ROLE of RELIGIOUS LEADERS in the RWANDAN HOLOCAUST

Volume 1 1996

No words could adequately convey the shocking impact of visiting a church building filled with corpses. No photographs could communicate the foreboding silence, the overpowering smell of death and the continuous buzzing of flies at this massacre site!

CARNAGE IN THE CHURCH

The victims of this atrocity at Ntarama have been left basically as they were after the massacre on 22 April 1994. Well over 1 200 people - mostly women and children - were slaughtered within the walls of this church building. An estimated total of 6 000 were killed in surrounding Sunday School classes, at a nearby school and throughout the bush surrounding it.

The survivors described how the Hutu soldiers had first thrown grenades into the church. Then the Interahamwe mob had moved into the packed congregation with machetes chopping off limbs and heads. Some survived by hiding under corpses and pretending to be dead themselves.

The church at Ntarama has been left untouched as an appropriate monument to the unbelievable horrors of the anti-Christian holocaust of April/May 1994 in Rwanda. Human skulls litter the altar. Skulls and bones are piled high outside the church building. Skeletons, still in their clothing, cover the entire floor space of the church. The charred remains of others are visible inside the burnt out Sunday School classrooms a few metres away from the church.

During my last 14 years as a missionary to the persecuted churches, I have seen some horrific atrocities - particularly in Angola and Mozambique. But nothing could compare with the enormity of this atrocity. The scope and intensity of the genocide in Rwanda are unique. Well over half a million people - mainly Tutsi Christians - were slaughtered within a 6 week period - most with machetes, spears and clubs. More Rwandese died in churches than anywhere else.

Bloodied, desecrated and looted, it is the church buildings which speak most eloquently of the horrific carnage that ravaged Rwanda. Bloodstained altars, bullet ridden doors and shattered windows bear testimony to the hatred. Splattered with blood, blackened by fire, shattered by blasts of hand grenades, virtually every room in every church testifies to the time of madness. The churches of Ntarama, Shangi, Rukard, Cyahinda, Karama, Kibeho and Gishamvu and dozens of others were sites of massacres.

CHRISTIAN TRAITORS

The killers did not merely kill people in churches, they killed church workers - pastors, ministers, priests and nuns. However, the most shocking aspect of the anti-Christian mass murder was how many of the people responsible for the slaughter were trusted members of the congregations. On many occasions even priests, nuns and ministers were directly involved in the genocide!

Rwanda has been described as “the most Catholic country in Africa”. Eighty percent of the Rwandese claim to be Christians (62% Roman Catholic). Rwanda has also been described as “one of the jewels in the crown of Charismatic Christianity.” It is one of Africa’s most evangelised nations where tens of thousands were reported to have been baptised in the Spirit at mass evangelistic crusades.

The disgraceful complicity of so many church leaders in the Rwandan genocide has prompted much soul searching and reflection by Christian missionaries: How could the church have failed so dismally in Rwanda?

The Roman Catholic Archbishop, Monsignor Vincent Nsengigumva was also a member of the Central Committee of the ruling MRND government for 14 years. The archbishop conspicuously failed to challenge any of the many injustices perpetrated by the Rwandese government, including the murder of dissident priests.

The Anglican Church had a similar record with most of its bishops supportive of the regime. The Anglican Archbishop Augustin Nshamihigo was particularly close to President Habyanmana. “Even the most senior members of the Anglican church were acting as errand boys for political masters who have preached murder and filled the rivers with blood.” (The Observer, 3 July 1994.)

The Baptists, among the Burundi in the south of the country strongly supported Habyarimana.

Not only did most religious leaders fail to condemn the hatred, but they neglected to provide any solace and support to the victims. Instead, many of the most senior church leaders went out of their way to publically support the architects of genocide. Their betrayal has profoundly affected Christians in Rwanda. The 1 200 page report “Rwanda - Death, Despair and Defiance” by Africa Rights provides exhaustive documentation:

Father Thaddie Rusingizandekwe was seen leading groups of killers at Kibeho. He personally shot refugees at his parish.

