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Meet the characters

Meet the people who told their story and shared their knowledge on the Rwandan genocide and the events surrounding it. With different backgrounds, these people all experienced or learned about the events differently.

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Déogratias Mucocori (Mao)

Mao was born in Rwanda, but his Tutsi-family fled to Uganda when he was young due to Tutsi violence. He did not know he was Rwandan until he started taking exams at school and found out that the score for passing was higher for Rwandan kids than for Ugandan kids.

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When he was 18, Mao joined Rwanda Patriotic Front in the fight against the Hutu regime. After the genocide, Mao became the bodyguard of the president until he left the country because of the continued unstable environment. First, he went to France, but he later settled down in Norway. 

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Listen to Mao's full story here.

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Fred Muvunyi

Journalist born and raised in Rwanda. Fred is the former chairman of Rwandan Media Commission until he was forced to resign due to XX.

 

After this he sought asylum in Germany where he today works as a reporter at the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle where he covers their Africa section.

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Simon Turner

Associate professor at University of Copenhagen with more than 20 years of research within issues of conflict, humanitarianism, refugees, diaspora and ethnicity with geographical expertise in Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya.

 

Turner has been teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level in International Development Studies, Anthropology, Centre for African Studies, Global Refugee Studies and Advanced Migration Studies.

Richard Uwizeye

Born in Rwanda, Richard and his family fled to Kenya when he was just six years old. With his mum being Tutsi and his dad being Hutu, they were a mixed family and did not feel safe in Rwanda. Richard never knew ethnicity group he was until he started school in Kenya, and he was asked by the other kids.

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Today, Richard lives in France and has only been back to Rwanda once in his life. However, questions of his origins and what happened in Rwanda back then is still very present in his life today. 

Mao
Fred
Simon
Richard
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