices affected by other forces, not fuel increase-Traders

    As fuel prices continue to affect the East African region leading to political unrest in some of the countries, Rwanda remains unperturbed as Government delinks the cost of fuel to that of food items.

    In a recent interview, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Monique Nsanzabaganwa warns that oil products would always directly or indirectly affect other commodity prices but added that such a stretch should not exceed 0.4 percent to one percent increment arising out of an equal increase on fuel prices. The Minister however says that food prices are expected to remain stable.

    “It will depend on the behaviour of the market but food prices shouldn’t change, even last time when fuel process increased, they remained stable,” she says.

    On the lack of mechanisms to protect consumers, the minister though admits that there is no law to protect consumers’ interests against overpricing as local consumer watchdog Consumer Rights Association of Rwanda appeals to the government to give it more support to deliver on its mandate.

    According to the Acting Managing Director of Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA), Regis Gatarayiha, there have been ongoing discussions and negotiations with the business people not to rapidly increase prices of their products as they wait for the situation to calm down.

    Igihe visited various markets in Kigali including Kimironko, Nyabugogo, and Gikondo market among others to ascertain how the mounting fuel prices may have affected the cost of food.

    According to the survey, both traders and consumers indicate that there are various other factors like food deficiency that may have impacted on the increase of food prices. 

     “In recent days, the price of beans had increased to RWF 700 per kg but has since fallen back to RWF 600 per kg,” says Rosaria Mukarurinda, a trader in Kimironko market. She notes that inconsistent rainfall has led to a food shortage, that has in turn helped food prices to soar to levels high, a situation she says cannot be blamed on fuel.

    For Yeluminee Mukasindambiwe, who vends rice, groundnuts, sugar, millet flour, cooking oil among others, though there is a hike in fuel price, the major problem is a shortage of produce from farmers, who claim little harvest.

    “Increase in fuel prices is adding salt to an injury,” Mukasindambiwe says, adding that though food prices have increased, the situation cannot be compared to the neighbouring countries like Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

    According to the farmers that we interviewed, the price increase of food prices rose by a small margin among almost all food products. For instance, the price of a kilo of matooke rose from RWF150 to 170 per kg.

    Due to the fluctuation of food prices, many of the traders claim that they undergo a lot of challenges as. “We make very little profits but when we deduct taxes, rent and so forth, coupled with the soaring of price in food items, we get almost no profits but still we have to persist until the prices have stabilised,” says Marie Louise Kagoyire, a matooke and Irish potatoes trader at Gikondo market.

    A Kigali resident similarly echoes the concerns of the traders saying that they are often forced to reduce on the quantity of the food items due to price the increase.

    “When we go to the market hoping to buy, for instance, 50 kgs of posho and find that the prices have been hiked, we reduce on the quantity and purchase little according to the little money we have in our pockets and compared to the income one has,” Vincent Dusabimana, a resident of Jari Sector, Gasabo District, who had come to Nyabugogo food market explains.

    For Pierre Bizimana, the increase in food prices is dictated by a decrease in production. He says that he used to purchase 50kgs of sweet potatoes per month but has since reduced this to 30kgs due to this predicament..

    On her part, Jeanne Mukakamanzi, who used to purchase 25 kgs of rice for her family says, “I just quit from buying rice because of the price increase which keeps worsning. I will be buying posho until the prices stabilise ,” Mukakamanzi says.