The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, has acknowledged his organisation’s failure to quell the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that claimed over one million lives.“We failed in Rwanda. The scale of the massacre almost defies comprehension. The world must never be allowed to forget the savage potential that lingers in the human heart,” Ban said in a press briefing shortly after he and the World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, visited the Gisozi Genocide Memorial yesterday.The UN Secretary General and World Bank President are on a two-day official trip to Rwanda. In his remarks, World Bank President Jim said that the Genocide against the Tutsi is “something that cannot be completely understood,” adding that humanity should never let such atrocities happen again.Ban acknowledged that although this is his third visit to Rwanda, and the second as Secretary-General, each time he is “moved to tears.”“Last month I attended a solemn commemoration of the Rwandan genocide in New York and paid tribute to the people who were murdered simply because of their identity,” he said. “This memorial (Gisozi) stands on sacred ground where a quarter of a million people lie buried. This memorial serves both as a warning and as a symbol of hope, and we have seen far too often in our time that we must always be on guard.”The UN chief also commended Rwandans for reconciling and rebuilding their nation after the genocide.“You are writing a different future. I commend the people of Rwanda for your brave recovery. In less than two decades you have reconciled and rebuilt. You stand as an example of humanity’s capacity for human compassion and forgiveness,” he stated.The 1994 Genocide against the Tusti claimed more than one million lives and left the country in total ruins.
