Seek forgiveness, 1994 Genocide perpetrators told

One of the easiest ways to heal wounds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi is to accept the crimes that were committed and ask for forgiveness, the Director General of the Diaspora Directorate, Parfait Gahamanyi, has said. He made the remarks during a memorial visit by employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Ntarama and Nyamata in Bugesera District. “It is painful that politicians who were expected to protect their people instead caused this country great loss that also included values. But this is the time that those responsible must admit and ask to be forgiven as it contributes to unity,” Gahamanyi said. He also observed that accepting responsibility will lead to reconciliation thereby building a united society that will fight against Genocide ideologies. Gahamanyi added that what happened and its effects should strengthen Rwandans to work together and build a better future for the next generation. Ntarama and Nyamata Genocide memorial sites were churches before the Genocide, but the government decided to turn them into memorial sites due to the number of people who were killed there as they sought refuge to hide from the Interahamwe militia. It is said that at least 5,000 and 2,500 people were killed from Ntarama and Nyamata churches respectively. The representative of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), Anita Uwineza, said that according to the evidence in the two areas, some of the people who had sought safety in the two churches were killed by explosives that the killers threw into the churches. She called on the population to avoid discrimination, reminding them that it was one of the root causes of the genocide.