The 100 Days of national mourning, during which Rwandans commemorate the innocent lives lost during the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, officially, came to an end, Sunday, with an event held at the Nyanza Memorial site in Kicukiro presided over by the Minister of Youth.

The one million lives that were taken so brutally from us are a loss that will forever be felt. Now that the mourning period is over, we must look forward and make sure that the Rwanda of tomorrow is a place where such horrors are never perpetrated again.

After the Holocaust, the world promised "Never Again’. The world lied to Rwandans and they learnt that their fate was entirely in their own hands. Rwandans have taken that responsibility to heart.

Sadly, a tiny segment of our population backed by individuals within and outside our country has refused to acknowledge the progress that Rwanda has made, and the challenges it still faces.

These voices refuse to heed the lessons of the past; they refuse to acknowledge the dangers of divisionism and sectarianism and they still voice opinions that would be at home in the Kangura publication - the epitome of hate media.

Rwandans shall ignore these people for they know the road they lead to. It’s a road that we will never tread. And those who want us to do so will have to encounter the force of Rwanda’s collective will. We shall never forget our loss, and we shall be a nation that moves forward.   

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