Rwamagana District residents Thursday paid their respects to 26,851 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The commemoration exercise also saw remains of 52 Genocide victims accorded a decent burial at Mwulire memorial site.

The bodies had been exhumed from different places of Mwulire and Rubona sectors where they had been laid.

Mwulire memorial site in Rwamagana District on April 18, 2019. Courtesy.

Citizens of Mwulire honoured their relatives, friends and other Rwandans who were killed at Mwulire Mountain during the 100 days of the Genocide that claimed the lives of more than one million people.

Fred Mufurukye, the Governor of Eastern Province, said that Rwamagana has 11 memorial sites hosting 73,653 victims, but there are still other victims yet to be given decent burial due to the lack of information on their whereabouts.

"Ideally, after 25 years, we should not be burying Genocide victims. Maybe moving bodies from one site to another to reduce memorial sites in order to have well-equipped sites to preserve Rwanda’s history,” he said.

Mufulukye encouraged mourners to share information related to the whereabouts of victims that never received decent burial.

He also had some message for the youth. "Had the youth who killed people thought about the consequences, we wouldn’t have had the Genocide. Although the youth did not teach or sensitise people to kill, they are the ones who executed Genocide agenda,” he urged.

You have to learn from the past experience, he said, adding that killers were not visionaries.

The governor said that in July this year they will start renovating Mwulire memorial site, which will be merged with other memorial sites in Rwamagana District.

Jean Damascène Bizimana, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the fight against Genocide (CNLG), explained how the Genocide was planned, how its ideology was taught and imparted among Rwandans, and the consequences it had.  

"Genocide was a plan. We have vivid evidence,” he noted.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com