The weeklong official mourning for the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda comes to a climax today, with commemoration activities however set to last for 100 days – marking the three months the killings were relentlessly carried out.

The last seven days have seen Rwandans from all walks of life come together to pay homage to the more than a million countrymen and women who were mercilessly slaughtered simply because they were Tutsi.

Friends of Rwanda and members of the international community joined the people of Rwanda to mourn the victims and to renew their commitment to national unity, reconciliation and the ‘never again’ spirit.

The United States is one of the countries that sent messages of solidarity.

"Following the horrific events of 1994, Rwanda united in reconciliation. It pursued community justice to try over a million suspects and help communities heal from unforgivable wounds, while the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda pursued high level suspects,” Molly Phee, the Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, said at a Kwibuka (commemoration) event in Washington last week.

She added: "Rwanda invested in the country’s development and the health and education of its people, achieving impressive results in a few short decades. The United States has been proud to be Rwanda’s partner in this process.

"As we join in remembering the victims and reaffirming our support for the people of Rwanda in their continued efforts for unity and renewal, we oppose any attempt to misrepresent the historical record for political purposes. In particular, we strongly oppose any denial or minimization of the genocide that targeted Tutsi.”

The United States, she noted, "has been and will remain one of Rwanda’s strongest supporters in seeking accountability for the genocide....we continue to offer rewards leading to the arrest of the remaining fugitives wanted by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (and) the United States will never stop working with Rwanda to bring those responsible for genocide to justice.”

A tweet by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and statement from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield — who was present in Rwanda on 7 April 1994 —, made similar points, albeit with less detail.

This is a welcome step forward, compared to U.S. statements in previous years that omitted to mention that Tutsi were the targets of the genocide, or the unfortunate incident in August 2022 when Secretary Blinken, during his visit to Rwanda, did not publicly utter the word "Tutsi’ when speaking of the genocide.

However, the U.S. should still move to embrace the appellation used by every other country in the world: 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, as unanimously approved by the United Nations General Assembly.

Even if it seems like a small nuance to others, continued ambiguity is dangerous because it keeps the door open to persistent efforts at revisionism and denial of the Genocide against the Tutsi. Since Washington affirms that it firmly opposes revisionism and denial, nothing should prevent it from adopting the terminology preferred by both survivors and the international community as a whole.