1,000 Genocide victims buried in the Western Province

KARONGI - The remains of 956 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi were yesterday accorded a decent burial in various districts of the Western Province.Among other activities to conclude the national Genocide commemoration week, 60 victims were laid to rest in Rutsiro District while in Nyabihu, the number of victims was 40. In Rusizi, four victims were buried while in Nyamasheke District, 190 would be accorded decent burial over the next two weeks. Thousands of emotional mourners braved rainfall across most parts of the region to pay their respects to the innocent victims who perished. According to local authorities in Nyabihu District, the remains of two victims were retrieved under a demolished house, following testimonies from some survivors and intense investigations by security officials. “It was always taken it as a rumour, at the beginning, but after proper and deep investigations, we decided to demolish the house and eventually recovered the bodies,” Nyabihu Mayor, Jean Baptiste Nsengiyumva revealed. Addressing mourners in Karongi District, Mayor Bernard Kayumba called for more support to vulnerable survivors. “Apart from remembering the victims of the Genocide, we should all jointly support the survivors given the unimaginable times they went through,” Kayumba told a crowd of bereaved mourners. He warned them to desist from the deadly Genocide ideology, while promoting unity and reconciliation.After 17 years, it was evidently difficult for some survivors, like Immaculate Murekatete, to forget the horrible times of 1994. “Despite the years that have passed, the memories are still as fresh as if the Genocide just ended yesterday,” a grief-stricken Murekatete observed as she narrated her strange ordeal in which she lost all seven members of her family. Ends

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1,000 Genocide victims buried in the Western Province