New mass graves in Rwanda reveal cracks in reconciliation efforts, 30 years after the genocide

HUYE, Rwanda (AP) — The diggers’ hoes scrape the brown soil, looking for — and often finding — human bone fragments. The women then wipe the bone pieces with their hands as others watch in solemn silence.

The digging goes on, a scene that's become all too familiar in a verdant area of rural southern Rwanda, where the discovery in October of human remains at the site of a house under construction triggered another search for new mass graves believed to hold victims of the 1994 genocide against Rwanda's Tutsi.

In the months since, Rwandan authorities say the remains of at least 1,000 people have been found in this farming community in the district of Huye, a surprisingly high number after three decades of government efforts to give genocide victims dignified burials.

As Rwanda prepares to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the genocide next week, continuing discoveries of mass graves are a stark reminder not only of the country’s determination to reconcile with its grim past but also of the challenges it faces in aiming for lasting peace.

Speaking to The Associated Press, the head of a prominent genocide survivors’ group and several other Rwandans said the discoveries underscore that more needs to be done for true reconciliation.

Rwanda has made it a criminal offense to withhold information about a previously unknown mass grave. For years perpetrators of the 1994 genocide, including those who served prison terms and were later released, have been urged to speak up and say what they know.

Yet the mass graves are still mostly found by accident, leading to new arrests and traumatizing survivors all over again.

The October discovery led to the arrest of Jean Baptiste Hishamunda, 87, and four of his relatives.

After the remains of six people were discovered under his home, diggers started going through his entire property, finding dozens and then hundreds more remains as their search extended to other sites in Huye.

An estimated 800,000 Tutsi were killed by extremist Hutu in massacres that lasted over 100 days in 1994. Some moderate Hutu who tried to protect members of the Tutsi minority also were targeted.

The genocide was ignited on April 6 when a plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana, a member of the majority Hutu, was shot down in the capital Kigali. The Tutsi were blamed for downing the plane and killing the president. Enraged, gangs of Hutu extremists began killing Tutsi, backed by the army and police.

The government of President Paul Kagame, whose rebel group stopped the genocide and whose party has ruled the East African country since 1994, has tried to bridge ethnic divisions using legal means and other measures. Although critics accuse the authoritarian Kagame of crushing all dissent, he is also praised by many for presiding over relative peace and stability.

The government imposed a tough penal code to punish genocide and outlaw the ideology behind it, and Kagame has fostered a culture of obedience among the country's 14 million people. Rwandan ID cards no longer identify a person by ethnicity and lessons about the genocide are part of the curriculum in schools.

Hundreds of community projects, backed by the government or civic groups, focus on uniting Rwandans and, every April, the nation joins hands in somber commemorations of the genocide anniversary.

Today, serious crimes fueled by ethnic hatred are rare in this small country where Hutu, Tutsi and Twa live side by side — but signs persist of what authorities say is a genocidal ideology, citing concealing information about undiscovered mass graves as an example.

Then there are incidents of villagers asking mass-grave investigators if they are searching for valuable minerals or dumping dog carcasses at memorial sites, according to Naphtal Ahishakiye, executive secretary of Ibuka, the genocide survivors’ group based in Kigali.

“It’s like saying, ‘What we lost during the genocide are dogs,’” Ahishakiye said.

There are still those who resist coming forward to say what they witnessed, he said. “We still need to improve, to teach, to approach people, up to (when) they become able to tell us what happened."

As more mass graves are discovered, Tutsi survivors “start to doubt” the good intentions of their Hutu neighbors, he said. Their pleas for information about relatives lost in the killings go unanswered.

In the village of Ngoma, where shacks roofed with corrugated sheets dot lush farmland, diggers come across decaying shoes and pieces of torn clothing among skulls and bones. The survivors are traumatized all over again.

“I have tried very hard to forget,” said Beata Mujawayezu, her voice catching as she recalled the killing of her 12-year-old sister at a roadblock on April 25, 1994.

The girl pleaded for her life with militiamen, going down on her knees in front of a gang leader whom she addressed as “my father.” She was hacked with a machete.

“She was a lovely girl,” Mujawayezu said of her sister as she watched the digging at a mass grave site on a recent afternoon in her Tutsi-dominated neighborhood. “One day, hopefully, we will get to know where she was buried.”

Augustine Nsengiyumva, another survivor in Ngoma, said the new mass grave discoveries have left him disappointed in his Hutu neighbors, whom he had grown to trust.

"Imagine sleeping on top of genocide victims,” he said, referring to cases where human remains are found under people's homes. “These are things I really don’t understand.”

Young people are less troubled by the past. Some Rwandans see this as a chance for reconciliation in a country where every other citizen is under the age of 30.

