Former ambassador to Rwanda shares
experiences
Krista Naposki / News Editor
For Joyce Leader, the movie Hotel Rwanda is more than just a
powerful flick.
Leader was a former ambassador to Rwanda during the 1994
genocide, in which 800,000 people died in three months.
She will speak to Elon students at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in
Whitley Auditorium. Originally, Elon invited Leader to speak
last year for the 10-year mark of the Rwandan genocide, but
plans fell through.
Leader will provide background not only about the genocide,
but also about relations within and outside of Rwanda.
Before the 1994 genocide, she spent three years working on
political efforts for peace. She was supposed to visit at the
10-year anniversary of the genocide in 2004,however planning
fell through.
Brian Digre, history professor and coordinator of African
and African-American studies at Elon, met Leader through his
work in the Peace Corps in 1978. She was the associate Peace
Corp director in education for Africa when he volunteered in
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Digre served as an English and history teacher at a small
town in the Congo. Leader visited his class and held
workshops for the teachers in the Peace Corp.
"She was concerned about the volunteers," Digre
said. "She was careful that volunteers were placed at
schools appropriate for them and the community. She has a
serious interest in their education."
Rwanda's genocide occurred because of conflict between
the Tutsis and Hutus.
Before the genocide, Hutus had control over the government.
But historically, the two groups had switched power control.
When the Hutu president was assassinated, the Tutsis were
accused of killing the president and the Hutus began killing
Tutsis or Hutus that might not have been pro-government.
Soon, all Tutsis were hunted and a mass genocide developed.
Leader was forced to leave Rwanda as the violence erupted
for her safety. She will talk about the tough decisions the
ambassadors had to make when the fighting began.
Leader has since gone back to Rwanda to speak to friends,
both Hutu and Tutis, about the genocide and its effects.
Rwanda is relatively peaceful now. The country is still
working on efforts to play down the separate cultural
identities.
"There is stability," Digre said. "The
process of reconciliation…and search for justice is
occurring."
Digre said that Leader would appeal to a significant cross
section of Elon. Global Experience classes, human rights
activists and students concerned with social responsibility
and concerns about genocide in Africa will find Leader
interesting.
While genocide in Darfur and Rwanda differs because Rwanda
had mass killing for three months while Darfur has
experienced a slow process of starvation and bad conditions,
lessons can still be learned from Rwanda for Darfur, said
Digre.
Contact Krista Naposki at pendulum@elon.edu or
278-7247.
| 
Photo courtesy of Syracuse University