The Ethiopian Foreign Affairs minister yesterday assured Rwandans of his country’s committment to supporting Rwandans in their recovery process.

 Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was speaking  during the African Union (AU) 20th commemoration of  the Genocide against the Tutsi in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Dr Ghebreyesus, who was the chief mourner, said: "Ethiopia will always stand by Rwanda’s side.”

The Ethiopian foreign minister recalled how during the Genocide, "brothers and sisters were pitted against each other on the basis of fictitious differences concocted by colonial rulers.”

Ghebreyesus, Dr Aisha Abdullahi, the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, and Prof. Joseph Nsengimana, Rwanda’s envoy to Ethiopia and AU, together lit the Flame of Remembrance.

Abdullahi said the social, economic and political loss resulting from the Genocide cannot be quantified, adding that its effect on the psyche of the victims is incomprehensible.

Within 100 days, in 1994, more than one million men, women and children were systematically killed by long-time neighbours, colleagues and friends in a manner that’s unprecedented  in history. 

Thousands of women and girls were raped, and many infected with HIV/Aids,  while many children were orphaned.

"Honouring the pledge to never experience genocide again will require not just exerting greater political will than we have seen in the past, but also developing a strategy built on the lessons learnt from the 1994 Genocide,”  Dr Abdullahi said.