Steinmeier: Rwanda's Lessons

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, April 4, 2014, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressed the German Bundestag. Steinmeier is one of the most eloquent and insightful of today's crop of world diplomats.

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“The mountains of Rwanda radiate warmth and benevolence, tempt with beauty and silence, a crystal clear, windless air, the peace and exquisiteness of their lines and shapes. In the mornings, a transparent haze suffuses the green valleys.”

Mr President,
 

Members of this House,

That’s how Ryszard Kapuscinski describes Rwanda’s landscape. Rwanda is known in the vernacular as the “land of a thousand hills”.

One of these thousand hills is in Murambi. Tens of thousands of Tutsis fled there when the genocide in Rwanda began 20 years ago.

“You’ll be safe up on the hill, in the newly built school,” the bishop had said.

But in the early morning of 21 April 1994, militia groups surrounded the school building and began to kill – with machetes, knives and clubs: a bloodshed which seemed to last forever.

Tens of thousands of people died on this hill in one single day.

Jonathan Nturo survived the massacre as a small boy. Today he says looking over the hill, “I’m surprised sometimes that grass still grows here. That life goes on.”

Yes, it’s difficult to understand how Earth can continue to turn after the horrors of genocide.

That’s how I felt the first time I visited Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald and Auschwitz. Indeed, that’s how everyone feels when they visit these places. But the grass still grows there, too. Now in spring, the trees are even blossoming.

As a German, I’m careful about making historical comparisons. They don’t do justice to the unique and incomparable nature of these crimes. Indeed, they don’t do justice to the unique nature of the history and culture of individual nations.

And yet: as a German I can’t talk about a genocide in Africa without remembering the one for which we were responsible. These were fateful and tragic events on our continents. They influence our actions to this very day and they influence our relations with one another.

These tragic events may be as different as our landscapes: the hills of Rwanda, the forests of Auschwitz, the poppy fields of Verdun. Yet the lessons we learned from them form a link between us. They are the lessons of our shared humanity.

The most important lesson which has to be taken from a day of remembrance like today is:

never again!

Yes, never again. Yet, how we can live up to this responsibility is a much more difficult question.

For let’s be honest, the international community has shouted loud and clear “never again!” before. That was in 1948, after the Holocaust, when the United Nations adopted the Genocide Convention. 

But we were unable to keep this pledge. The international community failed when it withdrew its blue helmets from Rwanda in the midst of the violence.And we also have to admit that in the present day, the demons of genocide have by no means been banished:

Even though the international community developed the concept of “responsibility to protect” in response to what happened in Rwanda, even though it has improved prevention, operational capability and international criminal justice. We don’t talk of genocide everywhere but we’re faced with never-ending bloodshed in the Congo, Central Africa and Syria.

We can never make amends to Jonathan Nturo and all other victims of crimes against humanity for the loss of their children, fathers, mothers and friends. However, we owe them one thing, even if we’ve to honestly admit that we can’t stop every injustice or instance of bloodshed: we owe it to them not to give in to feelings of powerlessness and most certainly not those of indifference – to not only speak out but do everything in our power to prevent genocide!

Rwanda is in the process of coming to grips with the past, of building a new Rwanda. So many new developments have been emerging all over Africa in the last few years. Africa is changing more quickly than our perception of the continent.

That’s why I travelled to Ethiopia, Tanzania and Angola last week. As different as these countries are, I heard the same appeal from almost everyone with whom I spoke. The appeal was: we don’t want to be beggars at Europe’s gates. The African continent is viable on its own and, at least potentially, can provide food and development for everyone.

When it comes to peace and stability, many say: we Africans want to take responsibility for our own security! We don’t want to ask Europe to send troops but, rather, we want to be able to guarantee our own security, to act on our own. 

Members of this House, that also has to be in our interest. Of course, we Europeans also want Africa to take its fate in its own hands. Africa is a continent on the rise and we’ve to do everything in our power to support its progress.We Europeans have to increasingly see ourselves as the partners of states in Africa. We need partners for the global challenges we both face and which we know only too well we can only master if we work together.

Both sides have realised how close our continents have moved together. We’ve realised how much we depend on the stability of the other side. We Europeans experience that, for example, when refugees from Africa’s crisis regions reach Europe’s borders. And Africans notice this when the economic crisis in Europe also makes its impact felt in Africa.

Our goal is easy to describe: strong, responsible partners in Africa. But there are many ways to achieve this.