In the semi-rural area of Gahanga, just outside of Kigali, farmer Patrick Hakizimana says he sees a ray of hope in his children that someday Rwanda will have ethnic harmony.

A Hutu and an army corporal during the genocide, Hakizimana was imprisoned from 1996 to 2007 for his alleged role in the killings. He said he has learnt his lesson and is now trying to win the respect of others in his neighborhood.

“There are people who still have hatred against Tutsi,” he said. “The genocide was prepared for a long time.”

It will take a long time for people to leave that hatred behind, he said.

Muhumuza reported from Kigali, Rwanda.

Children play soccer on the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024, the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A tourists walks past family photographs of some of those who died in an exhibition at the Kigali Genocide Memorial centre in the capital Kigali, of Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024, the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A painter touches up an area at the Kigali Genocide Memorial at Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024, the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Female traditional dancers perform amaraba Traditional dance at club "rafiki" (Swahili word for 'Friend'), Centre in Kigali, Rwanda, Wednesday, Apr. 3, 2024. Rwanda will commemorates for the 30th time the 1994 genocide on April 7, in which 800,000 mostly Tutsis, but also moderate Hutus, were slaughtered. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

People walk on the streets of Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Rwandan youth play table football outdoors in in the streets of Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Family photographs of some of those who died hang in a display in the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Naphtal Ahishakiye, executive secretary of Ibuka, during an interview with the Associated Press in Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A young Rwandan boy plays with a tyre in Gahanga the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Family photographs of some of those who died hang in a display in the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Patrick Hakizimana, a Hutu peasant who was jailed from 1996 to 2007 for his alleged role in the genocide as an army corporal, shows a photo during his time as a soldier in Gahanga the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Skulls on display at the Kigali Memorial for Victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide in Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A child rides a bicycle in Gahanga the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda Tuesday Rwanda Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbors, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Patrick Hakizimana, a Hutu peasant who was jailed from 1996 to 2007 for his alleged role in the genocide as an army corporal, stands at his house in Gahanga the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbors, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Traders at Nyabugogo market on the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbors, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Women carry water in Gahanga the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Children practise fencing game, on the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, April 4, 2024. The country will commemorate on April 7, 2024 the 30th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbours, friends and family during a three-month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Ninela Radicevic still can't comprehend that her daughter is never coming back.

The 11-year-old Ana Bozovic had just arrived to her school in central Belgrade last year when another pupil, 13 at the time, came in and opened fire at anyone standing in his way.

Bozovic, two other girls and a school guard were killed immediately in the corridor. The teenage shooter then went on to a nearby classroom and turned his gun on the pupils and the teacher inside.

A total of 10 people were killed. Eight children and a school guard died, and seven people were wounded at the school on the morning of May 3, 2023. One of the wounded, a child, died from injuries later.

The shooting stunned Serbia. The Balkan nation was no stranger to violent crime, but mass shootings are rare and one hadn't taken place at a school before.

Further shock followed just a day later, when a 20-year-old man went on a shooting rampage outside the capital. He killed nine and wounded 12 others, mostly young people.

For Radicevic time stopped on the morning she lost her little girl. She believes the entire country too had to grind to a halt after such an unthinkable crime. Instead, she told The Associated Press, “everyone rushed to forget.”

Her eyes torn with grief, Radicevic spoke to the AP at the family home in Belgrade. Photos by her side show a wide-eyed girl with long brown hair, who loved sports and dancing, and kept medals from competitions above her bed.

“We forget tragic events too quickly,” Radicevic said. “This habit of pushing everything under the carpet has to end.”

People, she said, "had to recognize the importance and the tragedy of that moment."

Bozovic’s room in the apartment remains intact — a world map is hanging on the wall and her stuffed animal toys are on the bed. A huge framed photo poster of her standing upside down in her judo outfit fills the room. The desk is still as she left it, paper drawings and messages are hanging from the wall.

Radicevic, a 49-year-old clinical researcher, has led an effort to keep the memory alive of all the children killed in Belgrade's Vladislav Ribnikar school and the two villages near the capital, so something like that won't happen again.

“All we (parents) have been doing is fighting to make sure that May 3rd is not forgotten, to give some meaning to our children’s sacrifice,” said Radicevic, who also has a 17-year-old son. “They are the victims. But victims of what?”

Many in Serbia have been asking the same question before the grim anniversary on Friday that will be marked with an all-day commemoration ceremony near the school, including art installations, discussions with experts and video films about the victims.

The program is dubbed “Awakening,” an apparent call for self-reckoning and introspection in a nation that is yet to come to terms with its role in multiple wars in the 1990s and the culture of violence that has prevailed ever since.

