Osofisan honoured in Rwanda
Renowned dramatist, Professor Emeritus Femi Osofisan was last week recognised by the Rwandan government for his 1994 play, Reel, Rwanda, during the series of events termed “Kwibuka20” which is organised to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the genocide in the country.
On 6 April, Osofisan ,one of 10 writers who wrote about the genocide, was invited to Kwibuka20 at the ‘Café Littéraire - Thinking and writing our history: the pan-African memory of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda’. Other writers present were Cote d’Ivoire’s Veronique Tadjo (L’ombre d’Imana), and Monique Ilboudo (Murekatete).
Excerpts from Osofisan’s Reel, Rwanda were performed, along with other dramatizations and poetry performances. The writers also talked with students from the University of Rwanda in Butare. Rwandan president, Paul Kagame also discussed with the writers the experience of the genocide, the liberation war, and the development process afterwards.
The gathering was aimed at reflecting on the important role of the arts in educating the world about incidences in Rwanda, then, and to make sure that genocide never happens again - in Rwanda or elsewhere.
The past twenty years has seen various individual and collective artistic initiatives in this regard. They include ‘Rwanda écrire par devoir de mémoire’ and ‘Fest’Africa’ literature festival, which held in 2000. Several individual Rwandan artistes have produced works, mainly testimonies, which have received various awards and recognitions, globally.
For Osofisan, “the horrors of the genocide are simply unimaginable. But the reconciliation and reconstruction efforts, together with the tremendous economic achievements, since then are a marvel. Kagame has a lot to teach our other presidents.”
The Kwibuka20 commemoration involved vast choreography and performance in Kigali, with over 2,000 actors, singers and dancers enacting the horrors of the genocide.
Nigeria was also one of the four countries praised for its positive roles during the 1994 genocide by the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame. The Nigerian ambassador and president of the UN Security Council during the crisis, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, was especially mentioned by Kagame for his contributions. Professor Gambari was also honoured with the Rwandan national award.
Kwibuka is the Kinyarwanda word for “remember”. The theme of the commemoration is: Remember, Unite, Renew. More than one million victims of the genocide against the Tutsis and moderate Hutus were recorded in 1994.