Citation
N° 42 (04/1998)
Remarks by the President of the United States of America,
H.E. BILL CLINTON,
to genocide survivors, Assistance Workers,
and US and Rwanda Government officials
Kigali - March 25, 1998
"Thank you Mr. President. First, let me thank you and Vice-President Kagame, and your
wives for making Hillary and me and our delegation feel so welcome. Iíd also like to thank
the young students who met us and the musicians, the dancers who were outside. I thank
especially the survivors of the genocide and those who are working to rebuild your country
for spending a little time with us before we came in here."
"I have a great delegation of Americans with me, leaders of our government, leaders of our
Congress, distinguished American citizens. Weíre all very grateful to be here. We thank the
diplomatic corps for being here, and the members of the Rwandan Government, and
especially the citizens."
"I have come today to pay the respect of my nation to all who suffered and all who perished in
the Rwandan genocide." (Applause)
"It is my hope that through this trip, in every corner of the world today and tomorrow, their
story will be told, that four years ago in this beautiful, green, lovely land, a clear and
conscious decision was made by those then in power that the peoples of this country would
not live side by side in peace."
"During the 90 days that began on April 6 in 1994, Rwanda experienced the most intensive
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slaughter in this blood-filled century we are about to leave. Families murdered in their home,
people hunted down as they fled by soldiers and militia, through farmland and woods as if
they were animals."
"From Kibuye in the west to Kibungo in the east, people gathered seeking refuge in churches
by the thousands, in hospitals, in schools. And when they were found, the old and the sick,
women and children alike, they were killed; - killed because their identity card said they were
Tutsis or because they had a Tutsi parent, or because someone thought they looked like a
Tutsi, or slain like thousands of Hutus because they protected Tutsis or would not
countenance a policy that sought to wipe out people who, just the day before, and for years
before, had been their friends and neighbors."
"The Government-led effort to exterminate Rwandaís Tutsis and moderate Hutus, as you
know better than me took at least a million lives. Scholars of these sorts of events say that the
killers, armed mostly with machetes and clubs nonetheless did their work five times as fast as
the mechanized gas chambers used by the Nazis."
"It is important that the world know that these killings were not spontaneous or accidental. It
is important that the world hear what your president just said. They were most certainly not
the result of ancient tribal struggles. Indeed these people had lived together for centuries
before the events the President described began to unfold."
"These events grew from a policy aimed at the systematic destruction of a people. The ground
for violation was carefully prepared, the airwaves poisoned with hatred, casting the Tutsis as
scapegoats for the problems of Rwanda, denying their humanity. All of this was done, clearly,
to make it easy for otherwise reluctant people to participate in wholesale slaughter."
"Lists of victims, name by name, were actually drawn up in advance. Today the images of all
that haunt us all: the dead choking the Kagera River, floating to lake Victoria. In their fate we
are reminded of the capacity in people everywhere, not just in Rwanda, and certainly not just
in Africa, but the capacity for people everywhere to slip into pure evil. We cannot abolish that
capacity, but we must never accept it. And we know it can be overcome."
"The international community together with nations in Africa must bear its share of
responsibility for this tragedy, as well. (Applause) We did not act quickly enough after the
killing began. We should not have allowed the refugee camp to become safe haven for the
killers (Applause). We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide
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(Applause). We cannot change the past but we can and must do everything in our power to
help you build a future without fear, and full of hope." (Applause)
"We owe to those who died and to those who survived who loved them, our every effort and
to increase our vigilance and strengthen our stand against those who would commit such
atrocities in the future, here or elsewhere. (Applause)"
Indeed we owe to all the peoples of the world who are at risk because each bloodletting
hastens the next as the value of human life is degraded and violence becomes tolerated, the
unimaginable becomes more conceivable we owe to all the people in the world. Our best
efforts to organize ourselves so that we can maximize the chances of preventing these event.
And where they cannot be prevented, we can move more quickly to minimize the horror."
"So let us challenge ourselves to build a world in which no branch of humanity, because of
national, racial, ethnic or religious origin, is again threatened with destruction because of
those characteristics, of which people should rightly be proud. Let us work together as a
community of civilized nations to strengthen our ability to prevent, and if necessary, to stop
genocide."
"To that end, I am directing my administration to improve, with the international community,
our system for identifying and spotlighting nations in danger of genocidal violence, so that we
can assure worldwide awareness of impending threats. It may seem strange to you here,
especially the many of you who lost members of your family, but all over the world there
were people like me, sitting in offices, day after day after day, who did not fully appreciate
the depth and the speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror."
"We have seen to ñ and I want to say again ñ that genocide can occur anywhere. It is not an
African phenomenon and must never be viewed as such. We have seen it in industrialized
Europe; we have seen it in Asia. We must have global vigilance. And never again must we be
shy in the face of evidence." (Applause)
"Secondly we must as an international community have the ability to act when genocide
threatens. We are working to create the capacity here in the Great Lakes region, where the
memory is still fresh."
