Q: Why did Hutu attack the Tutsi during the 1993 crisis?
I have followed everything since political parties began campaigning for the first democratic elections in 1993. Hutu thought they would be more free in the multi-party system. They thought that the party in power before prevented them from gaining good jobs, financial means and good housing. But some Tutsi, who were accustomed to the one-party rule, would not accept the changes. They thought they would lose the privileges and possessions they acquired under the previous regime.

When the crisis started, many young people killed and pilleged. Some of them didn’t understand they were doing. They killed because of the mob mentality. For them, killing was something normal. They did what some of the political parties leaders ordered them to do.

I remember that when I was still a kid, I was happy to break bottles. Together with some friends, I used to break bottles with stones. I cannot say we were delinquent, it’s just that we were happy to break bottles. So I think that even though some of these who killed found it exciting, they have never planned to do it in the first place. That is why I hope they can change. As for the ones who were involved in looting, some of them stole because they were poor.

But among the political leaders, there were some who did it because of hatred. Some Hutu politicians who were over 30, wanted to avenge the killings they had witnessed in 1972. Some Tutsi politicians though they should kill every Hutu, even the ones who escaped the 1972 killings. Thus there are people who did it willingly and some others who did not understand what they got involved in. The ones who didn’t know what they were doing have already repented, I know it.

Interview by Maziar Bahari
Translated by Gladys Ntibareha
Edited by David Shem-Tov