Tutu Preaches Forgiveness in Rwanda and Burundi
Episcopal News Service. August 31, 1995 [95-1207]
(ENS) In South Africa bitter enemies were able to reach toward peaceful coexistence by dismantling the system of apartheid. Similar reconciliation could happen in Rwanda as well, despite atrocities committed by warring Hutu and Tutsi tribes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said during a visit.
"The people of Rwanda have the same language and the same culture -- if it can happen in South Africa, why not here?" Tutu, archbishop of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, asked a congregation of 10,000 people gathered at an ecumenical service at Amahoro stadium in the Rwandan capital city of Kigali.
"You have passed through hell," Tutu told those gathered, including Rwandan church leaders, government officials and Rwandan president Pasteur Bizimungu. "The people of Africa shudder to think what happened to you. Now I want to thank those Rwandans who have decried revenge. There will be a new Rwanda. God wants justice and salvation."
Tutu made his statements while leading a delegation from the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) on a recent tour of Rwanda and Burundi. He said that the delegation had tried to "express solidarity with the people of Rwanda who have been through immense suffering and to reassure them that God has not abandoned them." He asserted that the delegation called "for justice to be done to those who were perpetrators of these dastardly deeds."
But, he cautioned, "justice should not be the last word on this matter because we need to break the spiral of conflict" and rival claims of "top dog versus underdog, coup and counter coup." Members of the delegation included AACC general secretary Jose Chipenda and Anglican Observer at the United Nations Bishop James Ottley.
The delegation's visit closely followed the provincial synod of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda, the first since genocide wracked the country. The Rev. Canon John L. Peterson, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, and Martin Cavender, an-ecclesiastical lawyer and director of the Archbishop of Canterbury's evangelism initiative, served as advisors. The synod voted to present an ultimatum to those Rwandan bishops, including the archbishop, who are still living outside the country, having fled during the massacres. As one synod member expressed it, the bishops will be told "your people need your pastoral help." They will be given three months to respond to the demand that they return.
After his visit, Tutu was diplomatic on the issue of whether Rwandan church leaders should be publicly condemned for their complicity with the former government and the apparent involvement of some in last year's massacres -- an issue which has received worldwide publicity.
"Despite all appearances to the contrary, nuns and religious are human," he said. "In Germany, there were Christians who supported Hitler. In these situations our theology helps us. We've got a thing called 'original sin' and none of us can necessarily predict how we would operate in the same situation as they were in. I can't say to someone: 'Be ready to be a martyr."'
Tutu toured Kigali's Central Prison where thousands accused of taking part in last year's genocide await trial, and the church in Ntarama where 1,000 people were butchered during the genocide. The Ntarama church has been converted into a "holocaust" museum consisting of tables of skulls bearing the signs of violence. The floor of the destroyed church is covered with bloody clothing and bones.
"Today we visited the dead in Ntarama. I am shattered," Tutu told leaders, diplomats and church people in Kigali. "We give thanks to God for all of you. . . who have been so traumatized, who have suffered to the extent you have suffered but have somehow been given the capacity to hold back your anger, your bitterness and your natural desire for revenge."
Before traveling to Rwanda, the delegation also visited neighboring Burundi where tribal strife threatens a repeat of the Rwandan bloodbath. Tutu's visit came immediately after thousands of civilians fled from a Hutu suburb of Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, when troops from the Tutsi-dominated army clashed with Hutu gunmen.
"Burundi is on the edge," Tutu said. "Religious leaders there have issued a united call for an immediate cease-fire, and are doing all they can to facilitate dialogue and discussion by the main role players. If they don't do that, they are for the birds," he said.
After the tour of Rwanda and Burundi, Tutu spoke at a press conference in London and called on the international community to lift sanctions imposed on Rwanda so that the country's restoration could begin in earnest. The sanctions, he said, left the present government "hamstrung" when urgent assistance was needed to rebuild the country's infrastructure. He also called for assistance so that Rwanda can deal with more than 10,000 legal accusations of genocide and war crimes.