Remembering the Rwandan Genocide

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. I thank the gentleman from Missouri for yielding, and I appreciate the whip for bringing this hour to the attention of Members of Congress and the

opportunity to speak on this historic 20th anniversary of this slaughter.

I had the opportunity to visit Rwanda in the company of one of the great men who served in this House, Congressman DONALD PAYNE of New Jersey. Congressman Payne had made several trips to Rwanda and several trips to Africa.

We visited the memorial there to the victims, which is a very special place in the world, burial spots and flowers and plaques and the museum company there, too. It made a great impression on me, and it would make a great impression on anybody.

One thing that came out of the trip was my realization that today, in Rwanda, the Hutus and the Tutsis get along and that what was horrific 20 years ago, in one of the most horrific ethnic cleansings--or attempted ethnic cleansings and hate, atrocities, murders, over time, the Rwandan people have overcome them.

The distinctions are no longer present, and the people do get along. Obviously, because of the horrific situation, there is an imbalance in the populations, and I am sure there are still some memories; but we do need to learn, as I am sure has been said, about when we turn to thinking of other people as different because we are all the same.

There was a time a little after this, I think it was about 1999, when I was at Union Station. President Clinton was there, and we had some time to talk, and he related how the Human Genome Project that Dr. Francis Collins--now the head of the NIH--was heading up and how that we are all 99.96 percent the same, and we are.

He mentioned the Hutus and the Tutsis and how they were just so, so, so, so, so alike, but the minor differences that were visible caused them to have this awful, awful, horrific genocide.

It pained President Clinton. Whip Hoyer mentioned that this is something that he brought up before, that it was a mistake while he was President not to intervene. It was right after the difficulty that we had in Mogadishu with the helicopter and the way the American soldiers were killed and horrifically treated in the streets of Mogadishu by the Somali groups there.

It was a reticence to get involved in another situation in Africa, and it is a tight line sometimes to determine when you go in and when you don't. Well, the President made a mistake there, as he has admitted over the years.

If we look at other situations that might present themselves to us, as Members of Congress, we have to realize the United States of America has a special place in the world.

We are the only country that has the ability to see that mankind doesn't engage in horrific genocides again, so when the opportunity for the United States to get involved and prevent a slaughter, prevent a genocide, the United States has a responsibility.

Inasmuch as it is difficult after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to commit our troops to action when situations like Rwanda present themselves, it is incumbent upon us, I think, to support--whoever is the President--in taking the proper actions to preserve humanity.

So I thank Whip Hoyer for calling for this hour and Mr. Cleaver for leading it, and I just wanted to add my thoughts and my reflections after having visited Rwanda with a great Member of Congress, DONALD PAYNE.

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