Mugina genocide victims remembered

KAMONYI – The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Sports, Jean Pierre Karabaranga, has affirmed that participation of residents in genocide commemoration must be taken as a concern of all Rwandans. Karabaranga said that “genocide commemoration is no longer a concern of survivors only but it is being taken seriously by all Rwandans”. Karabaranga was on April 26 addressing a multitude of residents who paid tribute to over 30,900 genocide victims buried at Mugina genocide memorial site. 15 remains of genocide victims were also accorded a decent reburial. Genocide survivors reaffirmed their commitment to live with hope and the called for greater community support. Charles Kabano, one of the survivors, whose mother was killed in 1994, said: “we should not get stuck in sorrow, but work hard and thank God who used the Rwanda Patriotic Front to save lives of many”. Kabano said that many victims were killed by grenades and most victims used stones to fight back but were over powered and buried alive using a caterpillar at the Mugina Catholic Church premises. Survivors also lashed out at the Catholic Church clergy for conniving with the Interahamwe thereby exposing residents to killers around Church premises in Mugina and Kabgayi. Kabano narrated that most of the victims had escaped killings in Kigali and had taken refuge at the mugina parish thinking that they would be safe. “It was safe, for a short while, because the then Mayor (Callixte Ndagijyimana) was against the genocide killings. It was only after he was murdered in Ntongwe sector that residents of Cyeru invaded Mugina and brutally murdered their fellow residents at the church premises”. Philbert Rutagengwa, an official of the National Genocide Commission encouraged the survivors to live with hope for the purposes of having a brighter future. The representative of survivors (Ibuka), Claudien Uwanyirigira, also called for reinstating child survivors back to school and urged the community to give more information about the killings ahead of closure of Gacaca courts. Ends