Editor,

Reference is made to the editorial, "For the RDF, the liberation was the beginning of a long journey” (The New Times, July 3).

The glum and tired faces of RPF-Inkotanyi soldiers who rescued me and my family still loom over my mind in a vivid and stark way. It sometimes seems like it happened yesterday.

I won’t forget the morning I saw the conquering troops, one by one, coming out of a fog with Kalashnikovs pointed straight ahead of them.

The way they walked convinced me with no doubts that they were Inkotanyi. Some of them were carrying the wounded civilians, with women holding babies in one hand and a gun in the other. I still remember that scene when one older soldier took my hand and asked me if I might, by any chance, know the hideouts of the other innocent people.

The soldiers took us to a safe place and then to Byumba during the night. I was a teenager and with that innocent soul. I would be in oblivion if Inkotanyi didn’t unleash that earthquake-like battle that pushed génocidaires to flee for their lives that very dawn.

For the bravery and absolute patriotism of the Commander-In-Chief (President Kagame), the sacrifice of men and women in uniform, I am still alive. Thank you RDF!

Joseph Rugambage