Rwanda mourns the dead on the 25th anniversary of the genocide that shocked the world
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Rwanda on Sunday begins one hundred days of mourning for over 800,000 people slaughtered in a genocide that shocked the world, a quarter of a century on from the day it began.
Some 10 leaders are expected to pay their respects, mostly from nations across the continent. Former colonial ruler Belgium is sending Prime Minister Charles Michel.
President Paul Kagame will start a week of commemoration activities by lighting a remembrance flame at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 victims are believed to be buried, mainly from the Tutsi people.
They are only some of those killed by the genocidal Hutu forces, members of the old army and militia forces called the “Interahamwe”, that began their bloody campaign of death on April 7, 1994, the day after the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu.
The killings lasted until Kagame, then 36, led the mainly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) into Kigali on July 4, ending the slaughter and taking control of the devastated country.
Kagame, now 61 and who has been in power ever since, will lead the memorial to the dead.
For many survivors, forgiveness remains difficult when the bodies of their loved ones have not been found and many killers are still free.
Via The New York Times
