A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali (29 page)

1
Meaning “house” or “family.” At this time, the word designated the family of the president, especially his wife Agathe’s three brothers who controlled most of Rwanda’s wealth, both legitimate and ill-gotten.

2
In 1990, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched a military campaign against President juvénal Habyarimana’s government. After protracted negotiations, with the support of countries of the Organization of African Unity, the Arusha peace accord was signed in August 1993. It called for a Transitional National Assembly with a predetermined number of seats per party and a transitional government, pending elections. To help achieve national reconciliation, the UN Security Council created the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) to ensure respect of the terms of the peace accord. Despite the negotiated peace, a Tutsi-led rebel force remained across the border in Uganda to the north, and sporadic cross-border fighting continued.

3
Butare today.

4
Sasserath,
Le Ruanda-Urundi, étrange royaume féodal
, quoted by Jean-Pierre Chrétien in
Burundi, l’histoire retrouvée,
Karthala, 1993.

5
Witch and diviner combined.

6
Pygmies.

7
“Cockroach,” in Kinyarwanda.

8
Summary of an article that appeared in the weekly Ijambo in November 1991.

9
A local term for a popular convenience: a bed with a case of beer stored underneath for the further entertainment of the proprietor’s clientele.

10
The secret high command of the genocide and its lieutenants.

11
Colonel Athanase was a member of the High Command.

12
On the morning of April 7, ten Belgian Blue Berets were taken prisoner by members of the presidential guard and then beaten and murdered. The UN forces made no attempt to free them. The Belgian contingent was recalled by its government. Before leaving, several Belgian soldiers tore up their United Nations badges and spat on the blue flag.

13
The first French plane left Kigali with the president’s widow, Agathe Habyarimana, and some thirty members of her family, some of whom were among the principal organizers of the genocide. The widow received a sum of 200,000 francs for pocket money on her arrival in Paris. All these murderers are living in freedom in France as these lines are written.

14
The French employees, of course. As in most Western embassies, the majority of local employees were Tutsis. All those who worked for the French and had taken refuge on French embassy property were abandoned by the French and were massacred there within hours of the evacuation of the diplomats and their families.

15
UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda.

Sources

Paul Éluard, “Du Fond de l’abîme,”
Le Dur Désir de durer.

“I am not afraid …” and “This absurd expanse …” Éluard, “Du Fond de l’abîme,” Le Dur Désir de durer.

“A smile challenged …” Éluard, “Un Seul Sourire,” Le Dur Désir de durer.

Éluard, “Du Fond de l’abîme,”
Le Dur Désir de durer.

Éluard, “Par un baiser,”
Le Dur Désir de durer.

Albert Camus, L’Envers et l’endroit.

Éluard, “De Solitude en solitude vers la vie,” Le Dur Désir de durer.

Éluard, “Puisqu’il n’est plus question de force,” Le Dur Désir de durer.

“Sweet future, I am …” Éluard, “Un Vivant parle pour les morts,” Le Temps déborde.

“I am in earth …” Éluard, “Un Vivant parle pour les morts,” Le Temps déborde.

“We shall not grow …” Éluard, [untitled],
Le Temps déborde.

GIL COURTEMANCHE is an author and journalist in international and third-world politics. Among his recent non-fiction works are
Québec
(1998) and
Nouvelles
douces colères
(1999). When
A Sunday at the Pool in
Kigali
was originally published in French in 2000, it spent more than a year on Quebec bestsellers lists and won the Prix des Libraires, the booksellers’ award for outstanding book of the year. Rights have since been sold in 13 countries, and movie production is underway with Lyla Films. Gil Courtemanche lives in Quebec, where he is a political columnist for
Le Devoir
.

PATRICIA CLAXTON is one of Canada’s foremost translators, winning her first Governor General’s Award for translation in 1987 for
Enchantment and Sorrow
by Gabrielle Roy, and her second in 1999 for François Ricard’s biography
Gabrielle Roy: A Life
. She has also translated, among others, Nicole Brossard, jacques Godbout and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. She lives in Quebec.