Africa is developing far too quickly and too diversely for us to give our political engagement a snappy motto. Although the world of politics and the media are keen to find such a motto – Africa is neither simply a continent racked by crises nor a continent full of opportunities. Former Federal President Horst Köhler is most likely right: such judgements say much more about us than they do about Africa.

My view is that the tools available within the scope of Germany’s policy on Africa have to be as diverse as Africa’s development.

Depending on the country and on its situation, these tools comprise economic investment as well as disarmament and the containment of small arms; cultural exchange as well as road construction; strengthening the rule of law as well as training security forces.

I’ve seen all of these instruments on my trip and they will all be included in the German Government’s Africa policy guidelines which we’re currently drawing up.

Foreign policy is a balancing act between the quest for common ground and respect for our differences – also the recognition of what is incompatible.

Our common ground with Africa – I saw this very clearly during my trip – goes far beyond “never again war and genocide”.First of all, Europeans and Africans have learned to work with instead of against their neighbours. This is the guiding principle of regional integration. 

I fear that we sometimes underestimate what is being achieved nowadays by African organisations. Many simply don’t know that the African Union is currently deploying 70,000 troops in conflicts within Africa and is seeking earnestly and not always successfully to restore stability where it has been lost. Strengthening Africa’s own responsibility, which is necessary for this, played a major role at the EU-Africa summit this week.

We Germans are making very concrete contributions towards this by, for example, supporting the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Ghana or the Peace and Security Centre, which is being built in the grounds of the African Union in Addis Ababa and is due to be opened next year, more punctually than some construction projects in Germany. I was able to see this project with my own eyes during my Africa trip.

Second, we’ve learned to protect people’s diversity.

In a speech to mark the 20th anniversary of the genocide, Rwanda’s Ambassador to Germany said, “We’re building a Rwanda in which everyone [...] can develop their potential and enjoy the same rights.”

Living in diversity – that’s only possible in a state governed by the rule of law on which everyone can rely. I’m firmly convinced that this diversity includes freedom of opinion or religion as well as freedom of sexual orientation.

That, too, was a principle which played a role on every stop on my trip. For example, during my visit to the German-Tanzanian Law Centre in Dar es Salaam, where I met students who I hope will have an impact one day on the rule of law in East Africa. Many of their teachers studied at German universities. I’d therefore like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to the many German universities engaged on the African continent, in particular the German Academic Exchange Service, which has worked with boundless energy for this cooperation through its scholarship programmes.Third, we’ve learned that peace or conflict also have a material basis, especially when it is missing. 

The genocide 20 years ago was fuelled by material need and scarce resources – conflicts which those in power used systematically to get as many people as possible involved in the murders.

The lessons learned from the genocide therefore include the pledge of peace just as much as the pledge of prosperity. One is inconceivable without the other.

The Congo, Nigeria and Angola – all of these states teach us that oil, gas, gold and diamonds alone cannot ensure a prosperous development in which everyone can participate. Rather, this has to be organised at the political level.

Only if the economic upswing creates opportunities for everyone and enables them to enjoy a measure of prosperity can it promote social cohesion. Only then will it ensure lasting peace.

More than to anyone else, we owe this twofold pledge of peace and prosperity to our young people.

I’ll never forget one impression from my Africa trip. In Addis Ababa I met the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Ms Dlamini-Zuma. After our talks, a journalist asked her a clear question, “What is Africa’s greatest expectation of Europe?”

And Ms Zuma gave an equally clear answer, something which is not exactly typical of a politician. She said, “Our young people! For their sake, we want to cooperate with Europe, for their vocational training, for their economic prospects.”

In response, the journalist asked the inverse question, “And what can Europe expect of Africa?”

And again Ms Zuma replied, “Our young people! Our young people are our asset and Europe will also benefit from this asset.”Ladies and gentlemen, 

The lessons to be learned from the tragic events in our past form a bond between us. 20 years after the genocide, Rwanda is on its way to a new future, without suppressing or forgetting the past.

The thousand hills of Rwanda are and will remain one of Africa’s fateful landscapes.

Roméo Dallaire, who cam to Rwanda in 1993 as the commander of the blue helmets, exclaimed on seeing the thousand hills: “This a Garden of Eden”. Only a few months later he had to stand by full of shame and anger and watch the massacre.

The memory is etched on the thousand hills. Their name remains linked to the crime against humanity committed 20 years ago.

Members of this House,Alongside all the memories which lie in this landscape –may the thousand hills again be home and provide fertile land to those building Rwanda today.

