Genocide commemorations to be held countrywide at cell level

The National Commission for the fight against Genocide (CNLG) has announced that the forthcoming week-long commemoration activities will be held at Cell level all over the country so as to involve all Rwandans. With three weeks to go before April 7, officials at the one-year old commission say that preparations are on track, calling on all efforts to make the event a success. Speaking to Members of Parliament in Kimihurura on Tuesday, CNLG Executive Secretary Jean de Dieu Mucyo, noted that 15 years after the genocide, a lot remains to be done during the commemoration period, a process he thinks should be continuous. “We shouldn’t be remembering genocide only during that week (from April 7 to 14),” he told the lawmakers urging them to help the commission in organising public lectures for ordinary citizens during the commemoration time. He explained that having the commemoration activities at Cell level will help residents share the history of genocide in their respective localities, a fact that can help them know exactly what happened and those responsible. Mucyo also challenged lawmakers on the role they should play by writing on the genocide and helping people willing to write, through which he said the International Community will know exactly what happened in the country. A number of concerns raised by MPs reflected dissatisfaction on the way different genocide memorials are managed, on top of remains of victims across the country that are yet to be laid to rest. It was also noted that there is need to dispense justice to genocide survivors, by punishing those who committed the atrocities and taking care of survivors, especially the vulnerable, including finding shelters for them and paying school fees for students. Parliamentarians also expressed concern over the fact that to date, the real number of the victims is still unknown, as well as the number of orphans who live on their own. Meanwhile, commission explained that it has plans for taking the commemoration activities outside the Rwandan borders through the country’s Diaspora, Rwandan Embassies and students in various universities overseas. At the national level, this year’s official event will be held at Nyanza in Kicukiro, a place where thousands of Tutsis were massacred after being abandoned by UN peacekeepers. Ends