GASABO - The City of Kigali, yesterday, officially handed over the Kigali Genocide Memorial to the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG).

The City Mayor, Fidele Ndayisaba,  handed over the centre to Jean Dieu Mucyo, the Executive Secretary of CNLG, at a function held at the memorial in Gisozi, Gasabo District, Kigali.

The memorial centre which is currently home to over 250,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, was established in 1999 by the Kigali City Council  in partnership with Aegis Trust, and officially inaugurated in 2004.

Aegis Trust is a UK-based international organisation that campaigns against Genocide.

The Gisozi memorial was the only one that wasn’t under the management of CNLG.

The facility, located on a 3-hectare piece of land, is managed by 35 employees. It also runs an online documentation centre (www.genocidearchiverwanda.org.rw ) and an education wing charged with combating Genocide ideology.

Since its establishment, over 90,000 students countrywide have so far attained anti-Genocide lectures from the centre.

Freddy Mutanguha, the Country Director of Aegis Trust, said that the memorial receives about 80,000 visitors annually, half of them foreigners.

Ndayisaba, who commended CNLG for its partnership in protecting memorial sites, added that the city has already compensated families living close the memorial to pave way for expansion.

The centre will be expanded on a 30-hectare piece of land to accommodate an auditorium, a modern documentation centre, a man-made river and a memorial forest.

Mucyo commended the city and Aegis Trust for establishing the memorial. He promised to spearhead an advocacy campaign to help traumatised workers, which he said is a general problem in all memorial grounds.

He said that CNLG is in the process of upgrading Nyarubuye, Bisesero and Ntarama memorials in Kirehe, Karongi and Bugesera districts, respectively. 

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