allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Twelve Years On - the Post-Genocide Youth (Page 1 of 2)

Twelve years after the massacres of 1994, Rwanda's younger generations are struggling to cope with their lives. More than half of the country's population is under 25-years-old, with 15- to 24-year-olds accounting for nearly a quarter (UNFPA).

With one of the world's highest proportions of orphans and youth-headed families, the difficulties faced by youth in Rwanda are extensive. The killing of almost one million Rwandans during the 100-day massacres deeply affected the country's social fabric, especially at the family level.

Mobilising youth

The Rwandan minister in charge of youth, sport and culture, Joseph Habineza stressed at a recent press interview that "today, there is an emphasis to involve young people directly into the national development, as a main force of the nation".

The massive involvement of young Hutu people in the genocide has led to an increasing awareness of the challenges that Rwandan youth face. The government has launched various initiatives to allow young people to take part in the reconstruction of the country and the reconciliation process between communities. Policies are aimed at those aged between 14 and 35 - more than a third of the total population.

Persuading the country's youth to take part in rebuilding Rwanda has not been difficult. There is a widespread feeling among the young that the country needs to move on from its past, and that everyone should focus on the future. Young people in Kigali regularly take part in 'Muganda', mandatory community work every last Saturday of the month. They told IRIN that they happily took part because they wanted to 'improve' their country and make it more beautiful.

Another initiative is the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission's (NURC) 'Ingados'. NURC, created in 1999, targets youth through temporary camps where different youth groups are taught how national unity and reconciliation should take place. Courses include history and civic education aimed at 'eradicating the consequences of years of exclusionary ideology that led to the genocide,' says Geoffrey Murangwa, legal officer at NURC.

Youth facing justice

Exact figures of the number of young people that took part in the genocide are not known - whether their involvement was voluntarily, under peer pressure, or forced. They are, however, all facing justice for their role in the atrocities.

The country's prisons are overcrowded, and the justice system has become overburdened bringing perpetrators to justice, so a new system - the Gacaca courts - was set up in July 2006. The structure, inspired by the pre-colonial Rwandan justice system, is currently trying genocide suspects in the communities where their crimes were committed. After the genocide, an estimated 120,000 people - adults and youth - were in put in prison. Tens of thousands waited for years until the new courts were established.

Another means of relieving prison congestion was implemented by the government in 2003. Those aged between 14- and 18-years at the time of the genocide were released from prison in return for a confession and pending a trial at a later date. Confessions carried the promise of a reward of a significantly reduced sentence, half of which could be spent doing community service or Travaux d'Intérêt Général (TIG).

Those taking part in the genocide have been classified into three groups: the planners, instigators and masterminds behind the genocide; the perpetrators, conspirators and accomplices causing death; and, those who stole and looted but did not kill.

Emanuel Twagirumukiza, the Executive Secretary of TIG at the Ministry of Justice told IRIN that an estimated 300,000 suspects falling under the second category could serve a part of their sentence in the TIG at some future date.

The first TIG camp opened in September 2005, but it was not until October 2006 that a further seven were opened, admitted Twagirumukiza.

Boniface, 29, spent four years in prison and decided to confess his guilt in 2000 after which he was temporarily released. He was 17 at the time of the genocide, and after having been tried by his local Gacaca, his sentence was commuted to three years community service at the Mageragere TIG in the Nyarugenge district of Kigali. He said the majority of his 200 fellow workers, commonly called tigistes, were in their late twenties and early thirties.

While most of the imprisoned young adults are now looking forward to the end of their sentences, their future is not very bright. Most of them have never received an education, and as a former tigiste can only look forward to a job in the construction industry.

The chief coordinator of Mageragere camp, Leopold Burangayija-Mugarura, disagrees. Burangayija-Mugarura argues that after having spent so many years in prison, the tigistes have had an opportunity to acquire new professional skills. At Mageragere, the convicts have been able to learn stone quarrying, and have built 64 houses for vulnerable people, many of whom are genocide survivors. Other efforts to rehabilitate tigistes include events such as football matches.

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