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Speech by Foreign Minister Steinmeier in the German Bundestag remembering the victims of the genocide in Rwanda. Federal Foreign Office, April 4, 2014 

--DCH

Wangari Maathai: Nobel Lecture 2004

Wangari Maathai, Kenyan Environmental and Political Activist, “Nobel Lecture,” Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway, December 10, 2004, www.nobelprize.org

Wangair (April 1, 1940 - September 25, 2011) was an empowering Kenyan environmental and political activist. In 1977, she founded the Green Belt Movement: a grassroots non-governmental organization that promotes environmental conservation and community in Kenya. The Green Belt Movement advocates for sound natural resource management and livelihood improvement through tree planting, women’s rights, civic empowerment and good governance training throughout Africa. As the missions of The Green Belt Movement grew stronger, Maathai gained support of other organizations under the UN.

In 1986, with funding from UNEP (look up acronym), the movement expanded throughout Africa and led to the foundation of the Pan-African Green Belt Network. Forty-five representatives from fifteen African countries travelled to Kenya over the next three years to learn how to set up similar programs in their own countries to combat desertification, deforestation, water crises, and rural hunger. The attention the movement received in the media led to Maathai's being honored with numerous awards including the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize:

“As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of  Kenya and Africa, and indeed the world. I am especially mindful of women and the girl child. I hope it will encourage them to raise their voices and take more space for leadership. I know the honor also gives a deep sense of pride to our men, both old and young. As a mother, I appreciate the inspiration this brings to the youth and urge them to use it to pursue their dreams.

Although this prize comes to me, it acknowledges the work of countless individuals and groups across the globe. They work quietly and often without recognition to protect the environment, promote democracy, defend human rights and ensure equality between women and men. By so doing, they plant seeds of peace. I know they, too, are proud today. To all who feel represented by this prize I say use it to advance your mission and meet the high expectations the world will place on us.

This honor is also for my family, friends, partners and supporters throughout the world. All of them helped shape the vision and sustain our work, which was often accomplished under hostile conditions. I am also grateful to the people of Kenya - who remained stubbornly hopeful that democracy could be realized and their environment managed sustainably. Because of this support, I am here today to accept this great honor.

I know that African people everywhere are encouraged by this news. My fellow Africans, as we embrace this recognition, let us use it to intensify our commitment to our people, to reduce conflicts and poverty and thereby improve their quality of life. Let us embrace democratic governance, protect human rights and protect our environment. I am confident that we shall rise to the occasion. I have always believed that solutions to most of our problems must come from us...

In 1977, when we started the Green Belt Movement, I was partly responding to needs identified by rural women, namely lack of firewood, clean drinking water, balanced diets, shelter and income.

Throughout Africa, women are the primary caretakers, holding significant responsibility for tilling the land and feeding their families. As a result, they are often the first to become aware of environmental damage as resources become scarce and incapable of sustaining their families.

The women we worked with recounted that unlike in the past, they were unable to meet their basic needs. This was due to the degradation of their immediate environment as well as the introduction of commercial farming, which replaced the growing of household food crops. But international trade controlled the price of the exports from these small-scale farmers and a reasonable and just income could not be guaranteed. I came to understand that when the environment is destroyed, plundered or mismanaged, we undermine our quality of life and that of future generations.

Tree planting became a natural choice to address some of the initial basic needs identified by women. Also, tree planting is simple, attainable and guarantees quick, successful results within a reasonable amount time. This sustains interest and commitment.

So, together, we have planted over 30 million trees that provide fuel, food, shelter, and income to support their children's education and household needs. The activity also creates employment and improves soils and watersheds. Through their involvement, women gain some degree of power over their lives, especially their social and economic position and relevance in the family. This work continues.

Initially, the work was difficult because historically our people have been persuaded to believe that because they are poor, they lack not only capital, but also knowledge and skills to address their challenges. Instead they are conditioned to believe that solutions to their problems must come from ‘outside’. Further, women did not realize that meeting their needs depended on their environment being healthy and well managed. They were also unaware that a degraded environment leads to a scramble for scarce resources and may culminate in poverty and even conflict. They were also unaware of the injustices of international economic arrangements.

In order to assist communities to understand these linkages, we developed a citizen education program, during which people identify their problems, the causes and possible solutions. They then make connections between their own personal actions and the problems they witness in the environment and in society. They learn that our world is confronted with a litany of woes: corruption, violence against women and children, disruption and breakdown of families, and disintegration of cultures and communities.

