This April marks the 15th anniversary of the 100-day period in 1994 when an estimated 1 million people were killed in Rwanda. Christian Davenport has been studying the killings and atrocities for the past decade. He and his research collaborator, Allan Stam of the University of Michigan, have released data that challenge standard perceptions of who was responsible for the massive violence.
The common narrative for Rwanda is that extremist Hutu murdered hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsi. You say this is true, but not the whole story. How so?
No one disputes that one of the things that happened in 1994 was genocide, or the attempt to exterminate a group of people based on their ethnicity. But of the estimated million people killed, between 300,000 to 500,000 of them were Tutsi, according to best estimates. So that leaves 500,000 to 700,000 people killed. What about them? Who is responsible?
A great deal of effort has gone into keeping the focus on the Hutu executioners. But a large group of perpetrators and war criminals remains at large. Our data show that many of them serve in the current Rwandan government and committed war crimes in 1994 as members of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the rebels who drove the genocidaires from the country. While the RPF played an important role in stopping the killing, members of the RPF engaged in their own murderous campaign. In fact, the RPF forces may have slaughtered more Rwandans than the Hutu genocidaires. They are certainly responsible for the murder of over 100,000 people, and perhaps more than half a million Rwandans.
How did you reach this conclusion?
We are the first independent scholars to explore the violence from a comprehensive perspective. Until now, most of the sources have been from the government, and the information had not been analyzed. We documented all of the violence — not only killings but instances of rape, torture, beating, and abduction. The data was compiled from a broad array of human rights NGOs within and outside of Rwanda as well as government ministries. We invite and welcome other scholars to examine the data, which is available at Genodynamics.
How should the new information change the path to justice in Rwanda?
An important international effort is underway to bring the perpetrators to justice, both through the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the local gacaca courts. But progress has been excruciatingly slow, and all the cases before the courts focus on extremist Hutu perpetrators. A Spanish court has indicted dozens of RPF officials and charged them with war crimes, yet greater awareness and legal action is needed to bring justice to the Rwandan people and the international community. If we are really serious about bringing all the guilty parties to justice, we have to tell the whole story, not just part of it.
Christian Davenport’s comments may be used in whole or in part. He can be reached at (650) 321-2052 or christiandavenport@mac.com.
More about Christian Davenport »
News release: Research Sheds New Light on Rwanda Killings
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