Zaria Court: From a symbol of war to a top recreational hub

As President Paul Kagame, Giants of Africa co-founder Masai Ujiri plus several senior government officials broke ground on Zaria Court, a new proposed recreational hub on Tuesday, a lot of people, especially the young generation, were oblivious of the stern history of the place where it is going to be located. The modern facility featuring an 80-room boutique hotel, restaurants, rooftop lounges, fitness centres, wellness spaces, co-working areas, and a podcast studio, will be located at Gisimenti, just opposite Airtel’s headquarters – the place that hosted the head office of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in 1994. ALSO READ: Inside proposed Zaria recreational hub in Kigali For people who were old enough during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the word UNAMIR comes with a lot of difficult memories related to the international community’s failure to do something when Rwanda was unravelling. As violence spread out in Kigali and other parts of Rwanda, UNAMIR, which historian Linda Melvern described as “a deliberately weakened UN peace keeping mission” proved to the ethnic ideologues that they had nothing to fear from the outside world. Understaffed and having no orders to militarily engage the genocidaires who were killing civilians, the UNAMIR more or less left the situation to the hands of fate. The early days of April saw serious killing operations across Kigali, including the very areas in the proximity of the UNAMIR headquarters, but a key example that stands out in regards to the UN troops’ failures, are the April 11 killings in Kicukiro. In 1994, over 2,000 Tutsi refugees camped at ETO Kicukiro (current IPRC Kigali) under the protection of the Belgian UN troops, which formed the backbone of UNAMIR. ALSO READ: Who exactly failed the Rwandan people in 1994? The troops, however, pulled out of Rwanda on April 11, 1994, following the murder of ten Belgian soldiers by the genocidal forces. As the 97 Belgian peacekeepers based at ETO Kicukiro flew back home, they left over 2,000 refugees at the mercy of the marauding militia which came and massacred them. Such sad stories give a glimpse into the failures of the international community, but can also provide an opportunity to look back and realise how far Rwanda has come, 29 years after the Genocide against the Tutsi. ALSO READ: Nyanza-Kicukiro massacres: Rethinking the failure of international community It is ironic that now Zaria Courts, a facility where people will go to play, recreate and hang out, is going to occupy the area that gave bad reminiscences of the Genocide due to the failures of the UNAMIR mission whose head offices were located there. Upon Zaria Courts’ completion, which is expected in early 2025, Rwanda will be home to the first “Zaria Court” on the continent. It is expected to bring together social and cultural community gatherings, and at the same time a magnet for sports enthusiasts, influencers and Africa’s booming middle class. It is located within Kigali’s budding sports and entertainment district that boasts modern facilities like the BK arena and the under-construction Amahoro stadium.

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Zaria Court: From a symbol of war to a top recreational hub