For quite some time, genocide survivors like me were spoon-fed the myth that the current Rwandan regime was our savior, the perfect protector of our peace and security. However, the recent Human Rights Watch report “Join Us or Die”, tears off that mask of deception. Published a few weeks ago, it confirms what many of us knew all along – this supposed protector is a fraud. He betrays and attacks the very people he claims to shield.

It may be unheard of for outsiders, but so many survivors narrowly survived the Hutu’s machetes in the 1994 genocide only to later get killed in staged accidents or be strangled in custody under the current regime.

The report lays bare how even we genocide survivors are not immune from Rwanda’s repression tactics when we challenge the government’s narrative or expose ongoing abuses. It debunks the mainstream myth in the Western media that the current Rwandan regime does not oppress Tutsi survivors who survived inside Rwanda during the genocide just because it is a predominantly Tutsi government itself. By interviewing survivors and finally amplifying their voices, Human Rights Watch dispels that misconception.

The report exposes the government’s tactics to intimidate critics abroad, including fellow survivors. Tactics include online harassment, physical threats, social exclusion from fearful family and friends, and intimidating survivors’ relatives at home. The report unveils the daily struggles that survivors face – struggles that most Rwandans know well but had remained concealed from the outside world.

Several exiled survivors faced aggressive online smears when speaking out against RPF abuses, accused of denying the genocide or supporting “divisionism”- a vague charge often used to silence dissent.

The report cites Dr. Philippe Basabose, a survivor in Canada who co-founded the only independent survivor group, Igicumbi, the Voice of Survivors, of which I’m a member. After he called for an investigation into Kizito Mihigo’s death in custody in 2020, Basabose was bombarded with online attacks, his family back in Rwanda was harassed by pro-government media and publically attacked by authorities in the highest levels of government such as Cabinet Minister Bizimana Jean Damascene.

Other survivors were also targeted and relatives were pressured to shun them, reopening their trauma. Worryingly, some survivors reported relatives being detained, disappeared, or killed under suspicious circumstances back home after they spoke up.

As a survivor who has experienced social exclusion, online harassment, and intimidation for speaking out, this report resonates deeply with me. The courage of survivors who speak truth to power in the face of repression, like our very own Dr. Philippe Basabose, inspires me. I believe our voices are critical to exposing ongoing abuses and preserving our history.

I will not reproduce any sections of the report here, but I urge fellow survivors to read it here and make your voices heard. The Rwandan government exploits our trauma to muzzle and discredit us when we deviate from its tightly controlled narrative.

By shedding light on these abuses, we can hope to stop the repression of genocide survivors by the very government that claims to have rescued us. Our stories must be told.

By Albert Gasake. November, 03, 2023.