UN sorry as Rwanda remembers genocide

 

As Rwanda stood silent at noon Saturday to remember the victims of the 1994 genocide, the United Nations once again acknowledged a sense of guilt for not acting to prevent the horrific killings.

 

After laying a wreath at the Kigali Genocide memorial, where mass graves contain remains of an estimated 250,000 people, President Paul Kagame joined thousands of Rwandans at Amahoro National stadium for the solemn commemoration.

 

At exactly noon, all people of Rwanda – across the country and beyond - stood silent, bowed their heads in recollection to pay homage and for the repose of the souls of the mainly Tutsi and moderate Hutus that were massacred in the despicable 100-days of the genocide.

 

April 7, the week preceding and some days after, is a period when life slows down in Rwanda as victims and survivors remembers the sordid events. At the climax of a two-day international conference for the remembrance held at Serena Hotel Kigali, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Francis Deng observed that the fact the UN has said ‘never again’ many times means it had failed to act many times.

 

“And whenever we say, ‘never again’ the level of guilt rises and gives us more resolve to say, ‘never again.’ Rwanda has given has the incentive to say never again. And we believe it will never happen again in Rwanda,” Deng stated.

 

However the UN envoy observed that it was challenging to detect genocide at an early stage because there is always denial by the perpetrators and states hide under the veil of “territorial integrity and internal affairs” while governments orchestrate the killing of its own people.

 

“When it is happening there is always a debate’ ‘is this genocide?’ In the case of Rwanda it was glaring that the debate was not called for,” Deng pointed out.

 

The UN Secretary General Adviser credited Rwanda fir picking the opportunities that come with every crisis and embark on a journey to reconstruct the country and unite its people. “The remarkable progress in Rwanda means that horrific experience provided opportunity to rebuild this nation,” he said.  

 

The conference under the theme: “18 years of the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi; testimonies and reflections attracted Rwandans, politicians, scholars and researchers.