Rwanda finds genocide grave that could contain 30,000 bodies

A valley dam that authorities in Rwanda say could contain about 30,000 bodies has been discovered more than a quarter-century after the country’s genocide in which 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed.

The discovery is being called the most significant in years, and 50 bodies have been exhumed so far in efforts that are challenged by the East African nation’s coronavirus-related lockdown.

Rwanda on Tuesday marks the 26th anniversary of the genocide, but because of the lockdown the country will follow events on television and social media as gatherings are banned.

Every now and then, as graves of genocide victims are discovered, some survivors question whether true reconciliation can be realized if perpetrators of the killings conceal information about where people were buried.

Exhuming bodies during the coronavirus pandemic is very challenging since people cannot gather, Ahishakiye said. “But we try our best so that we give the dead a decent burial.”

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