No forced exhumations of victims - CNLG, Ibuka

KIGALI - The National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), along with the umbrella organisations of Genocide survivors association, Ibuka, have strongly denounced reports that the government forced families of victims the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi to exhume bodies of their loved ones. In reaction to reports mainly in the UK media, both CNLG and Ibuka said that the allegations are fronted by revisionists. In an interview with The New Times, the president of Ibuka, Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu, said that Jonathan Musonera who spoke to the BBC Gahuzamiryango programme, misrepresented the facts. “He is trading in falsehoods. Before any remains are exhumed or moved, we consult and give the family time to think about it before we reach an understanding. There is no one that has come out to say that they were forced to relocate the bodies,” said Dusingizemungu He added that the move was agreed upon after realising that some of the victims had never been accorded a decent burial while others were scattered across the country, hence the need to bring them together. Dusingizemungu noted that no remains have been exhumed or moved without the consent of the families or the surviving relatives of the victims. He further explained that apart from conserving the remains for historical purposes, preserving the remains in memorial centres is vital for keeping the proof of the Genocide intact. “It should be known that when people are killed in a Genocide, they cease to be looked at as individuals, but rather members of the whole community that was targeted. It goes beyond families and becomes a national issue,” “The main objective behind this is to preserve the history of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Most families understood why we are doing this,” Dusingizemungu said.The Executive Secretary of CNLG, Jean de Dieu Mucyo, said that indeed there was mutual consent between Ibuka and the victim’s families before CNLG comes in to facilitate the exhumation and transfer of remains. “There is no force whatsoever. There is mutual understanding between the family and Ibuka before this is done. This is the only way we can accord value and respect to the victims of the Genocide,” “Some bodies cannot be traced to date, so we say; those we know where their remains are, can be given a decent burial. Musonera is aware that the remains of his family had been abandoned in uninhabited jungle and the best option was to move them to Nyanza,” he said. Ends