The slain children's parents have been closely involved in the preparations. They have fought to have the school closed and turned into a memorial center, organized protests and remembrance events, and testified about their ordeal to promote awareness among the public.

“The fact that children returned to that same school only a week later, also on a Wednesday, for the same set of classes, tells you that the state wanted to quickly create a sense of normalcy," Radicevic said.

“What had to happen is that Serbia had to stop that May 3rd regardless of the state support,” she insisted. "We had to stop, to think, to find out what we had done wrong, to say OK, we have made mistakes, let’s accept it and see how we continue from tomorrow, how this society will get better.”

Serbia's populist government launched a gun crackdown, collecting about 80,000 weapons and rounds of ammunition. State-backed support teams offered counseling, and police officers were deployed outside Serbia's schools for security.

The shooters were both apprehended. The teenage boy's parents went on trial, charged with teaching their underage son to shoot and for not securing the weapons at the family home.

The trial against the village shooter and his father has yet to start in May in the central town of Smederevo, more than a year after the massacres in Malo Orasje and Dubona that left the two villages paralyzed with mourning and sadness.

Shock and anger because of the shootings last year triggered months of street protests demanding resignations of top officials and a ban on mainstream media that spew hate speech and intolerance. A year later, critics say not much has changed.

Psychology professor Dragan Popadic, however, believes it has. The trauma, he said, created a sense of fear and insecurity that hadn't been there in the past and prompted activism. But people aren't ready for a more radical insight, Popadic added.

“These cases of violence are only tips of an organism that was born in the 1990s and which has grown and strengthened,” he said. "Until we deal with the organism itself ... we won’t be able to comprehend the situation we are in.”

Radicevic said Serbia missed a “last chance for a catharsis." Most people were just relieved that “it wasn't mine (their child)" and moved on, she said.

“A week later other children went to see where it (shooting) had happened," she said. “I am sorry, but I think that is not normal.”

In this photo taken on Saturday, April 27, 2024, framed photographs of Ana Bozovic, a slain elementary school student, are on display in her family living room in Belgrade, Serbia. The 11-year-old Ana Bozovic had just arrived to her school in central Belgrade last year when another pupil, 13 at the time, came in and opened fire at anyone standing in his way. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

In this photo taken on Saturday, April 27, 2024, Ninela Radicevic, 49, the mother of Ana Bozovic, a slain elementary school student, sits in her living room in Belgrade, Serbia. The 11-year-old Ana Bozovic had just arrived to her school in central Belgrade last year when another pupil, 13 at the time, came in and opened fire at anyone standing in his way. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

In this photo taken on Saturday, April 27, 2024, a framed photograph of Ana Bozovic, a slain elementary school student, sits above her bed in Belgrade, Serbia. The 11-year-old Ana Bozovic had just arrived to her school in central Belgrade last year when another pupil, 13 at the time, came in and opened fire at anyone standing in his way. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

FILE - Flowers and toys are placed for the victims near the Vladislav Ribnikar school in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, May 4, 2023. A teenage boy opened fire at the school on the morning of May 3, 2023. Eight children and a school guard died, and seven people were wounded. One of the wounded, a child, died from injuries later. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)

FILE - Police officers guard the Vladimir Ribnikar school in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, May 4, 2023. A teenage boy opened fire at the school on the morning of May 3, 2023. Eight children and a school guard died, and seven people were wounded. One of the wounded, a child, died from injuries later. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)

FILE - People light candles for the victims near the Vladislav Ribnikar school in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. A teenage boy opened fire at the school on the morning of May 3, 2023. Eight children and a school guard died, and seven people were wounded. One of the wounded, a child, died from injuries later. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

FILE - People hold candles for the victims near the Vladislav Ribnikar school in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. A teenage boy opened fire at the school on the morning of May 3, 2023. Eight children and a school guard died, and seven people were wounded. One of the wounded, a child, died from injuries later. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut, File)

FILE - A woman hugs a girl near the Vladislav Ribnikar school in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. A teenage boy opened fire at the school on the morning of May 3, 2023. Eight children and a school guard died, and seven people were wounded. One of the wounded, a child, died from injuries later. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut, File)

FILE - Police officers block the streets surrounding the Vladislav Ribnikar school in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. A teenage boy opened fire at the school on the morning of May 3, 2023. Eight children and a school guard died, and seven people were wounded. One of the wounded, a child, died from injuries later. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)

FILE - Police block streets around the Vladislav Ribnikar school in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. A teenage boy opened fire at the school on the morning of May 3, 2023. Eight children and a school guard died, and seven people were wounded. One of the wounded, a child, died from injuries later. A total of 10 people were killed. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)