Rwanda has paid solemn tribute to victims of the genocide, 30 years after ethnic Hutu extremists killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said the international community had “failed” his country by not intervening to prevent the massacre.
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The carnage was unleashed on 7 April 1994 and, in keeping with tradition, the ceremonies began on Sunday with Kagame placing wreathes on mass graves and lighting a remembrance flame at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 victims are believed to be buried.
During a solemn ceremony to commemorate the 100-day massacre, Kagame said: “Rwanda was completely humbled by the magnitude of our loss. And the lessons we learned are engraved in blood.
“It was the international community which failed all of us, whether from contempt or cowardice,” he said, addressing an audience that included several African heads of state and former US president Bill Clinton, who had called the genocide the biggest failure of his administration.
Rwandans will later hold a candlelight vigil at the 10-seat arena for those killed in the slaughter.
The international community’s failure to intervene has been a cause of lasting shame.
French President Emmanuel Macron, in a prerecorded video ahead of Sunday’s ceremonies, said that France had to “look the past in the face”.
He reiterated comments made in Kigali in 2021 where he acknowledged the “overwhelming responsibility” of France – Rwanda’s closest European ally in 1994 – for its refusal to heed warnings of looming massacres.
A statement by the Elysée presidential office on Thursday had announced that Macron would say France and its Western and African allies “could have stopped” the bloodshed but “lacked the will” to do so.
Macron made no mention of that in the video broadcast.
Week of national mourning
Sunday’s events mark the start of a week of national mourning, with Rwanda effectively coming to a standstill and national flags flown at half-mast.
Music will not be allowed in public places or on the radio, while sports events and movies are banned from TV broadcasts, unless connected to what has been dubbed “Kwibuka (Remembrance) 30”.
The United Nations and the African Union will also hold remembrance ceremonies.
The assassination of Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana on the night of 6 April, when his plane was shot down over Kigali, triggered the rampage by Hutu extremists and the “Interahamwe” militia.
According to Rwanda, hundreds of genocide suspects remain at large, including in neighbouring nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
Only 28 have been extradited to Rwanda from around the world.
France, one of the top destinations for Rwandans fleeing justice at home, has tried and convicted half a dozen people over their involvement in the killings.
The French government had been a long-standing backer of Habyarimana’s regime, leading to decades of tensions between the two countries.
(with AFP)
