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On April 6, 1994, the plane carrying the Rwandan
President, Juvenal
Habyarimana, was shot down above Kigali. What ensued in the
next
ten weeks was a genocide. At least one million people were
killed.
Two million others sought refuge in Zaire, Burundi, Tanzania
and
Uganda. About two million more were displaced within Rwanda.
The world turned a blind eye to the systematic killings. In
fact, the
first U.N. reaction to the massacres was to pass Resolution
912 on
April 21, reducing the U.N. forces from 2,500 to 270. When
French
and Belgian paratroopers were sent in, it was only to carry
out the
smooth evacuation of all foreigners.
The international community did not intervene early on because
of
European and American unwillingness to make a substantial
commi-
tment in an area of no strategic interest.
The media's attention was finally grabbed by the mass exodus
into
refugee camps. Without talking about genocide, Washington
and the
world promised to react to the humanitarian disaster in the
camps.
Cholera and dysentery claimed tens of thousands, but this
number
was a fraction of the one million victims of the genocide.
Alfredo Jaar visited Rwanda, Zaire, and Uganda in the summer
of
1994. Since then, he has created numerous works as a result
of
that trip.
Images have an advanced religion.
They bury history.
--Vicenc Altaio |
