Move to preserve Genocide remains

NYAMAGABE–In a bid to better safeguard the remains of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide is stepping up efforts to acquire modern technologies to preserve the remains.Eighteen years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, victims’ remains have been on display at the Murambi memorial site. However, their preservation has been subject of much debate and concerns.The remains displayed and preserved in lime in the over 20 rooms at the site are a unique case of preservation as they attest to the cruelty the victims were subjected. Murambi is one of the five Genocide memorial centres identified by the National Commission against Genocide as national memorial sites.According to officials, the remains have been deteriorating as time passes due to lack of appropriate technology and means to preserve all the remains.According to Martin Muhoza, in charge of conservation of Genocide remains at CNLG, experts from Britain are assisting to find how the remains could be preserved better through a partnership, between CNLG and the UK-based Cranfield University. The experts will install state-of-the-art technology to properly conserve the remains of the Genocide victims and the history of the Genocide in general.The technology includes a mobile laboratory, power retrieve machines, X-Ray machines and scanners. The mobile laboratory is a sophisticated one where bodies of the victims will be preserved before being placed in air-tight casings that can last over 150 years.The power retrieve and the X-Ray machines analyse and identify the methods used to kill victims and the weapons used, the damage caused and whether the victim died in a desperate attempt to repulse the murderers.“With the technology, we will not only be able to conserve the Genocide remains for a long period of time but will also get information on how they were killed, which instruments were used and the position of the victim at the time of their murder, among others,” Muhoza said. The machines will also help in identifying the age and sex of the victims and existing physical trauma on the bodies, he added.However, as the technology is expensive, only 20 human remains will initially be preserved before the exercise is extended to other remains in the future.“The remains which we shall find as having completely deteriorated will be buried,” Muhoza said.According to Muhoza, the set of equipment is currently being shipped and once it is in the country, the exercise, which is expected to last six months, will begin. Over 50,000 Tutsi are believed to have been killed from what was meant to be a technical school in Murambi.Most of the remains retrieved from mass graves have been buried at the site but others are displayed in memory of Genocide victim.In over 24 classrooms, remains of over 8,000 men, women and children are stacked on wooden frames in various positions that bespeak of agony, anguish and desperate pleas.Preserving remains will help safeguarding proof of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi for future generations, according to officials.