Citation
THE temptation on being approached by a young man wearing a fake fur
coat and red wellingtons in tropical temperatures is not to take him
very seriously. On the road to Kibuye that would be a mistake.
The fur-coated youth was polite, even when he asked: Are there any
Tutsis here?
But were he to have discovered any, the array of weaponry
displayed by his companions suggested that it was not just the Tutsis
who were done for.
Across government-held Rwanda the French army is clearing militia
roadblocks supposedly set up in self-defence against the advancing
rebels. Most are not even within firing range of the front.
They are there to hunt down members of the minority Tutsi population
who have escaped the militia-led genocide. When French troops arrive to
clear the roadblocks, the militia is compliant. The barricades come
down, weapons are confiscated. But where the French have yet to tread,
passing through is a dangerous exercise.
The 75-mile stretch of mountain road between Gisenyi and Kibuye is
clogged with 24 militia barricades. Each must be judged by the mood of
its guards. Some are manned by young drunks who randomly accuse
passengers of being Tutsis and wave guns and machetes in their faces.
These days they also tend to mistake any white foreigner for a French
soldier. In their military paraphernalia, they salute and try to make
out that they too are soldiers. Guns are not always visible, machetes
always are. Some militiamen wield huge clubs that probably kill with
one blow.
Other roadblocks are less visibly threatening. A schoolteacher was in
charge of one in a village where he was possibly the most educated
resident. He wanted to try his passable English and carried no gun. He
was officious as he checked for victims. But behind him was arrayed a
selection of young men waiting for his word to kill.
At some barricades the militia stared into the faces of the Rwandans,
perhaps searching for a hint of Tutsi, perhaps for the kick of
instilling terror.
The Rwandans papers were pored over. It is the paperwork that gives the
militia roadblocks their air of legitimacy. Not all Tutsis fit the
stereotypical view of them as tall and beautiful. Ownership of a dozen
cows was sometimes enough to label someone a Tutsi.
An elaborate web of passes is needed just to move a few miles down the
road. Anyone without the necessary permission is hauled aside. Every
car must have its own manifest, so getting a ride is almost impossible.
The barricades are frequently decorated with hastily fashioned French
flags, and signs praising President Mitterrand for intervening. Others
denounce Uganda and Belgium for supporting the rebels. In areas where
French troops have passed through they have often met with a rapturous
reception from people who believe the soldiers are there not to rescue
the remaining Tutsis but to shield the Hutu majority from the rebel
Rwandan Patriotic Front. In Gisenyi, whole schools lined the roads
waving flowers as the French arrived.
But the atmosphere is likely to sour if the French do what they have
promised the United Nations. Already the discovery of mass graves in
town after town has cooled the reception. The militias are not happy as
the French draw Tutsis from their hiding places and offer them a means
of escape.
But the militia cannot be too disappointed. At the barricades they
rarely find Tutsis these days. In this part of Rwanda most are already
dead.
