Gitera:
A killer’s story
By Sun News Publishing
Tuesday, April 6, 2004
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| The Sun News
Publishing |
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In 1994 in the village of Nyarubuye, Rwanda, the Hutu majority
went on a killing spree in the local church, slaughtering
neighbours and friends.
Gitera Rwamuhuzi is one of those who took part in the genocide.
This is his story.
"Before the genocide, life was normal. For us, as long
as there was a harvest good enough to save us from buying
food from the market, I would say that we were happy.
I heard that Tutsis were regarded as superior towards Hutus.
For example a Hutu could only change his social status by
serving in a Tutsi's household. The rest were low-class Hutus.
Because the RPF were blamed for the death of President Habyarimana,
we thought that they had started with the high-ranking officials
and that they were going to end up doing the same to us ordinary
people.
We thought that if they had managed to kill the head of state,
how were ordinary people supposed to survive?
On the morning of 15 April 1994, each one of us woke up knowing
what to do and where to go because we had made a plan the
previous night. In the morning we woke up and started walking
towards the church.
No life
After selecting the people who could use guns and grenades,
they armed them and said we should surround the church.
They said one group would go south and another group would
go to the north. There were so many of us we were treading
on each others' heels.
People who had grenades detonated them. The Tutsis started
screaming for help.
As they were screaming, those who had guns started to shoot
inside.
They screamed saying that we are dying, help us, but the soldiers
continued shooting.
I entered and when I met a man I hit him with a club and he
died.
You would say why not two, three or four but I couldn't kill
two or three because those that entered outnumbered those
inside.
Some people did not even find someone to kill because there
were more killers than victims.
When we moved in, it was as if we were competing over the
killing. We entered and each one of us began killing their
own.
Each person who we cut looked like they had been hit by the
grenades. They looked traumatised. They looked like their
hearts had been taken away.
No one was asking for forgiveness. They looked like they had
been killed already.
My neighbours
Those you cut were just not saying anything. They were scared
that no one said anything. They must have been traumatized.
Apart from breathing you could see that they had no life in
them. They looked like their hearts had been taken away.
I saw people whose hands had been amputated, those with no
legs, and others with no heads. I saw everything.
Especially seeing people rolling around and screaming in agony,
with no arms, no legs. People died in very bad conditions.
It was as if we were taken over by Satan. We were taken over
by Satan. When Satan is using you, you lose your mind. We
were not ourselves. Beginning with me, I don't think I was
normal.
You wouldn't be normal if you start butchering people for
no reason. We had been attacked by the devil.
Even when I dream my body changes in a way I cannot explain.
These people were my neighbours. The picture of their deaths
may never leave me. Everything else I can get out of my head
but that picture never leaves." |
