Congressional Record Statement of Senator Russ Feingold
On the Rwandan Genocide
April 6, 2005
Mr. FEINGOLD.
Mr. President, today marks the 11th anniversary of the start of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Eleven years ago, a deliberate, centrally planned, and organized campaign of mass murder and rape was set in motion in Rwanda, and eventually it took the lives of some 800,000 men, women, and children. The victims were ethnic Tutsis and also moderate ethnic Hutus who believed in tolerance and resisted the call to participate in madness. In many ways, the entire country was victimized. Millions were displaced, and shattered state institutions are still recovering from the devastating loss of skilled personnel. Survivors have struggled to cope with their memories, and orphans have had to assume adult responsibilities in the wake of tragedy. The entire central African region has been violently unstable ever since.
As this horror unfolded, the international community, including the United States, failed the people of Rwanda, and failed to act in the face of true evil. The world had said ``never again'' to genocide. And then we abandoned the people of Rwanda to an unspeakable national nightmare.
Even as the world marks this solemn anniversary, we read ongoing reports of the crisis in Darfur, Sudan--a crisis that our President and this Congress has called a genocide. Once more, we confront a reality that exposes the inadequacy of our pledges of ``never again.'' And many will seize the anniversary of the Rwandan tragedy to rally support for more effective action in Darfur, where the international response has too often been sluggish and inadequate.
In the case of Darfur, the United States has spoken boldly. Our humanitarian response, though slow to gear up, is significant and commendable. The efforts of the African Union are laudable. But the bottom line is that neither the African Union nor the U.S. has taken effective action to protect the people of Darfur. While last week the United Nations Security Council made some progress on Darfur, much more remains to be done, and I do not believe that the United States has exerted adequate diplomatic and political effort on behalf of the people of Darfur. We ought to be able to do more--to be more forceful, more focused, more innovative, and more persuasive--to stop genocide.
So I applaud those who will work to refocus American attention on Darfur today, and I stand with them in their urgent call for a more effective response. But today, of all days, we must not forget Rwanda. We cannot pretend that Rwanda's struggles are simply in the past, or that the country exists simply to serve as a cautionary tale. The people of Rwanda still struggle today with efforts to rebuild their country, with the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic, with the need for justice and accountability, and broadly, with fear. And though it is true that even the most conscientious policy will never erase the failures of the past, it is also true that we only compound our mistakes when we ignore the realities of Rwanda today.
Frankly, some of these realities are deeply disturbing. Crushing poverty characterizes the economic situation of far too many Rwandans, and serious repression is a dominant feature of the country's political life. The most recent State Department Human Rights Report on Rwanda cites instances of political disappearances, arbitrary arrest of opposition supporters, and harassment of independent journalists. According to the report, last year the government of Rwanda ``effectively dismantled independent human rights organizations'' and the Government declined to use its considerable influence with the RCD-G faction in Eastern Congo to effectively curtail that group's practice of killing, raping, and robbing the people of Eastern Congo on a massive scale.
Of course the government of Rwanda and the Rwandan people value order and are extremely sensitive to ethnically divisive forces. Rwanda remains a traumatized society. But not all dissent is dangerous or divisive, and history teaches us that imposing order alone is not enough to guarantee stability and security. Over the long run, suppression and intimidation can undermine security rather than protecting it, forcing healthy debates into illicit channels, and casting doubt on the legitimacy of the prevailing order. We fail to be true friends to the people of Rwanda when we fail to be honest about these issues, and to raise our voices in support of the civil and political rights of the Rwandan people.
As we remember the past today, we should resolve to pay close attention to the present. The people of Rwanda deserve more than our regret. They deserve our support for their efforts to build a more just, more free, and more secure future.
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