In 2010, Rwandan opposition figure Victoire Ingabire Umuhoz was sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly conspiring against the state. She received a pardon from President Paul Kagame in 2018. Still, she accuses Kagame's government of oppression and despotism.

In this interview with DW's Sandrine Blanchard, she explains why she continues to tirelessly campaign against the government while also trying to find a way of dealing with the country's traumatic past.

DW: As leader of the Dalfa-Umurinzi party you're one of the most important opposition figures in Rwanda against President Paul Kagame. You look back on a long political career that has been fraught with many obstacles: Among other things, you were kept in solitary confinement after your sentence for conspiring against the state in 2010. Against this backdrop of constant repression, how do you manage to keep up your political activities?

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza: Yes, I spent six years in solitary confinement indeed. But I was acquitted of all these crimes by the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. My struggle is for the democratization of our country so we can build institutions that give security and confidence to every last stratum of our society.

Just a few days ago, you published an article in the Belgian news magazine LeVif.be. In it, you discuss your country's history since its independence, you denounce the authoritarian style of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party, which has been in power since 1994, and you call for a new style of governance in Rwanda. To this end, you call for a national dialogue. What are your expectations from this? 

Rwandans must work together to find a solution that is appropriate to our situation and discover ways to distribute power among Rwandans. Today, we are under the system introduced by the RPF, this so-called "consensus democracy." But we find that over time, the RPF has turned into a one-party-state party, where there is only the ruling party in charge of everything. We must work together to ensure that each social class feels secure and participates in the country's institutions and decisions. Only this way can everyone be sure that if there is a threat to their safety or if their fundamental rights are violated, there is still room for protection.

To this day, there is still this talk of reconciliation. Some progress has indeed been made, but there is still a long way to go. For example, in 1994 — before, during and after the Tutsi genocide — there were other crimes as well. These were crimes against humanity, crimes against mankind. And these crimes have been documented by the United Nations. Yet, people in Rwanda cannot really talk about these crimes. You cannot talk about reconciliation if you are not ready to heal all the wounds. This is why I propose that we set up a Commission for Reconciliation, Justice and Truth like there was in South Africa — because justice is not intended to be a punishment, but rather an act of reconciliation.

But there still are armed groups across Rwanda's border in Democratic Republic of Congo, such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, FDLR. This Rwandan Hutu militia group, which is involved in fighting in the DRC, is said to be led in part by fugitive perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide. This also plays an important role in reconciliation process. How do you even start a dialogue with them when they are still wanted by the authorities?

Yes, there are armed groups. There are some people in the FDLR who are wanted by the authorities. But there's one thing I want to emphasize: Little by little, there are some FDLR members who are now returning to Rwanda. They are hand-picked: Those who are wanted by the justice system will be tried while the others will be integrated into everyday life in Rwanda. So I don't understand why the regime says: "We don't want to have any dialogue with these people" — when in truth, we talk to them every day.

And if there really are perpetrators of genocide hiding amongst them, these people will have to be brought to justice. But there are also those who have nothing to be blame for, who have done nothing wrong. After all, you have to bear in mind that the FDLR was only established in the 2000s.

So what you mean to say is that many of the fighters in the FDLR are too young to have been perpetrators in the 1994 genocide.

I believe there are young people who wouldn't dare to return to Rwanda because in their minds there is still this image of what they experienced in the forests of Congo where they were massacred. They are afraid to go home. Maybe they have chosen to take up arms believing that they can protect themselves that way. The Rwandan government should accept them, reach out to them and encourage them return to our country.

This article was translated by Sertan Sanderson.