As the Kigali Genocide Memorial hosts the launch of Kwibuka 28 – the 28th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi – the Aegis Trust urges people worldwide to remember with Rwanda.
In a ceremony commemorating the start of the genocide, the President and First Lady of Rwanda lit the flame of remembrance at the Kigali Genocide Memorial which will burn for the next 100 days, marking the 100 days during 1994 in which a million people were murdered.
“As we remember the Genocide against the Tutsi for the 28th time, myself and colleagues at the Kigali Genocide Memorial would like to comfort those who went through these difficult times, survivors and Rwandans in general,” says Aegis Executive Director Freddy Mutanguha, himself a survivor of the genocide. “This memorial … is an important lesson to Rwandans and foreigners who come to visit, for them to prevent and fight genocide anywhere in the World. For many survivors who have their loved ones buried here, they consider this place their home because they find them here. It is also my home, and we all love it here.”
Some 250,000 victims of the genocide have their final resting-place at the Memorial. Run by the Aegis Trust on behalf of MINUBUMWE – Rwanda’s Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement – it is a place of remembrance, learning and hope for Rwandans and the international community alike.
