The management and staff of the National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA) staff on Friday, May 7, joined Huye District to pay tribute to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Particularly, they paid tribute to former employees of Institut de Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (IRST) slain during the Genocide. NIRDA took over from IRST as part of the restructuring of public institutions. The commemoration event was marked by a walk to remember from NIRDA’s department of research and development office in Huye district to University of Rwanda genocide memorial site where over 400 genocide victims including 20 former IRST employees are buried. At the memorial site, mourners laid wreaths on mass graves to pay homage to the victims. According to Dr. Christian Sekomo Birame, the Director-General of NIRDA, the commemoration event was a time to remember the gruesome tragedy that marked the Genocide and urged participants to reflect on that while doing all they can to fill the void left by those who lost their lives. “The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi caused many losses as it claimed the lives of over one million innocent people including former IRST employees that used to contribute to the national development through research and development,” he said. “As we remember the former IRST employees, we have to reflect on the loss caused by the Genocide and how research and development and technology sectors were affected. Those who were killed had a huge contribution to national development, “he said. He urged the youth to fill this gap and strive to contribute to national development including industrial research and development. “As an institution that promotes industrial research and development, we will continue to put in more efforts in bridging that gap left by researchers in this institution,” he said. He said that genocide was orchestrated by the elite who even killed their workmates just because they were Tutsi and called on mourners to fight genocide those who negate and deny the Genocide against the Tutsi. “It is again a time to take measures to fight and defeat genocide ideology and genocide denial that is perversive on social media platforms and other communication channels in Rwanda and abroad,” he said. He stressed that available facts on how divisionism started in the country should be preserved to help future generations learn and get lessons to build peaceful and bright future. He commiserated genocide survivors adding that NIRDA in collaboration with other institutions will remain close to families whose relatives are former employees of IRST killed in the Genocide. The surviving families said that researchers should join efforts, educate the youth about genocide history in a bid to ensure genocide never happens again. “My uncle was a researcher and was killed in IRST during the Genocide. I urge researchers to join efforts and fight divisionism and play their role to educate others to ensure never genocide happens again,” Epiphanie Kamukesha a survivor said. She added that as survivors they have a duty to strive for unity and reconciliation and fight against those spreading genocide ideology and divisionism.
