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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Voice of Reason, December 27, 1999
This review is from: Hope for Rwanda: Conversations with Laure Guilbert and Herve Deguine (Paperback)
Andre Sibomana was a phenomenal human being. The son of a wood sculpturer from Masango in the Gitarama prefecture, he rose to become one of the most prominent figures in Rwanda. As the priest of Muyunzwe from 1982-86, his parishiners called him "the wild animal," which translates more precisely from Kinyarwandan as "the wild animal which does not devour, does not crush the crops and does not do harm"(p. 16).
But over the next 8 years, as ethnic extremism escalated against a backdrop of a deteriorating economy in Rwanda, Sibomana would make many enemies. As the editor of Kinyamateka, a Catholic-sponsored paper that Alison Des Forge aptly notes in her forward as "the most important independent newspaper in Rwanda," and the founder of the influential human rights organization ADL, Sibomana relentlessly attacked the authoritarian, corrupted and appallingly abusive Habyarimana regime from 1988 right up until April 6, 1994. Many attempts were made on his life throughout this period, some of which he discusses.
Sibomana tells of how he miraculously survived the genocide. Although he is Hutu, he was marked for death because of his prominence as a voice of reason against the extreme propagandists and politicians who incited, in part, the atmosphere of profound fear, hate, and ethnic exclusion that made for genocide. This is one more indicator, among many more that Sibomana details, that the genocide was politically motivated, not a result of "ancient, tribal hatreds," but of "man's unrestrained taste for power in all forms and at any price"(p. 152).
Sibomana lived by the principle of human dignity. So when suspect perpetrators of the genocide were (and continue to be) rotting, literally, en masse in prisons established by the RPF since July, 1994, he spoke out, and then followed word with action by providing aid and improving the revolting living conditions. So too did he speak out of RPF reprisal killings. But his voice, once again, fell on oftentimes deft ears in the international community.
This is why this book is so important. Not only is it the first account of the genocide and its aftermath in English by a Rwandan, but it is one of the few accounts that exist that systematically illustrate and denounce major human rights abuses by the current regime, the RPF. Sibomana concludes, "It is as though they have learned nothing from what we have just lived through."
Sibomana makes a powerful, emotionally charged, but sharply reasoned indictment of the current government, one which receives so much support from powers such as the U.S., yet is, on the ground, Sibomana argues, as abusive, authoritarian, and dangerous as was the Habyarimana regime in the early 90s.
Carina Tertsakian has done a wonderful job translating this script. For those unfamiliar with Rwanda, this is a more informative (and just as opinionated) explanation of Rwanda - its history, the genocide, and its aftermath - as Philip Gourevitch's now famous book,*We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families.* For Rwandans and international scholars of Rwanda, this account is loaded with detail, insight, and passion. Though a succinct, powerful read, Sibomana is academic. For example, he writes, "Rwanda has a complex history. Were it not so bloody, it could be likened to a game of chess. Someone who hasn't followed the game from the outset and doesn't know the moves can't follow the subsequent stages." Then Sibomana moves the reader swiftly, though ad unguem, through Rwanda's complex history.
The title of this book may be deceiving to some. Sibomana's voice is anguished and angry, and he candidly describes events and behaviors that are the stuff of nightmares. In the end, my hope derived from Sibomana himself. Here was a man who made a difference and could have helped lift up Rwanda. But that hope is no more, and one must search for other sources, some which may be found in the last conversation of this book: "We Must Not Give Up Hope."
Andre Sibomana died of Lyell's Syndrome in Rwanda in 1998. He was refused a passport by the Rwandan government until 4 March, 1998, when he was on his deathbed (p.161).
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