On the environment front, they are exposed to many human activities that are devastating to the environment and societies. These include widespread destruction of ecosystems, especially through deforestation, climatic instability, and contamination in the soils and waters that all contribute to excruciating poverty.

In the process, the participants discover that they must be part of the solutions. They realize their hidden potential and are empowered to overcome inertia and take action. They come to recognize that they are the primary custodians and beneficiaries of the environment that sustains them.

Entire communities also come to understand that while it is necessary to hold their governments accountable, it is equally important that in their own relationships with each other, they exemplify the leadership values they wish to see in their own leaders, namely justice, integrity and trust.

Although initially the Green Belt Movement's tree planting activities did not address issues of democracy and peace, it soon became clear that responsible governance of the environment was impossible without democratic space. Therefore, the tree became symbol for the democratic struggle in Kenya. Citizens were mobilized to challenge widespread abuses of power, corruption and environmental mismanagement. In Nairobi 's Uhuru Park, at Freedom Corner, and in many parts of the country, trees of peace were planted to demand the release of prisoners of conscience and a peaceful transition to democracy.

 Through the Green Belt Movement, thousands of ordinary citizens were mobilized and empowered to take action and effect change. They learned to overcome fear and a sense of helplessness and moved to defend democratic rights.

 In time, the tree also became a symbol for peace and conflict resolution, especially during ethnic conflicts in Kenya when the Green Belt Movement used peace trees to    reconcile disputing communities. During the ongoing re-writing of the Kenyan constitution, similar trees of peace were planted in many parts of the country to promote a culture of peace. Using trees as a symbol of peace is in keeping with a widespread African tradition...

Such practices are part of an extensive cultural heritage, which contributes both to the conservation of habitats and to cultures of peace. With the destruction of these cultures and the introduction of new values, local biodiversity is no longer valued or protected and as a result, it is quickly degraded and disappears. For this reason, The Green Belt Movement explores the concept of cultural biodiversity, especially with respect to indigenous seeds and medicinal plants.

As we progressively understood the causes of environmental degradation, we saw the need for good governance. Indeed, the state of any county's environment is a reflection of the kind of governance in place, and without good governance there can be no peace. Many countries, which have poor governance systems, are also likely to have conflicts and poor laws protecting the environment.

In 2002, the courage, resilience, patience and commitment of members of the Green Belt Movement, other civil society organizations, and the Kenyan public culminated in the peaceful transition to a democratic government and laid the foundation for a more stable society.

It is 30 years since we started this work. Activities that devastate the environment and societies continue unabated. Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own – indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. This will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging to a larger family of life, with which we have shared our evolutionary process...

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has challenged the world to broaden the understanding of peace: there can be no peace without equitable development; and there can be no development without sustainable management of the environment in a democratic and peaceful space. This shift is an idea whose time has come.

I call on leaders, especially from Africa, to expand democratic space and build fair and just societies that allow the creativity and energy of their citizens to flourish...

Africans, especially, should re-discover positive aspects of their culture. In accepting them, they would give themselves a sense of belonging, identity and self-confidence.

There is also need to galvanize civil society and grassroots movements to

catalyze change. I call upon governments to recognize the role of these social movements in building a critical mass of responsible citizens, who help maintain checks and balances in society. On their part, civil society should embrace not only their rights but also their responsibilities.

Further, industry and global institutions must appreciate that ensuring economic justice, equity and ecological integrity are of greater value than profits at any cost.

The extreme global inequities and prevailing consumption patterns continue at the expense of the environment and peaceful co-existence. The choice is ours.

I would like to call on young people to commit themselves to activities that contribute toward achieving their long-term dreams. They have the energy and creativity to shape a sustainable future. To the young people I say, you are a gift to your communities and indeed the world. You are our hope and our future.

The holistic approach to development, as exemplified by the Green Belt Movement, could be embraced and replicated in more parts of Africa and beyond. It is for this reason that I have established the Wangari Maathai Foundation to ensure the continuation and expansion of these activities. Although a lot has been achieved, much remains to be done...”

Maathai’s speech inspired me. Her mission for a better world embodies many important aspects for healthy domestic and international relations. Maathai looked at the problems of her country from a personal level and troubleshooting different avenues of change for everyday lives. Her work demonstrates how much non-governmental organizations advocacy can make an impact on politics and exemplify how organizations around the world can make change happen.

-- Desi Hartman