We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda

A Rwandan Tutsi who survived the genocide, Odette was one of many to tell her life story to Gourevitch. The author recounts the history of discrimination against Tutsis through the experiences of Odette. Only three years old in 1959, Odette remembers her home being burned. Like other Rwandans, she highlights years of terror and trauma, omitting peaceful times from her account. She experiences discrimination, having been expelled from a teachers’ college because of her identity in 1973. The initial crackdown on Tutsis was a response to Tutsi massacres of Hutus in neighboring Burundi; the author notes that Odette did not supply this context as it was not relevant to her experience. Gourevitch uses this omission to emphasize differences in Hutu and Tutsi perspectives, as their historical narratives diverge.

Because a Belgian headmistress protected her, Odette was able to complete medical school. Her career, like that of other Tutsis, was a product of happenstance—as the Hutu government did not give Tutsis the luxury of choosing their own career paths. During the genocide, Odette and her family took refuge at Hotel des Mille Collines. Odette’s sister was killed, and her children were nearly killed. Upon returning to Rwanda after the genocide, Odette and her family struggle with depression and insensitivity from those who do not wish to hear about their ordeal.

A Hutu, Rusesabagina became internationally known for his efforts to protect Tutsis and Hutu oppositionists during the genocide. Gourevitch emphasizes the few resources, such as a phone line and beer, at the hotel. Rusesabagina’s full use of these assets to bribe officials and bring international attention to the plight of his guests saved lives.

Gourevitch provides several accounts of danger to Rusesabagina’s family and the hotel guests during the genocide. Soldiers came to demand guests whom they planned to murder, and much negotiation was required. Yet the hotel remained the safest place of refuge in Kigali, as Gourevitch contrasts the fate of those at the hotel with those at Saint Famille. Several survivors later challenged this depiction of Rusesabagina, alleging that he threatened to turn them over to genocidal forces if they did not pay him. Later becoming a critic of Kagame’s government, Rusesabagina allegedly supported forces trying to overthrow the regime. He was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to 25 years on terrorism charges. His family maintains that he is a victim of political persecution.

In 1991, in retaliation against an RPF advance, President Habyarimana’s government massacred and arrested Tutsis. Among those arrested was Bonaventure, who recounts his experience in prison to Gourevitch. Bonaventure befriended Karamira, a Tutsi with Hutu identity papers; later, Karamira would become a Hutu extremist. The author highlights Karamira’s transformation from a likeable ordinary person to an extremist by relating Bonaventure’s relationship with him. During the genocide, Bonaventure took refuge at Saint Famille. Gourevitch contrasts the experiences of refugees like Bonaventure from those at Paul Rusesabagina’s hotel. Unlike Rusesabagina, Father Munyeshyaka supplied the names of refugees to the militia.

Bonaventure and his family survived the genocide and returned to Rwanda. Bonaventure, like Odette, is left traumatized after having lost relatives. Searching for reasons to live, he adopts some of the many orphans left in the wake of the genocide. Gourevitch uses Bonaventure to highlight the genocide’s impact on young people, as the survivor worries that younger survivors will later become extremists.

Kagame led the RPF in overthrowing the genocidal regime in 1994. Gourevitch interviewed Kagame several times and uses him to frame the new government and its obstacles. When training forces, Kagame instilled discipline and was willing to arrest his own members for crimes. Given the genocide, it was impossible to prevent all acts of retribution. However, under the leadership of Kagame, the RPF behaved reasonably. When the RPF took power, Kagame assumed the positions of Vice President and Minister of Defense. Recognizing Hutu Power’s continued presence in Rwanda and neighboring countries, Kagame helped organize the insurrection in Zaire that toppled Mobutu. Kagame spent years in Uganda as an exile and understands the threat of genocide all too well. He expresses anger and frustration with the international community for its mismanagement of refugee camps and lack of respect for the Rwandan judiciary.

Gourevitch applauds Kagame’s commitment to honesty and objective reality, especially in light of Hutu Power’s rejection of truth. With a country in ruins and little international aid, Kagame’s government faced an enormous challenge in rebuilding—but Kagame assumed presidency in 2000 and succeeded. Hutu Power was defeated, and Kagame was applauded for Rwanda’s economic development and environmental initiatives. However, Kagame remains in power as of the 2020s and does not tolerate political opposition.

A pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Mugonero, Ntakirutimana failed to protect Tutsi congregants who sheltered at the hospital in the church compound. He and his son Gerard traveled with Hutu militia and enabled a massacre to take place. When the two police officers guarding the hospital abandoned their posts, seven Tutsi pastors wrote a letter to Ntakirutimana, begging him to save them and their families. Gourevitch uses a phrase from this very letter as the title of his book. He also uses Ntakirutimana to showcase the hypocrisy of religious leaders who encouraged the murders of Tutsis. Later, Gourevitch tracks down the pastor to Laredo, Texas where he and his physician son live in luxury. In an interview, Ntakirutimana denies any wrongdoing, which is typical of those aligned with Hutu Power. While he was indicted by the UN International Criminal Tribunal, a US court protected him from extradition.

The President of Rwanda leading up to the genocide, Habyarimana came to power in a coup in 1973 and acted as a dictator. Instead of seeking economic security for Rwandans, including southern Hutus, Habyarimana distracted Hutus with appeals to tribal identity and hatred. He used the war against the RPF as an excuse to terrorize Tutsis and implemented policies of blatant discrimination. Gourevitch uses this campaign and its demonization of Tutsis to contextualize the slaughter of 1994. When faced with international pressure to democratize his government, Habyarimana sabotaged attempts at reform—a tool of Hutu Power. When he crossed Hutu extremists by signing the Arusha Accords in 1993 (which made peace with the RPF and introduced UNAMIR to Rwanda), he signed his death warrant. It was the following year that he was assassinated, and the genocide began.

Considered a leading figure in the extremist group akazu, President Habyarimana’s wife Agathe is suspected of complicity in the genocide due to having influential friends and a more impressive pedigree than her husband. Gourevitch argues that the man owed his power to her—and that she, in concert with Hutu extremists, controlled him. Prior to the genocide, she demonstrated a willingness to murder political enemies. When her husband was assassinated in 1994, Agathe was airlifted to Paris. There is a cruel irony in her escape given the international community’s refusal to evacuate Tutsis facing extermination. France denied Rwanda’s request to extradite her for trial in 2011, but they did conduct an investigation. Agathe remains under suspicion of crimes against humanity but has yet to be convicted as of the early 2020s.

Producer of the hateful publication Kangura or “Wake It Up” (85), Ngeze incited Hutus to target Tutsis. Kangura accused Tutsis of a conspiracy to enslave Hutus and listed Tutsis who worked at public institutions. Ngeze famously published the Hutu Ten Commandments in 1990, which cited the alleged dishonesty and treachery of Tutsis and forbade Hutus from having sex with them; the document also barred Tutsis from important positions and demanded that Hutus stop showing mercy to them. Agathe Habyarimana and other akazu leaders helped launch Kangura. Gourevitch cites the founding of the publication as additional evidence of the systematic planning of genocide—as it was a means to socialize Hutus to hate Tutsis. Ngeze was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity, but had his life sentence reduced to 35 years.

The leader of the UNAMIR force, Dallaire warned his superiors at the UN about the coming genocide (due to having an informant in President Habyarimana’s inner circle)—but they failed to heed him. Dallaire’s UN mandate prevented him from deploying forces to stop the genocide. Gourevitch details Dallaire’s warning and forced inaction as evidence of the international community’s disregard for Rwandan life. The international community had the means to save lives but did not use them—and Dallaire remains angry at this incompetence.