Rwanda’s commemoration of 30th anniversary of genocide begins

Rwanda on Sunday started series of activities to commemorate 30 years since the 1994 genocide took place.

The genocide led to the death of more than 1 million people over a period of 100 days, starting on April 7 1994.

During the massacre, Tutsis and moderate Hutus were systematically massacred by Hutu extremists, led by the Rwandan army and a militia known as the Interahamwe.

Paul Kagame who has been president after the genocide said the conditions that led to the slaughter would never be allowed to exist again Rwandan politics.

“Genocide is populism in its pure form, because the causes are political the remedies must be as well. For that reason our politics are not organised on the basis of ethnicity or religion and never will be again,” Kagame said at a ceremony at a Kigali sports arena.

He and his wife earlier led 37 visiting leaders at a wreath laying ceremony at a genocide memorial in the capital Kigali that contains the remains of some 250,000 people.

President Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame lay wreaths and light the Flame of Remembrance in honor of the lives lost during the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. #Kwibuka30 pic.twitter.com/WyF8TqtfR6

— Presidency | Rwanda (@UrugwiroVillage) April 7, 2024

As part of the commemoration, the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO unveiled plaques designating four genocide memorial sites to be world heritage sites.

Kagame’s rebel force the Rwandan Patriotic Front marched into Kigali in 1994 to end the genocide. He became president in 2000. He said his country had taken great strides in the last 30 years.

“The tremendous progress of our country is plain to see and is a result of the choices we made together to resurrect our nation,” he said.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, set up in Tanzania in late 1994 to try the masterminds of the genocide, convicted 61 suspects. It ended its work in 2015.

Marie Louise Ayinkamiye, who was 11 during the genocide, told the audience at the arena that “We survivors we are strong. We will build the country together.”