The Kigali Genocide Memorial has hosted the City of Kigali for a remembrance event to mark the 23rd Commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. The staff visited the memorial to pay respects to victims of the Genocide, tour the memorial exhibits and remember former colleagues massacred in the Genocide.
Guests included the Mayor of the City of Kigali, Pascal Nyamulinda, Ibuka Vice President, Egide Nkuranga and Jeanne d’Arc Gakuba, Vice President of the Senate.
As part of the commemoration, attendees began by touring the memorial’s exhibition to learn more about the causes and consequences of the Genocide, and how to fight against genocide ideology. At the end of the tour, they gathered together to lay wreaths on the burial place where more than 250,000 victims are laid to rest.
Egide Nkuranga, Ibuka Vice President, thanked staff from the city for taking time to remember:
“I thank everyone who is here, because you prioritized this commemoration event over your daily tasks that you would be working on. In the name of all genocide survivors, I thank RPF Inkotanyi for rescuing us. They stopped the Genocide, and made Rwanda a peaceful country through reconciliation processes. We have to keep remembering in order to fight genocide denial. For those who use social media, use it against genocide denial and ideology,” he said.
Mayor Nyamulinda thanked those who attended and spoke about the work of the city in supporting genocide survivors:
“We know that something is bad after experiencing it. As Rwandans who experienced Genocide, we can’t afford to either let it happen again, or experience bad leadership. In this year, the City of Kigali wants to help survivors by giving houses to five of them. We will continue helping them, and we won’t let genocide happen again.” he said.
Guest of Honour, Senator Jeanne d’Arc Gakuba spoke on the role of remembering in rebuilding our country:
“It is so important that commemoration events be not only for survivors, but for all Rwandans. We have to eradicate genocide ideology from its source. We must report any source of genocide ideology seen anywhere to authorities. We do this while also continuing to comfort the families of the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi,” she said.
