The Rwandan community in Uganda has organised a memorial service this Friday in honour of the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The service will be the third commemoration event held in Uganda after a public lecture on the Genocide and a Walk to Remember held in Mbarara in March. The Deputy Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, Jacob Oulanya, is expected to preside over the service expected to attract at least 1,000 mourners. “As Rwandans in Uganda, we are obliged to be part of the commemoration events because some of the victims of the Genocide are buried in Uganda,” Frank Macari, the General Secretary of the Rwandan community in Uganda, told The New Times yesterday. There are three memorial sites in Uganda including Ggolo in Mpigi District, which is home to over 4,000 Genocide victims, while the others are Kasensero and Lambu in Rakai and Masaka districts, respectively. In 1994, bodies of the victims were dumped into different rivers and ended up on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda. Macari called for the prevention of genocide, saying it is an evil that can happen anywhere in the world. Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda Frank Mugambage, said the service aims at honouring and standing in solidarity with the Genocide survivors. Meanwhile, the Rwandan community in Uganda and friends of Rwanda will on May 24 gather at Ggolo Memorial Site to pay homage to the thousands of victims buried there.
