The Rwanda Tennis Federation on Friday, May 17, paid tributes to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi laid to rest Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre.

The commemoration event began with a visit to the national genocide memorial site which is home to over 259,000 victims.

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At the memorial, members of the tennis fraternity were taken a tour inside the memorial and were briefed on the history of how the genocide against the Tutsi was prepared and executed costing the lives of more than 1,000,000 lives of Tutsi.

They laid flowers on the graves of the victims while honouring their memory.

In his speech after he visit, Rwego Ngarambe, the Director of Sports Development in the Ministry of Sports, urged the sports fraternity to promote love and unity and fight division and discrimination among Rwandans as opposed to some athletes who participated in the genocide.

"I wasn’t there during the genocide, but through learning and testimonies from survivors, I now know well what happened.

I urge all young men and women like me to do everything in our power to prevent such a tragedy from happening again,” he said.

Rwego encouraged those members of the tennis community including athletes and executives to continue to join hands and develop the country and strengthen unity and reconciliation among Rwandans.

In her testimony, Béatrice Mukansenga, who lost her husband Joseph Kagabo to the genocide, sadly recalled Kagabo’s love for tennis before he was slain over fight divisionism.

"Kagabo grew up in Huye and loved playing tennis. After our marriage, we moved to Musanze where he continued to play. He wasn't a professional, but he promised to help our children play tennis at an elite level. Unfortunately, he was killed prematurely,” she said.

Mukansenga recounted how Kagabo stood against injustice and was ultimately killed in Kabeza.

She recounted her pain of not knowing where her husband's body was taken after his death.

Claver Ndahayo, Vice President of the Tennis Federation in Rwanda, said that the federation has worked diligently to identify the former players who were killed during the genocide.

Besides the commemoration event, the federation has organised the annual Genocide Memorial Tournament, which runs from May 17-26 at IPRC Kigali.