I have a special relationship to Rwanda for some time now. It is one of a few countries in the world that became a little home far from home, a place that is close to my heart, with all it’s struggles, beauty and extremes. So when the first grenade attacks happend earlier this year, newspapers got forbitten till after the elections and opposition leaders got killed, i was more then worried that a situation that in many ways seems to be fragile under the surface might get violent.

Rwanda is fascinating in many ways. Many of us have the horrific pictures of the genocide 15 years ago still in our minds when we think of this little country. A genocide that killed around 800.000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. But at the same time Rwanda made a extraordinary development in the years after, not least because of Paul Kagame and his government. Rwanda is a country that was celebrated internationally for this and when we think of a country that was in it’s ruins not only in it’s outer appearance but also in the minds of the people that lived there, it is extraordinary what happened there after. For instance health insurance. 90% of the Rwandas have a health insurance, made available for small money to make it affordable even for the poor. The agriculture is even exporting, something pretty amazing for a country that is small and very densely populated (with this as one of the biggest problems and also a reason behind the conflict). The school system is also developing well and Kigali, the capital is a capital on the move with construction sites all over the place. One of the policies of the government is that development and wealth is an important factor to fight hate, enviousness and conflicts. The logic is: ‘When everyone is doing good, there is no space for hate and violence.’ And for sure this logic is one that works is an impression you get when you first come into the country.

Under the surface and more out in the countryside things are different. First, the development is pretty much focused on the cities, the people living in the countryside are seldom direct benefit from that. And the structured preset agriculture is not in the interest of many that have side incomes that get destroyed through a governmental organized agriculture. And also in the smaller towns the modernization is not always seen with joy. One of the strongest stories of my students at the ‘With our own eyes’ project was the one that covered the building & modernization process of the houses happening in Butare that more or less will destroy every piece of flavor and history and replace it with a series of same looking buildings.

And even when a lot might be political decisions that have a clear purpose and are made with a hard hand, a even more important factor is under the surface, the old, officially not talked about conflict of Hutu and Tutsi. It is in the society wherever you look, even when it might not be obvious. It is under the surface, a dark monster that is working in many minds, forbitten to come close to heart for most of the year, but it’s having it’s place. As amazing as it is that it is possible today that Hutus and Tutsis can live together, work together, interact together again after such a short period of time, it still is a brutal part of the history of more or less everyone that is hard to really forgive and even forget. There are still murders every year that are related to it, around 200 or more related to the conflict are assumed. There are small things happening, hard to understand in first sight, like people that do not want to sleep in the same house with another person or other stories that show a mistrust, a hard hitting glimpse of the history still working. Just recently a man called in a live radio show, saying: “It’s sad, we did not get done with our business.”

Now, where the elections were no real elections as most real candidates that could fight Kagame were killed or their parties were not allowed to run at the elections, where media is forbitten or suppressed, one face of the rapid development of Rwanda is becoming obvious: First development and wealth, second comes the democracy and freedom of press. Rwanda is ruled with a strong hand and the western world now might react surprised, it is not new, it is only becoming more visible.

Interesting enough something many of my friends down there told me was that they believe that Rwanda needs a strong leader, someone with a clear vision, willing to fight for it. It is hard for our understanding of the ‘right’ political system, but it is not only propaganda that there is a deep believe in what Kagame is doing. He is popular and the result of this is are votes that show that, no matter if because of a lack of alternatives or of a true believe in what he is doing.

Many things that happened before the election are not right in any way and I truely believe in the freedom of speech and press, but I also believe that if we want to get an understanding of the situation we have in some cases first to forget of our understanding of things and learn to understand the situation and believes of the Rwandans.

The interesting question was never if Kagame would be elected again this August. The interesting question is what happens in five years. Then the constitution is not allowing Kagame to be re-elected again. If he is not changing this, in five years will be the moment where things could become more obvious than many think of right now. Where old and new conflicts could erupt, when there is no clear vision or guideline. Right now the clear vision of the Kagame administration (not the administration itself) is also something what unites the people. Even when just yesterday another grenade attack happened in the center of Kigali, leaving at least one dead…

Here is a short video from Time magazine about the elections and the history affects the elections.