Rwanda ‘a family again’ 25 years after genocide —Kagame
KIGALI: President Paul Kagame said Sunday that Rwandans had become a family again, 25 years after more than 800,000 people were slaughtered in a genocide that shocked the world.
Kagame lit a remembrance flame at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 mainly Tutsi victims are believed to be buried, as the country began its annual 100 days of mourning that coincides with the length of the slaughter.
“In 1994, there was no hope, only darkness,” said Kagame, at the Kigali Convention Centre, a domeshaped auditorium in the centre of the capital, a modern building emblematic of the regeneration of Rwanda.
“Today, light radiates from this place ... How did it happen? Rwanda became a family once again,” he added.
“The arms of our people, intertwined, constitute the pillars of our nation. We hold each other up.
“Our bodies and minds bear amputations and scars, but none of us is alone. Together, we have woven the tattered threads of our unity into a new tapestry.”
The genocidal Hutu forces, members of the old army and militia forces called the “Interahamwe”, began their campaign of killing on April 7, 1994, the day after the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu. Some were shot, but most were beaten or hacked to death with machetes.
“Our people have carried an immense weight with little or no complaint. This has made us better and more united than ever before,” Kagame said.
“The fighting spirit is alive in us. What happened here will never happen again.” The killings lasted until Kagame, then 36, led the mainly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) into Kigali on July 4, ending the slaughter and taking control of the devastated country.
Kagame, now 61, and in power ever since, is leading the memorial to the dead.
After his speech, Kagame led hundreds of people on a walk to the country’s main football ground. The Amahoro National Stadium – whose name means “peace” in Rwanda’s Kinyarwanda language – was used by the UN during the genocide to protect thousands of Tutsis from being massacred on the streets outside.
Dignitaries lit a candle which they used to light candles held by the youth, a symbolic passing of the baton to the younger generation, before the stadium turned into a sea of flickering lights. Two thirds of Rwanda’s population was born after the genocide.
“Our children enjoy the innocence of peace. They know trauma and violence only from stories. Our aspirations rest in this new generation,” Kagame said. — AFP