Father Anaclet Sebahinde led mobs of armed men up the mountains of Huye in search of refugees. He was personally involved in the murder of 8 priests and 8 nuns in Butare.

Father Athanase Nyandwi participated in the massacres at Kaduha. He profited from the refugees by selling them rice stocks freely donated by Caritas. He also stole the vehicle of the murdered priest Vianney Niyirema.

Two thousand people are estimated to have died in the church of Nyange on 15 April. One of the men who drove the bulldozers which flattened the building has been arrested. He has identified Father Abbe Serumba as the organiser who paid him and the other drivers for their “work”.

The president of the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda, Michael Twagirayesy, has been accused of inciting the killings in Kibuye. He is currently living in Kenya.

The president of the Adventists in Kibuye, Elsaphane Ntakirutimana, is accused of organising the massacre at the Adventist Church in Ngoma. He encouraged Adventist pastors to seek refuge at the church in Ngoma.

He is accused of having brought the gendarmes (police) to the church. When the sixty pastors, and their families, sought his help he refused their appeal. “You die like men, not like children” was his reported response. He is currently living in the United States.

COURAGE AND COMPASSION

By the grace of God one can also point to hundreds of testimonies of courage and compassion by pastors and missionaries who hid the fugitives, protected the vulnerable, tended the wounded, reassured the terrified, fed the hungry, took in abandoned children, confronted the authorities and provided comfort to the brokenhearted. In the midst of a genocide launched with the full authority of the state and with the apparent support of church hierarchies, it must have taken extraordinary courage for those Christians who risked everything to help their hunted neighbours.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNT

Courage and compassion is what one would expect from Christian leaders in any time of crisis. Yet compromise and complicity was all too prevalent as well.

At a public seminar “Revivalism and Ethnic Conflict: Questions from the Rwanda Tragedy” held at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, some serious issues were raised. One Catholic bishop declared: “The Christian message was not being heard. We have to begin again because our best catechists, those who filled our churches, were the first to go out with machetes in their hands.”

Rev Roger Bowen of the Mid-Africa Ministry noted that while the East African revival contained many valuable emphasis, it failed to teach the “whole counsel of God. People were keener to pass on the blessing than give systematic instruction in the Faith. Testimony became a substitute for Biblical teaching.”

In his opinion, the churches had taught a limited doctrine of sin. It was confined to private morality, “don't lie, drink, smoke or commit adultery” but had “no understanding of structural evil or corporate sin manifest in genocide.” The result was a naive support for those in power based upon a superficial and selective reading of Romans 13. The church failed to exercise “critical awareness” and discernment.

Bishop Emmanuel Kolini commented : “One of the problems was lack of teaching on how the Scriptures could be applied to social and political questions. Some missionaries taught that politics was a dirty game and the Christian duty was to escape it.”

Tharcisse Gatwa, the General Secretary of the Bible Society of Rwanda, lamented that “Human rights were never on the churches’ agenda.”

Rev Alan Nichols of World Vision Australia concluded that the Rwanda holocaust reflects upon Christian missionaries from
the West offering “cheap grace” and easy believism which does not actually bring about true conversions.

Even secular journalists have expressed their disgust at how senior church leaders could try to justify the genocide. Jean Helene of Le Monde wrote “There wasn’t the slightest trace of collective guilt, not even among the Christian clergy.”

A Methodist minister in Ngara refugee camp was quoted as saying “The militias had certainly some reasons for doing what they did.” A Catholic priest in Hanika said that he would prefer to forget the massacre at his church (where thousands of Tutsi were killed) “I do not know who the attackers were, or how many were killed” he concluded. “Part of the population felt threatened by the other part and were forced to defend themselves”!

Rev Jorg Zimmerman of the United Evangelical Mission was deeply disturbed by what he witnessed in the refugee camps: “I hardly heard or saw signs of reflection about the roots of the tragedy.. the issue of the responsibility of the church was never raised. Disturbing questions about the lack of critical involvement in society or the limits of an inward looking faith without any social dimensions were consciously or unconsciously avoided. Rwanda has to be re-evangelised and quite differently if we do not want such carnages to come back regularly.”

