Uganda’s Defence Minister Vincent Bamulangaki Sempijja says that the determination and resilience shown by the Rwandan people after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, should be emulated by the rest of the world if meaningful development is to be achieved.
Sempijja shared the message while speaking at the Lambu Memorial Site in Masaka district on Friday, as the Rwandan community in Uganda, and friends of Rwanda commemorated the 29th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Every year in the month of April, the Rwandan community in Uganda and friends of Rwanda visit one of the three Memorial Sites along Lake Victoria in Uganda where several victims’ bodies were thrown into rivers in a Genocide that claimed a million innocent lives lost within just 100 days.
"I commend the people of Rwanda for the spirit of reconciliation and nation building exhibited in the aftermath of the Genocide, and take this opportunity to ask the rest of the world to learn from Rwanda. Uganda will forever remain committed to the spirit of brotherhood with Rwanda in this and other areas of mutual concern,” the Minister said, mentioning the recently held Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) in Kigali as a major step taken aimed at building a solid bilateral relationship between the two countries.
"I want to assure you that all the ministries concerned are working very fast to make sure that all we agreed in Kigali is put into practice,” he said.
The event was attended by Mohammed Sulieman Ahmed, who is the Dean of the Diplomatic Corp in Uganda, and Eritrea’s Ambassador to Uganda, as well as several heads of Diplomatic missions accredited to Uganda, and a big delegation of students from different Universities in Uganda.
Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda Col. Joseph Rutabana said the government of Rwanda is committed to raising awareness and advocate for UN member countries to arrest and prosecute identified and confirmed Genocide fugitives residing or hiding in foreign countries.
"The Government of Rwanda would like to recall the international commitment to fight genocide ideology and the denial of the Genocide against the Tutsi. Though the Genocide against the Tutsi was put to an end in 1994, some fugitives from the former Government of Rwanda, the army, and militias are still at large and have ever since been spreading this genocidal ideology from the countries where they are living,” he said.
Rutabana told his audience that one of the characteristics of different genocide deniers, is that they share a tendency to exonerate perpetrators and blame others including victims and people who stopped the genocide.
"The main objective of such an attitude is to whitewash themselves and avoid accountability. We must all stand and fight Genocide denial in all its forms. Survivors need protection and deserve more decency.”
Many of the speakers at the event thanked Mhamood Thobani, a Ugandan businessman who played a significant role in preserving the bodies and donated the land on which the site was established. Members of the local community around Lambu village were also thanked for having braved the terrifying sights of dead bodies, and removed them from the waters, and thereafter according them a decent burial.
The ceremony was also marked by lighting a flame of hope, Commemoration songs performed by artiste Jado Gasana, and a testimony from Francoise Ingabire, one of the Genocide survivors who was part of a huge HUMURA Victoria Warakoze Genocide Survivors association delegation that traveled from Kigali to attend the event.
The Genocide sites in Uganda include; Lambu in Masaka District with 3,337 bodies, Ggolo, in Mpigi District with 4,771 bodies, and Kasensero in Rakai District with 2,875 bodies making a total of 10,983 victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda buried in Uganda.