Bisesero is an area in the west of Rwanda, near Kibuye,
on the shores of Lake Kivu. It was the only place in
Rwanda where any concerted resistance to the genocide
took place. The men defended themselves and their women
and children with stones and sticks against the
repeated onslaughts of the interahamwe and the Rwandan
army with their guns, machetes and grenades. Because
the women and children were gathered together for
protection they were easy prey for the reinforced
militias with the army. After 11 weeks of massacre, on
the 27th June, French soldiers arrived and encouraged
the survivors to come out of their hiding place, but
then quickly left and abandoned them to their killers.
Estimates vary of between 30,000 and 50,000 being
killed on the hills of Bisesero, but what is clear is
that only around 1,000 survived.
The
hills of Bisesero
Comfort Rwanda and Solace
Ministries have twice recently visited survivors there.
Bishopbriggs Community Church is working with Comfort
Rwanda to be a blessing to the survivors there and we
are hopeful that appropriate support will be given to
them.
TESTIMONY (Person's name withheld for protection)
The work at Bisesero is new and the people need so much support – this is the story of what happened to one of them.
“During the night of 6th April 1994, we spent the night out in a bush nearby our house. Early on the 7th, the Mayor of Gishyita told them to exterminate Tutsis. He said that he was going to give a concrete example. Suddenly, he took a machete and killed an old man. His wife killed an old woman. It is that very moment that the genocide started in our region and no one survived. My family and I stayed in Health centre and we spent 5 days there. Every day we could see people coming to the centre saying that every thing was becoming chaotic and that houses were burnt and people killed. There was also reported looting, cows being slaughtered and eaten. It was terrible.
At Mubuga, a Roman Catholic Priest organised a meeting and asked people to send ever Tutsi they were hiding to the church. They made them believe they would be safe there but that was a lie. No one survived there. They killed even babies. They resisted in the beginning and the interahamwe were afraid to attack them with machetes and clubs. It was on April 13, early in the morning the interahamwe and soldiers killed them with grenades. We stayed the whole day of Friday among dead bodies. In the evening they came back and shot those who survived. We were again spared with my children. Around 85 people died in that church. As I miracle, I found I was spared with my 4 children. At around 11 pm we came out of the dead bodies and walked towards Bisesero but the people there did not sleep in their houses. Everyone was outside with his domestic animals.
As many people were being killed, a man called Rutaganira was very much interested in raping women. He took all the women teachers from Mubuga and making them believe he was about to hide them but he raped them and delivered them to the thugs for rape. On 14 April 1994, soldiers passed all the day in shooting at the Mugonero Hospital and the Pastor led them. He is now in America.
Peasants and soldiers joined together to kill people. They have killed about 45 thousand people. Those who escaped went to Gitwe but many Interahamwe and soldiers followed them there. There were a lot of refugees. On the day of the attack interahamwe came from Gisovu. They were under the leadership of the Bourgomaster. Everybody who seemed to be educated joined the killers. They had all kind of weapons. On 13th may 1994, many killers came from Gisenyi. They killed children and women because men were already killed the previous days. It is on that day that my sisters in law and their children died. I survived alone with my children and we continued to hide in bushes and rivers. The survivors changed location and went to another mount in Bisesero.
We stayed three weeks in the bush and on 20th June 1994 they discovered my two eldest children Ntabana Emma, Igihozo M. Madeleine. Before killing them they asked them many questions and they tortured them. Then I stayed only with my two youngest children Christine and Rukundo and went to hide in tea plantation for one week. The interahamwe found us and beat me with a club, then I fell unconscious. When I woke up at 3 p.m, I found my 2 children dead among other dead bodies around me.
Then I went to Kamanzi where I stayed until the Genocide ended.”
Photographs
of Bisesero:
Survivors
at Bisesero listen to the gospel and the message of
hope.
Esther,
a survivor at Bisesero.
Bisesero
- inside the shed of the memorial.
Bisesero
Graves - the three in the middle are called the graves
of the heroes as these are those who led the
resistance.