"This afternoon leaders from central and eastern Africa will meat with me to launch an effort
to build a coalition to prevent genocide in this region I thank the leaders who have stepped
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forward to make this commitment. We hope the effort can be a model for all the world,
because our sacred task is to work to banish this greatest crime against humanity."
"Events here how urgent the work is. In the northwest part of your country, attacks by those
responsible for the slaughter in 1994 continue today. We must work as partners with Rwanda
to end this violence and allow your people to go on rebuilding your lives and your nation."
"Third, we must work now to remedy the consequences of genocide. The United States have
provided assistance to Rwanda to settle the uprooted and restart its economy, but we must do
more. I am pleased that America will become the first nation to contribute to the new
Genocide Survivors Fund. (Applause) We will contribute this year $ 2 million, continue our
support in the years to come, and urge other nations to do the same, so that survivors and their
communities can find the care they need and the help they must have." (Applause)
"Mr. President to you, and to you, Mr. Vice ñ President, you have shown great vision in your
efforts to create a single nation in which all citizens can live freely and securely. As you
pointed out, Rwanda was a single nation before the European powers met in Berlin to carve
up Africa. America stands with you and we will continue helping the people of Rwanda to
rebuild their lives and society." (Applause)
"You spoke passionately this morning in our private meeting about the need for grass-roots
efforts in this direction. We will deepen our support for those grass-roots efforts, for the
development projects which are bridging divisions and clearing a path to a better future. We
will join with you to strengthen democratic institutions, to broaden participation, to give all
Rwandans a greater voice in their own governance. The challenges you face are great, but
your commitment to lasting reconciliation and inclusion is firm."
"Fourth, to help ensure that those who survived in the generations to come never again suffer
genocidal violence, nothing is more vital than establishing the rule of law. There can be no
peace in Rwanda that lasts without a justice system that is recognized as such."
"We applaud the efforts of the Rwandan Government to strengthen civilian and military
justice systems. I am pleased that our Great Lakes Justice initiative will invest $ 30 million to
help create throughout the region judicial systems that are impartial, credible and effective. In
Rwanda, these funds will help to support courts, prosecutors and police, military justice and
cooperation at the local level. We will also continue to pursue justice through our strong
backing for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The United States is the largest
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contributor to this tribunal. We are frustrated as you are, by the delays in the tribunalís work.
As we know, we must do better. Now that administrative improvements have begun,
however, the tribunal should expedite cases trough group trials, and fulfill its historic
mission". (Applause)
"We are prepared to help, among other things, with witness relocation so that those who fear
can speak the truth in safety. And we will support the War Crime Tribunal for as long as it is
needed to do its work, until the truth is clear and justice is rendered."
"Fifth, we must make it clear to all those who would commit such acts in the future that they
too must answer for their acts and they will. In Rwanda we must hold accountable all those
who may abuse human rights, whether insurgents or soldiers. Internationally, as we meet
here, talks are underway at the United Nations to establish a permanent international criminal
court. Rwanda, and the difficulties we have had with this special tribunal, underscore the need
for such a court. And the United States will work to see that it is created." (Applause)
"I know that in the face of all you have endured, optimism cannot come easily to any of you.
Yet I have just spoken, as I said with several Rwandans who survived the atrocities, and just
listening to them gave me reason for hope. You see countless stories of courage around you
every day as you go about your business here ñ men and women who survived and go on,
children who recover the light in their eyes remind us that at the dawn of a new millennium,
there is only one crucial division among the people of the Earth. And believe me, after our
five years dealing with these problems, I know it is not the division between the Hutu and the
Tutsi, or Serb and Croatian and Muslims in Bosnia, or Arab and Jew, or Catholic and
Protestant in Ireland, or Black and White. It is the line between those who embrace common
humanity we all share and those who reject it." (Applause)
"It is the line between those who find meaning in life through respect and cooperation and
who, therefore, embrace peace, and those who can only find meaning in life if they have
someone to look down on, someone to trample, someone to punish, and therefore, embrace
war." (Applause)
"It is the line between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past. It is the
line between those who give up their resentment and those who believe they will absolutely
die if they have to relieve one bit of grievance. It is the line between those who confront every
day with a clenched fist and those who confront every day with an open hand. That is the only
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line that counts when all is said and done."
"To those who believe God has made each of us in His own image, how could we choose the
darker road? When you look at those children who greeted us, as we got off that plane today,
how could anyone say they did not want those children to have a chance to have their own
children? To experience the joy of another morning sunrise? To learn the normal lessons of
life? To give something back to their people?"
"When you strip it all away, whether weíre talking about Rwanda or some other distant
troubled spot, the world is divided according to how people believe they draw meaning from
life."
"And so I say to you, though the road is hard and uncertain, and there are many difficulties
ahead, and like any other person who wishes to help, I doubtless will not be able to do
everything I would like to do, there are things we can do. And if we set about the business of
doing them together, you can overcome the awful burden that you have endured. You can put
a smile on the face of every child in this country, and you can make people once again believe
that they should live as people were living, who were singing to us and dancing for us today."
"Thatís what we have to believe. That is what I came here to say. That is what I wish for
you."
"Thank you and God bless you."
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