NYAMAGABE - A survey seeking to establish the number of families that were completely wiped out during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi has been commissioned.

The information, that is currently being compiled by GA-AERG- an association of former Genocide student survivors, has, so far, revealed that 1,700 families were entirely wiped out during the 1994 Genocide.

The revelation was made during a remembrance night dedicated to all those families that were wiped out on Saturday night, at Murambi Genocide memorial site where over 50,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide are buried.

Abdel-Aziz Mwiseneza, the president of the association said the act of remembering such families started last year at Ntarama Genocide memorial, and is intended to honour all those who perished because no one in their families was left to remember them.

"We realised that during the commemoration period, some families that were completely wiped out have no one to remember them, this is why started this programme to ensure that they are never forgotten,” said Mwiseneza.

During the night, the names of victims and their places of residence were read out. In Nyamagabe district alone, 625 families were wiped out during the Genocide, it was revealed.

The vigil held under the theme: "Ntuzazima nararokotse” (you will never fade out since I survived) attracted thousands of mourners from all over the country.
Several speakers during the ceremony recounted the ferocity with which Genocide was carried out in the area and the role of the French troops operating in the ‘zone turquoise’.

French writer, Jacques Morel said that he has evidence on the role his country played in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Morel alluded to some documents contained in his book, ‘La France au cœur du génocide des Tutsi’.

The documents, he said contain various correspondences between French government officials and their counterparts in Rwanda. The correspondences indicated that Tutsi’s were enemies of Rwanda.

He said that France continued to arm the genocidal government contrary to the provisions of the Arusha accords. He explained how the French troops under the operation dubbed ‘Amaryllis’ and in the ‘zone Turquoise’ looked on as the Interahamwe militia killed thousands of Tutsis.

He added that the zone turquoise provided a safe passage for the interahamwe

The Ombudsman, Tito Rutaremara, called upon survivors to always strive to fill the gap left by those who perished during the Genocide.

"You should always strive to guard the legacy of those we lost,” he counselled.

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