‘Light radiates’ from new Rwanda, says leader as genocide anniversary is marked
The slaughter of 800,000 people in 100 days was sparked in 1994 by the death of the country’s president when his plane was shot down.
Twenty-five years after the start of its genocide, in which some 800,000 people were killed, Rwanda is rebuilding with hope and shines with a new light, said its President Paul Kagame.
Speaking at commemoration services on Sunday, Mr Kagame said that Rwandans would never turn against each other again.
“We Rwandans have granted ourselves a new beginning.
“We exist in a state of permanent commemoration, every day, in all that we do … Today, light radiates from this place.”
Those attending the ceremonies included the leaders of Chad, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Niger, Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, as well as the African Union and the European Union.
“I am moved beyond words at this memorial to tragedy,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.
“Time can never erase the darkest hours in our history. It is our duty to remember.”
Songs, poems and plays about the rebirth of Rwanda after the genocide the new nation were later performed at the Kigali convention centre.
Belgian peacekeepers were among those killed in Rwanda during the genocide.
Ethiopia’s prime minister expressed solidarity with Rwandans and said under Mr Kagame’s leadership, seeds of unity and never again had been sowed.
“Twenty-five years ago, Rwanda fell into a deep ditch due to bad leadership, today, we are a country of hope and a nation elevated,” Agnes Mutamba, 25, a teacher who was born during the genocide said in Kigali.
The mass killing of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority was ignited on April 6 1994, when a plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down and crashed in Kigali, killing the leader who, like the majority of Rwandans, was an ethnic Hutu.
The Tutsi minority was blamed for downing the plane and the bands of Hutu extremists began slaughtering the Tutsi, with support from the army, police, and militias.
Mr Kagame’s government has previously accused Hutu-led government of 1994 of being responsible for shooting down the plane and has blamed the French government for turning a blind eye to the genocide.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a government study into the country’s role in Rwanda before and during its 1994 genocide.
It is to make conclusions within two years.
Mr Kagame has won praise for ending that violence and making advances in economic development and health care.
Ethnic reconciliation is a cornerstone of the rule of Mr Kagame, Rwanda’s de facto leader since the genocide ended in 1994 and the country’s president since 2000.
He is credited with bringing Rwanda stability, economic growth, and improved health and education.
However, Mr Kagame’s critics charge that he is intolerant of criticism and his government is repressive, jailing opposition leaders.
A quarter-century after the genocide, bodies of victims are still being found.
Last year, authorities in Rwanda found discovered mass graves they said contain 5,400 bodies of genocide victims.
“Twenty-five years on, the victims and survivors should remain the centre of everyone’s thoughts, but we should also take stock of progress and the need to ensure accountability for all those who directed these horrific acts,” Human Rights Watch said.
