30 years on, Rwanda genocide survivor recounts church massacre experience

By Gulcin Kazan Doger

ISTANBUL (AA) - Omar Ndizeye, a survivor of the Rwanda genocide against the Tutsis 30 years ago, recounted his experience in a church where 10,000 people were killed.

Also a writer, Ndizeye, who was 10 during the genocide, lost his father, brother, and many relatives in a church where they sought refuge.

He spoke to Anadolu on the anniversary of April 7, the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Rwanda Genocide.

Describing finding his father's body among the dead, Ndizeye said: "I saw my father. My father was at the top of dead bodies. So, his backbone was almost cut into two pieces. I remember seeing that image. I was shocked. I had nothing to say. But the most shocking part of the church was not seeing my father like that. The most shocking part was missing my young brother," he said.

Ndizeye said he was born in 1984 in the Bugesera region as the eldest son of a family with three children.

Due to a history of deportation, the majority of the population in the area were Tutsis, with many neighbors being relatives.

He said although his father converted to Islam, most of his relatives were Catholic Christians. As a result, Ndizeye said he attended Catholic mass with his father's relatives and neighbors, despite his family's Islamic faith.

"And my father would take me to the mosque on Friday. So, you see this kind of diversity of life. Of course, we are not a rich family, but it was a happy family," he said.

He noted that as he grew older, he became acquainted with the provocative broadcasts against the Tutsis through Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) – a now defunct Rwandan radio station.

"At the time, Tutsis were called 'cockroaches' on radio. Whenever they talk about them, they would talk about how they are not human beings, how they have tails, how they have long, long ears, how they can eat people. For example, I remember a song called, 'Oh, let's exterminate them. Oh, let's exterminate them oh, let's exterminate them,' said Ndizeye.

He said that during the genocide, holy places were seen as safe havens by many who did not fully grasp the situation at first.

"So, whenever things would erupt, whenever there was a massacre, we would go to church and we were safe there. And then whenever the massacres ended, we would return back to our homes," he said.

"When the genocide started there on April 7, 1994, most of the elder Tutsis thought that it was the same situation. I remember my father taking me and my young brother to Nyamata Catholic Church."

Ndizeye explained how people fled to the church, with hopes of returning home.

But they could not anticipate the attack on the church on April 15-16, by soldiers and militias, which they would confront in the following days, he added.

- European clergy taken away in tanks

Ndizeye pointed out that during that time, most of the Catholic priests and nuns in churches were European.

"I remember that day when we saw the military tanks coming, with a lot of white soldiers, heavily equipped, with military materials. People were saying: ‘Oh, they are coming to protect us.’ People started smiling, people started clapping.

"But of course, that hope, as I wrote in my book, was ephemeral, because in just like two hours or three hours -- those military tanks left when all those nuns and priests, came out of their houses," he said.

Ndizeye noted that on April 15, Hutu soldiers attacked the church with weapons support from a nearby military camp called Gako, adjacent to Nyamata.

Despite resistance from men, soldiers threw grenades through small holes instead of windows, leaving bloodstains on the roof that remain visible today for visitors to Nyamata, he said.

Ndizeye described how the violence inside the church intensified with the use of tear gas grenades, leading to a lack of oxygen. "That was very painful. That's when I saw my father terrified for the first time."

- Long hours walking

Ndizeye said that after hours of continuous attacks "they left, ... (and) then, it was a ton of militias who had machetes mostly, and wooden clubs. They started beating ... and ... cutting people. The killing continued for almost two hours."

He also expressed his inability to locate his brother's lifeless body. "I kept searching for my younger brother. I was like, maybe my young brother left the church. Was he still alive?"

"There were young children who were taken to Canada and others to Italy. Some of them lost totally the traces of their families," he said.

Ndizeye noted that about 10,000 Tutsis were killed in the church that day, and that following the massacre, he hid in the forest for about a month.

- 'Tutsi genocide'

Stressing that around 12% of Rwanda's population and 35% of survivors are battling depression today, Ndizeye said: "That's a huge percentage of the population. That means genocide itself marked the history but also continues to affect lives in Rwanda."

Ndizeye, who moved to the US in 2020, has delivered commemorative speeches on the genocide in many countries.

He emphasized the importance of using the term "1994 Tutsi genocide" instead of "Rwanda genocide" for accuracy and justice in remembering the victims.

- Genocide lasted for 100 days

In Rwanda, on April 7, 1994, Hutus initiated a genocide against Tutsis, whom they blamed for the downing of the then-President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane.

During the 100-day massacre in the country, over 800,000 moderate Hutus and Tutsis lost their lives.

Recognized as one of the largest in history, this genocide is commemorated every year by the UN on April 7 as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Rwanda Genocide.