One Hundred Days

What we tend to think of as the Rwandan narrative has been informed by the events of the 1994 genocide, of course, as well as by subsequent popular media and literary treatments, especially Roméo Dallaire’s anguished memoir Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, from 2003. Much of what we understand to have happened between the Hutu-led Rwandan Armed Forces and the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Army has been the product of necessary “processing”— about an unthinkable crime against humanity, the horrific job of documenting the casualties, and the long task of ascribing legal responsibility.

Since 2003, the genocide has been commemorated each April 7 with an international day of reflection. The accepted explanation of what, exactly, is being commemorated continues to shift, though, especially following several surprising developments last year. And this year the grim task of contemplating the ultimate crime against humanity has taken on new...