Eastern Province marks Genocide anniversary

The Eastern Province over the week-end paid tribute to former staff who perished during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. A delegation of the provincial staff, district mayors and legislators laid wreathes on Kigabiro mass grave in Ngoma District,where over 785 victims were buried.Addressing hundreds of mourners, Odette Uwamariya, the Governor of the Province, called on residents to help identify names of all the victims who were killed during the Genocide, adding that widows and orphans would continue to receive provincial support.“It’s the second time we are commemorating the fallen staff. Only 37 victims were identified, but I am sure the number of the victims is quite bigger than what we have,” she said.The Governor emphasised that it was the obligation of workers and the whole society to empower Genocide survivors.“The survivors need our support …they were handicapped in all spheres of life; physically, psychologically, economically, they have little to offer. The Province is mobilising resources to slowly assist them”.Jean Damascene Rwasamirira of Ibuka, one of the few survivors of the heinous acts of Interahamwe in the former Kibungo prefecture, reminded mourners that remembering was essential for a post-genocide society.“We were tortured by colleagues, constantly harassed before full scale massacres begun. It is thus important that our children understand well, what caused the Genocide before they can say ‘Never Again’. Remembering victims is all about that,’ he said.Most of those buried at Kigabiro cemetery in Rwamagana town, were killed in and around the existing churches.Baptist Mbayiha, a survivor who hid in the church told The New Times that the killings robbed the country of skilled man power.“The despotic regime was terrible…Province workers were killed along side other highly skilled government workers. The Genocide crippled the nation in many ways,” he reflected.

National

Eastern Province marks Genocide anniversary