14 Apr 07 – Today survivors buried 1,454 victims of the Rwandan genocide in mass graves at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. The burials followed Rwanda’s official week of mourning marking the 13th anniversary of the 1994 genocide.
Thousands of mourners marched in quiet procession from St. Famille Church and other areas of central Kigali to pay their respects and remember the loved ones lost in the genocide.
Survivors exhumed victims from graves around Kigali after perpetrators testified in Gacaca courts to having murdered them and told where they were buried. 7 people from Gasabo District, 291 people from Nyarugenge District and 1,156 people from Kicukiro District were exhumed and reburied. The remains of 258,154 people are now buried at the Centre which is managed by the Aegis Trust.
The reburials were supported by officials from local and national government, including Rwanda’s Minister of Commerce, Industry Investment and Tourism, Protais Mitali.
