The Rwandan community working at the African Development Bank in Tunis and other Rwandans living in Tunisia this week held a Special Remembrance Vigil to mark the 20th Commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. The event follows the African Development Bank commemoration held on April 7.

 The vigil was aimed at honouring the Genocide victims and comforting the survivors.

The president of the Rwandan Association in Tunis, Justin Murara, hailed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) for stopping the Genocide.

He also commended Capt. Mbaye Diagne from Senegal who paid the ultimate price trying to save lives that his employer, the UN, had abandoned.

Jacob Diko Mukete, a former AfDB resident representative to Rwanda, reminded the audience of how Rwandans were historically  bound together by strong cultural and traditional values with kings at the helm of the administrative ladder.

He traced the seeds of Genocide to racism and ethnic polarisation introduced by the colonialists.

Gerarldine Fraser-Moleketi, AfDB Special Envoy on Gender and a  former South African minister, regretted that Rwanda lived through its darkest moments the same year and month that her country, South Africa, was celebrating its liberation from the apartheid regime.

 She urged the rest of Africa to draw lessons from Rwanda in its resolve to ‘never again’ plegde and paid special tribute to the "leadership in Rwanda for building a phoenix from the ashes.”

She commended Rwandan women who bore the brunt of those heinous acts but had the strength to move on; "not just surviving, but emerging as strong leaders in the new Rwanda.”

A vice-president of the AfDB, Gilbert Mbesherubusa, urged Africa to be vigilant and be ready to intervene to protect humanity.