Remembering the Rwandan Genocide

Floor Speech

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Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. I thank the gentleman very much.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend from New York, Representative Gregory Meeks not only for yielding, not only for being engaged in this discussion, but for the tremendous amount of time, energy, and effort that he spends dealing with international issues, recognizing that every day, as we see the increases in technology and our ability to communicate more effectively with other people across the world, how small and how much smaller our world is becoming, so things that may have been considered far away are now much closer to our everyday existence. So I thank the gentleman for his leadership.

I also want to commend Representative Emanuel Cleaver and our whip for convening this session. As I listened to Representative Cleaver give a bit of the history of Rwanda, I was actually glued to the television set and felt immobilized that I couldn't or didn't want to move. And to think that during the last two decades we would experience, in our modern-day world, such horrific actions as that which we are

commemorating and remembering here today some 20 years later, to think that the international community sat by, watched, discussed, but didn't move, wouldn't move, couldn't move, and watched 800,000 people, and perhaps even more, be annihilated, wiped out, to see them experience some of the most horrific actions that could be taken against a people. I guess the whole lot of us share in the blame because we saw it, didn't move on it, couldn't find a way to bring world interest, world concerns together to stop it or prevent it before all of these people had lost their lives. And so, yes, it is shame on our world, and all of us must take some of the responsibility and share in the blame.

When a tragedy is occurring to some of us, it really affects, in a way, all of us. When a government is unable or unwilling to protect its people, then it becomes a world issue, and the rest of us have the responsibility to step in. And as much as some of us abhor war and as much as we know that it is not the best utilization to get involved in warlike activity that is unnecessary, I think that there are some things that you just can't let go without doing whatever it is that you can do.

So I hope that our world is saying that never, ever again will we stand by and let such as this take place, that never, ever again will we be immobilized and wondering about what to do or can we do or should we do. We know that something must be done.

So, GREG, again, I thank you for not only yielding, but I thank you for your leadership on international affairs which helps us to know that, yes, we can be our brothers' keepers. And our brothers don't have to be just across the street--they can be across the ocean; they can be across the continent; they can be in other lands--because all of us are joined together as a part of the mutual elements of our world. So I thank you for your leadership.

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Mr. Speaker, according to the Outreach Programmee on the Rwanda Genocide and the United Nations reported that between April and June of 1994, as the international community watched, more than 800,000 Rwandans, mostly ethnic Tutsi, were massacred by Hutu militia and government forces over a period of just 100 days. The killings began the day after a plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. The presidents were returning from peace talks aimed at shoring up a fragile peace agreement and ending the conflict between the largely ethnic Hutu-dominated government and the largely Tutsi rebel army. The crash re-ignited the war. Retreating government forces joined ethnic Hutu militia in inciting civilians to kill ethnic Tutsis. They alleged that civilians were helping the Tutsi rebels and used this to justify the mass targeting of innocent peoples. A small peacekeeping force which had been sent by the United Nations to monitor the peace accord was not authorized to intervene. A warning that genocide was planned was not acted upon. Today, the effects of the genocide in Rwanda are still felt in many different ways both inside the country and in neighboring states, including in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where large areas of South Kivu province are still controlled by Hutu militia from Rwanda and their local allies. Alongside other fighters in the Congo war, they continue to commit serious human rights violations, including abductions, killings and rape. Sexual violence, particularly against women and children, is widespread.

This week marks the 20th year anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide. Since this genocide, certain concepts and initiatives have come forward by the international community that when a nation fails to protect its citizens or people the responsibility relies upon the international community to step in to stop the killing of people.

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