A peace and reconciliation centre will soon be established in Kigali. This was disclosed by Gary Edmonds, president of the Breakthrough Partner, an organisation based in Washington, USA. He was speaking on Friday after paying a courtesy call to the vice-Speaker of Chamber of Deputie, Denis Polisi. “This centre will help to teach the masses about the dangers of genocide and the purpose of reconciliation in peace building,” Edmonds said. He said that they are partnering with Permanent Education for Peace and Reconciliation (EPPR) to establish a reconciliation centre which will house Gacaca-related testimonials, Genocide case files and all Gacaca paperwork and other important information about the 1994 Genocide. EPPR is a private institution which was formed in 2001 to build peace and reconciliation in the country. It is also in partnership with two other peace and reconciliation building organisations in Washington, Breakthrough Partners and Camp Brotherhood. Polisi said that plans to establish reconciliation centre around the time of closure of both Gacaca jurisdictions and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is a timely initiative that would teach the next generation the negative impact of bad leadership. “We expect the centre to keep people well informed about what happened here in the past, where they have reached and the way forward,” Polisi said.Ends
