Rwanda, land of a thousand hills and millions of broken hearts

I went to the Kigali City Genocide Memorial today. Definitely sobering. Most sobering to me was that I just came from North Kivu, where the same feelings of mistrust, selfishness and hatred for those who are different is continuing on, as more women are raped, children become killers, and families are driven apart.

And it's never over. Two weeks ago in Goma, Rwandans told me that, if French troops were stationed in Congo (as part of a UN peacekeeping force), then they would cross into Congo and declare war, in retaliation for French assistance to the "genocidiares".

Did the American government support the return of Paul Kagame and the Tutsi minority to power in Rwanda? Do they support (through Rwanda) the rebel leader Nkunda, as many Congolese suggest? Is the media promoting Nkunda and his Tutsi rebel group out of shame for their poor coverage of the genocide?

The answers to these questions are not, and may never be clear. What is clear, is that any group, be it military, political, ethnic or religious, that forces citizens to "take sides" is not seeking peace. Identifying people as "them" or "us" is never unifying.

In the memorial, many of the memories from survivors are not of the "liberating forces" that stopped the genocide, and eventually formed a 'new Rwanda', but of heroes...people who could have joined the majority, should have participated, but instead gave up their homes, their food, and often their lives, to protect the innocent. Their neighbours, their "enemies", but their strongest allies.

Peace is not made by drawing lines in the sand, but by crossing overn those lines, and saying no to violence and ignorant intolerance.