By David Himbara
The names of the two countries begin with the letter R – Rwanda and Russia. At the UN General Assembly, the delegations of the two countries seat side-by-side due to the Alphabet. What a coincidence! But there is more commonality. The two countries share a long history of horrendous violence at the hands of despotic rulers. For example, under the despotic Soviet Union ruler, Joseph Stalin, an estimated 3.9 million Ukrainians or 13 percent of the population perished in a man-made famine. Inside Russia itself, Stalin had more than a million of Russians executed, while unknown millions perished from forced labor, famine and massacres. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is therefore not the first Russian venture into Ukraine.
In Rwanda’s case, the violence unleashed by each of the post-independence regimes is comparable to Stalin’s genocides. The killings of Rwandans by the Rwandan regimes in 1959–60, 1970, and 1990–2000 inside Rwanda and in DR Congo refugee camps is estimated to be 4 million. Meanwhile, the legacy of violence in Rwanda and Russia is bound to continue. In power for over 20 years, the despot rulers of Rwanda and Russia, namely, General Paul Kagame and Vladimir Putin, show no signs of retirement. Stay tuned.
