Hundreds welcome Kwibuka Flame in Nyange with hope

Hundreds of people received the Kwibuka Flame yesterday at Nyange Secondary School in Ngororero District, Western Province, as the torch completed its first leg of a three-month national tour ahead of the April 7 twentieth anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.The Flame departed from Kigali at around 11a.m in the company of a group of 20-year-olds.On arrival at Nyange Secondary School later in the afternoon, the torch was handed over to a group of students.Nyange is the scene of some of the worst massacres during the Genocide and later, on March 18, 1997, when a group of insurgents linked to the Genocide militants attacked a school in the area and hurled grenades at helpless students indiscriminately.Yesterday, those who authored the atrocities in the area were condemned while the heroes who saved lives were honoured.Aloys Rwamasirabo who survived the Genocide in Nyange but lost all his nine children and other relatives was among those who spoke at the memorial event.He recounted how a local Catholic priest colluded with interahamwe militia and local authorities to bulldoze a Catholic Church that was sheltering Tutsi refugees, burying most of them alive in the rubble.He preached remorsefulness and forgiveness.“Despite all that happened to our loved ones, we are ready to forgive the perpetrators if they are willing to repent and, together, we rebuild our lives and nation,” he said.He shared about his journey of forgiveness and recalled a time when he gave lift to a woman whose husband had killed his children.Rwamasirabo praised those who saved lives during the 100-day killing spree, the cruellest genocide known to history.“Not all the Hutus were killers during the Genocide. If they were, I wouldn’t be alive today. My neighbour at the time, Straton Twagirayezu, a Hutu, did not take part in the killings. If everyone had the same heart as his, nothing tragic would ever happen again to this country,” he said.Rwamasirabo asked Twagirayezu to come forward for recognition.Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, Rwamasirabo paid tribute to Twagirayezu, explaining how the latter withstood the pressure from the interahamwe militia to join them in the killings by distracting them with beer.Then Nyange survivors of the 1997 attack also spoke at the memorial event, recalling how the students stood together and boldly told the attackers that they were all Rwandans and none of them deserved to die.“The killers ordered us to separate ourselves along ethnic lines (Hutus and Tutsis), and when we refused they started shooting at us,” one of the survivor of the attack, Fanuel Sindayiheba, said. “We all insisted that we were Rwandans.”Six students and a guard died in the attack during the fateful night when the killers attacked them in their classrooms. “We need to build a better Rwanda than the one we had 20 years ago,” he said.Emulating Nyange studentsNgororero mayor Gédéon Ruboneza called on the youth and Rwandans in general to emulate the bravery of the Nyange students and promote the legacy of those who paid the ultimate price during the attack embracing unity and the Rwandan spirit.The Nyange attack victims are among the country’s celebrated heroes.Senate president Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo also urged unity and harmony among Rwandans.“Genocide was a result of sectarian politics. Today we have a government that fosters unity, a government that delivers development for all. Let’s all strive to be heroes in our own way; we should never allow anyone to take us back to the dark history of divisionism,” he said.Students and residents praised the bravery of the former Nyange students.“We feel inspired to do good. The story of students who refused to separate (along ethnic lines) at our school is very encouraging,” said Pacifique Icyuzuzo, a senior four student, at Nyange.Eunice Uwurukundo, a 22-year-old mother of one, said welcoming the Kwibuka Flame evoked lots of memories.“It’s sweet-bitter because I was told that my brother was killed during the Genocide but at the same time memory helps me to heal. I have hope for the future,” she said.On Monday, the Flame will embark on its second leg of the tour, with a stop in Kamonyi where a mayor infamously took part in the massacres that rocked the area 20 years ago.

National

Hundreds welcome Kwibuka Flame in Nyange with hope