20 rescuers during the Genocide to be honoured

Twenty people who concealed Tutsis during the 1994 Genocide, will today be recognised and awarded for their courage in opposing violence. According to the coordinator of the event, Faustin Bismarck Murangwa, those to be awarded have been code- named silent heroes. “The twenty rescuers to be honoured will be handed with certificates of merit and also start up micro projects for them,” said Murangwa. The ceremony dubbed ‘the rescuers and their action as a model for rebuilding Rwandan society’ will be the second of its kind. Murangwa said that there will be a conference, at which rescuers who hid innocent people during the Genocide, will give their testimonies. The conference is co-organised by Ibuka an umbrella organisation of Genocide survivors, Avega-Agahozo, a Genocide widows association, MEMOS and the Hamburg Institute of Social Research. “The key aim of this international meeting is to sensitize the Rwandan society and most importantly, the youth ,about the history of the rescuers’ personal courage in opposing injustice and violence,” added Murangwa. Speakers from Germany and Rwanda will reflect on how societies can deal with the legacy of a violent past, building on discussions initiated at the first conference held in December 2007. The conference is co-funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Hamburg Institute for Social Research and will be conducted with the support of the German Embassy in Kigali. Ends

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20 rescuers during the Genocide to be honoured