As King Abdullah II ibn Al-Hussein paid tribute to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, he noted that the international community’s indifference to Genocide is the same as complicity.
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He was accompanied by various government officials including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr Vincent Biruta, and Jean Damascene Bizimana, Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, on January 8.
In his address at the memorial, King Abdullah II conveyed a message after learning about the history, implementation, and consequences of the Genocide, saying: "This powerful memorial reminds us that behind every individual killed was a world unto itself, a family that lost a loved one, a mother, a father, a child, a dream extinguished, a potential taken too soon.”
He added that Rwanda’s experience teaches the need to fight dehumanising acts that fuel conflicts, becoming a beacon for all with how the people took action after the "unspeakable crime of crimes and walk towards reconciliation, to heal all wounds and prevent genocide from happening again.”
"The brutality that these walls bear witness to is a constant reminder of the terrifying consequences of dehumanising the other, of how fear-mongering and disinformation, how the international complacency can lead to the ugliest and deadliest extremism.”
He emphasised the international community needs to take measures to resolve conflicts instead of condoning them, noting that failure to intervene is complicity in the crime.
This, he linked to the almost 30,000 people killed in Gaza and more unaccounted for, over the past three months, with the majority being women and children, urging for a just peace based on the two-state solution.
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According to him, the history at the memorial is a lesson that one should first accept the brutality of what happened before starting to build a path of peace, and that indifference is the same as complicity.
"This memorial teaches us that we cannot write off any conflict as hopelessly irreparable. It shows us how respect, justice, and compassion can lead to a better future.”
King Abdullah II laid a wreath on the graves of over 250,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, who are laid to rest at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.
He is in Kigali on a three-day working visit since January 7, to strengthen bilateral relations between both countries and witness the signing of different agreements across sectors.