The comprehensive report on the genocide by Africa Rights makes the following observation: “The genocide in Rwanda has dramatically shown up the moral and spiritual bankrupcy of the hierarchies of all the major churches. Through sins of omission and commission, the church has forfeited the trust that millions of Rwandese had placed in it. The principled and courageous actions of so many pastors who tried to resist the killings may have convinced ordinary Rwandese that Christian values of solidarity, truth and love do still exist - but these values are strikingly absent in the churches as institutions.”

DOCTORS OF DEATH

The medical fraternity and educationalists face a similar dilemma as thousands of teachers, nurses and doctors participated in the mass murder of their pupils and patients. At Kigali Central Hospital a mass grave of 7 000 victims was uncovered. The sewers were blocked up because of the vast quantities of congealed blood that had flowed into the drainage system at the hospital. The entire social fabric in Rwanda failed to prevent the mobilisation of almost the majority of the population in murdering their neighbours. One could say that many of the people of Rwanda are suffering, from “AIDS” - an Acquired Integrity Deficiency Syndrome.

AN INTERNATIONAL DISGRACE

Nor has the United Nations Organisation escaped unscathed. Many of the mass murderers were employees of international relief agencies. And over 2500 UN troops stood by and failed to take any action to intervene and prevent the slaughter of tens of thousands of unarmed Tutsi before their very eyes. Even those thousands of refugees who had sought protection from the UN were abandoned. At the strongly fortified UN base at Ecole Technique Officiel (ETO) in Kigali, the Belgian troops tried to deceive the refugees by assembling them for a meal in the dining room and then evacuated the base while the refugees were eating. Literally two minutes after the Belgians had driven out of their base the Presidential Guards poured into the buildings annihilating the defenceless Tutsi refugees. As they arrived in Belguim, some soldiers slashed their blue berets in disgust.

As I walked amidst the killing fields of Rwanda many thoughts were rushing through my mind: Here we see the total depravity of man. Contrary to what the humanists claim - man is not basically good nor is he evolving and improving. Mankind has fallen into sin and is basically evil. We need strict laws based on God’s word enforced to restrain the evil within man’s heart.

THE DANGERS OF DISARMAMENT

The killing fields of Rwanda also provide another graphic warning against the dangers of centralised government control, the power of the mass media and the consequences of gun control. The MRND government in Rwanda had centralised in themselves an unlimited power. There were no effective checks and balances and the ruling party controlled and abused the media to whip up the Hutu population against the Tutsi. As the population had been previously disarmed they were helpless to defend themselves against the state which had a monopoly of weapons.

From the Christian perspective we need to add that ineffective churches allowed the genocide to be mobilised. Compromise and cowardice caused the catastrophe. Superficial and self centred easy believism is just inadequate.

We need to proclaim the life changing, character transforming Word of God. It is not enough to make converts - we need to make disciples. Church discipline needs to be effectively applied and a more rigorous selection and training procedure needs to be enforced for church leaders. When the pews and pulpits can be filled by hate filled murderers then the church has failed. We need a revival of the fear of the Lord to guard against the infiltration of traitors into the leadership of our churches. The bloodstained bishops and murderous ministers of Rwanda are an indictment upon our theological seminaries and church councils. Those who do not wholeheartedly love the Lord and His Word are not qualified to be spiritual leaders.

It also occured to me just how effective grassroots mobilisation really is. Through grassroots training the Hutu extremists were able to mobilise mobs throughout the country to spread death and terror. If they could have been so terribly effective for evil, then shouldn’t we be challenged anew to use lay leadership training to mobilise evangelists to spread the life giving Gospel of the Grace of God throughout the world?

As I was overcome by the sights and smell of death at the Ntarama church I knelt down amidst the remains of the martyrs on the church steps. I prayed the martyr’s prayer of Revelation 6:10: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge...” I prayed for God to judge the wicked, to comfort the relatives of the victims and for God to have mercy on us all. Then I praised God for the reality of His resurrection victory over death. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And His Church is unshakable, untakable unstoppable and unbeatable.

PETER HAMMOND

Documentation:
RWANDA - Death, Despair and Defiance Report by Africa Rights, August 1995

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