25 Feb 10 – During his visit to Rwanda today, French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. There he laid flowers at the mass graves where over 250,000 victims of the 1994 genocide lie buried, and observed a minute of silence in memory of the million dead, before touring the main exhibition, which portrays the history of the genocide.
Writing in the visitors’ book at the end of his visit, he stated, “Au nom du peuple français je m’incline devant les victimes du génocide des Tutsi. L’humanité conservera a jamais la mémoire de ces innocents et de leur martyre. ” (In English: “In the name of French people I bow before the victims of the genocide of the Tutsis. Humanity will preserve forever the memory of these innocent people and their martyrdom.”)
Contracted by Kigali City Council, the Aegis Trust runs the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre and was responsible for its creation in 2004.
“We warmly welcome Nicolas Sarkozy’s tribute today to the victims of the Tutsi genocide,” says Centre Director Freddy Umutanguha, himself a survivor. “Given France’s role in the events of 1994, his visit and his acknowledgement of this suffering holds particular significance.”
