The president of the National Commission against Genocide (CNLG), Prof Celestin Misago Kanimba, who passed away last week in a French hospital, was yesterday laid to rest at Remera cemetery.

Speaking on behalf of the family at a requiem mass held at Parroisse Regina Pacis in Remera, Alloys Rufangura told mourners the late Kanimba succumbed to cancer on July 20.

"This is a great loss to the family and also to the entire nation because he has been a person of integrity and a mentor to many Rwandans,” Rufangura said.

Kanimba graduated with a degree in Anthropology from Lubumbashi University in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before obtaining a PhD in Hamburg, Germany.

The deceased also served as the Director of the National Museum of Rwanda from 1996-2008 before he was appointed the president of CNLG.

The Minister of Sports and Culture, Joseph Habineza, who represented the Government, described the late Kanimba as a hard working and social individual.

"The Government has lost such an important person because I have been a close friend of the late Prof. Kanimba since the late 1990s and from then up-to-date he has been one of the people whom I give much respect and love due to his character and skills in terms of work,” Habineza said.

Habineza noted that the late Kanimba played key roles in transforming the National Museum during his tenure as a director.

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