Rwanda's new leaders were trying in September 1994 to de-emphasize the ethnic and political differences that contributed to the violence that tore apart the country earlier that year, leaving more than half a million dead. But as I discovered, when it came to the trappings of power, it appeared leaders of the mainly-Tutsi Rwandese Patriotic Front were firmly in command. This report sparked anger among some of the senior RPF officials I had gotten to know – even though they were aware of my sympathetic feelings about what they had endured, what they had achieved and what problems they were coping with. The charred and shattered wreckage is still in the backyard of the executive mansion near Kigali airport. But Pasteur Bizimungu, Rwanda's new president and the building's latest occupant, says he is not disturbed by that reminder of the plane crash that claimed the life of his predecessor, Juvenal Habyarimana, and triggered a bloodbath that left nearly one million other Rwandans dead.
"I'm comfortable not only to live in this building but to live in this country...my task as a Rwandan is also to work so that that tragedy may not happen again and as a president I'm not ashamed to stay in an official house if even there has been such an accident."
His choice of the adjective "Rwandan" to describe himself is no accident. It is part of a conscious strategy on the part of the country's new leadership to de-emphasize the kinds of ethnic and political differences that contributed to the bloodshed.
As a result, officials in Kigali are taking increasing offense at recurring references in some international media to the ethnic and political make-up of the cabinet. They object to such descriptions as the Tutsi-dominated or Rwandese Patriotic Front-dominated government. They say this is not only oversimplified but inaccurate -- since more than half the more than 20 members of the cabinet are Hutu and not members of the RPF.
Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu, who like Mr. Bizimungu, is a Hutu, says the government is trying to avoid the mistakes of the past and wants to include members of all ethnic and political groups...with one exception.
“We are trying to include each and everybody who wants to come and participate in the building of this country. We are even calling people for MRND, the former party of the late president. Therefore I don't think we are trying to exclude people. We have to exclude criminals like happened in Germany. They did not want to include in the Adenauer government the Nazis. We are not going to include Rwandese Nazis, we are not going to include Rwandese fascists. It has to be quite clear. But anybody who was not involved in massacres and genocide in this country, even if he belongs to MRND, he is welcome."
Yet despite all the assertions about the inclusivity of the new government, many observers suspect real power remains with ethnic Tutsi leaders of the RPF, especially former rebel commander Paul Kagame. Now Rwanda's Vice President and Defense Minister, he dismisses the notion.
“People prefer to keep speculating about who is who or who has power or has no power... my responsibilities are not a secret, they are known: I am the Vice President as well as the Minister of Defense. I have no desires to go beyond those limits when there are other people with different responsibilities. I think what is important is that in our different responsibilities we together work toward a common goal of rebuilding this country."
Still, there are glaring differences in the treatment accorded the country's various leaders, and it seems linked to their ethnic and political backgrounds.
Prime Minister Twagiramungu, for example, was recently assigned an office in a building with no electricity, no running water and no equipment such as telephones or computers. His aides pester visitors who have automobiles for rides when they need to get around Kigali.
On the other hand, an RPF leader like the organization's Secretary-General, Theogene Rudasingwa, not only has a fully-equipped office, including fax and photocopy machines, he carries his own personal two-way radio -- and he doesn't have any formal government position.
As for General Kagame, he has more bodyguards than anyone else in Rwanda as well as the longest and most heavily-armed motorcade on the roads.
He is also being given the country's other presidential mansion --one that is right in the center of Kigali as opposed to the estate near the airport where President Bizimungu lives. Local residents say that of the two structures, the General's new home, now being renovated by workers, is the one that is more like the White House, the official residence of the US President.
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