WESTERN PROVINCE RUBAVU — Former Bralirwa S.A workers who were killed by rebels of the Ex-FAR and Interahamwe militia in 1998 in Gisenyi, died as heroes. These remarks were given at a ceremony to commemorate the death of the fallen Bralirwa workers on Tuesday in Gisenyi Town an event which was orgamised by Brwalirwa S.A and the district authorities in conjunction with affected widows and orphans. The deceased were heading to work at the time the rebels ambushed their bus on January 19, 1998. The memorial ceremony started with a requiem mass at Stella Maurice parish in Gisenyi town, and it was attended by Rubavu district officials, Police, and army officers. According to Rachael Nyirasafari, the president of Girimpuhwe, an association of the widows said the association has for the last 11 years organised memorial services of a similar nature to remember their fallen husbands. ‘They deserve it because they demonstrated a heroic act when they refused to separate them selves as the killers had ordered them to split according to their ethnic groups. It was a full bus and the Interahamwes asked the Hutus to separate from the Tutsi.They refused and decided to die together’, explained Nyirasafari, who is also the vice president of the Rubavu district advisory council. She denounced the former government for spreading and preaching the genocide ideology that she said plunged the country into Genocide in which about a million people died. Nyirasafari thanked the district and Bralirwa S.A staff for their continuous support to the orphans and widows. ‘Bralirwa S.A has supported us and our children for the last 11 years by paying schools fees, helping us to join health insurance (Mutualle de santé) and given us many other forms of support’, she said. On behalf of the district, Martin Habimana, the official in charge of good governance, pledged continuous support to the widows, but called upon them to work hard to fight poverty. Ends
