First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, on June 15, joined thousands of residents, Genocide survivors, officials, and others to honour more than 50,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi buried at the UNESCO-certified Bisesero Genocide Memorial located in Karongi District.

On the same day, she also graced the decent burial of 41 Genocide victims at the memorial as part of the 30th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The First Lady consoled Genocide survivors and urged those who lost their relatives and those whose relatives got a decent burial during the commemorative event to be resilient.

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"History shows how those who were killed tried to resist the killers. This heroism that characterised Bisesero is a great lesson for Rwanda and the whole world. This heroism should be taught worldwide so that youth learn about the unique history of Bisesero. That is why the Government of Rwanda put in a lot of effort to ensure the Bisesero memorial is put on the UNESCO heritage list,” she noted.

She said that Bisesero has a lot to teach given that Tutsi faced persecution even before the Genocide.

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She reiterated that Bisesero&039;s history shows how the Genocide was planned and executed by the leadership of the genocidal regime up to 1994, which used the army and guns to kill people it should have protected.

The First Lady called upon the youth to embrace heroism by learning from Bisesero's resistance and heroes who stopped the Genocide against the Tutsi.

She urged the youth to stand up and fight against Genocide denial as well as the ideology that is still being spread.

She also urged that heroism and resilience should be inculcated in youth at an early stage considering that they are the future of building a peaceful country.

The First Lady also commended Genocide survivors’ resilience and contribution to rebuilding the country despite the effects of the Genocide they have been facing.

"We still have a huge task to sustain the achievements and achieve more by working together,” she added.

Bisesero, a hill of resistance

Bisesero, part of what was then called Kibuye Prefecture, is known as the ‘Hill of Resistance’ and serves as a Genocide memorial site.

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The site was constructed atop one of the ‘resistance’ hills, where victims wielding stones tried to drive away the attackers.

Spears were some of the weapons that the victims used to fight their attackers.

Tutsi in Bisesero stood out during the Genocide for staging a resistance against the marauding killers using traditional weapons like bows and arrows and rocks. They were among the last to be killed in the country.

The resistance that the Genocide victims who are buried at Bisesero Memorial demonstrated remains fresh in the minds of survivors.

The site was built in memory of those who died in the former Kibuye Communes of Gitesi, Rutsiro, Gisovu, Gishyita, Mwendo, Rwamatamu, Mabanza, Kivumu and Bwakira.

The memorial site is composed of three buildings, each with nine rooms containing the remains of those who perished during the Genocide.

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Vincent Kayigema, a Genocide survivor in Bisesero, said that when the Genocide started, Bisesero Tutsi thought they could resist attacks as they did in 1973 during persecution of the Tutsi.

"Interahamwe militia attacked us. They plundered cows and killed some Tutsi. Later, Tutsi started to repel the attacks. Women and children would supply men and young men stones to repel militia attacks,” he said.

He said more attacks by militia continued towards Bisesero to kill Tutsi after realising the resistance.

"The then leader of Bisesero Sector led the attack. Guns were also used. We took 13 guns from police as we repelled their attacks with hope to defeat them. However, they gathered efforts and attacks from different corners and massively killed Tutsi and burnt properties,” he said.

He recalls that Tutsi who were escaping even drank water from streams that were full of dead bodies of Killed Tutsi. By this time, he had lost six siblings.

"I survived. Currently I have a job and a Master’s degree. We have rebuilt ourselves. We are resilient,” he added.

Rose Mukankomeje, the representative of families whose 41 relatives got a decent burial on June 15 at Bisesero Genocide Memorial praised First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, for honouring Genocide victims at the memorial.

"Despite the tragedy, we continue to strive for resilience. We recognise the decent burial for our relatives. This will help preserve the Genocide history of Bisesero. However, we still do not know the whereabouts of many Tutsi killed in Bisesero so that they get a decent burial,” she said.

Montfort Mujyambere, the 1st Vice President of Ibuka, the umbrella association of Genocide survivor organisations in Rwanda, said Bisesero has unique Genocide history since it was part of what was then called ‘Operation Tourqouise’.

"Karongi has many wiped-out families due to the uniqueness of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Bisesero,” he said.

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In June 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered a probe into the complicity or inaction of French troops who were deployed in Rwanda in 1994, in the massacre of Tutsi in the former Bisesero area in south-west Rwanda where they operated.

The French troops were at the height of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, deployed to Rwanda as part of what was then called ‘Operation Tourqouise’ supposedly a humanitarian mission, but ended up abetting the very killings that they had come to stop.

For the people of Rwanda, and Genocide survivors in particular, Operation Tourqouise did not protect Tutsi, instead, it offered an escape corridor for the killers as they fled the country to the Democratic Republic of Congo where they continued to nurse their agenda.

Jean Damascene Bizimana, Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, said that in June 1994, a meeting was organised by the genocidal government to exterminate Tutsi in Bisesero.

"The then prefect of Kibuye wrote to the government to organise a meeting to exterminate Tutsi in Bisesero. The government decided to deploy an attack comprising militia from Gisenyi in June to kill Tutsi using all means, including heavy guns,” he explained.

He said that at least six Genocide masterminds of Bisesero have been convicted.