Rwandans and friends of Rwanda living in Guinea Bissau on April 29, held an event to remember the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

According to a press release, the event was attended by 30 people including Jean-Pierre Karabaranga, Rwanda’s Ambassador to Senegal with accreditation to Guinea Bissau, Mali, Cabo Verde and The Gambia.

The commemoration was marked with lighting the flame of hope, a minute of silence to pay tribute to over a million victims of the Genocide as well as testimonies and messages by some of the participants in the event.

Mubiligi Ndorimana, one of the members of the Rwandan Community in Guinea-Bissau, gave a testimony in which he talked about the divisive past which culminated into the genocide against Tutsi that was committed when he was 12. 

As one of the people who were not among those whom perpetrators were stalking to exterminate during the Genocide, he said that he realised that Tutsi were killed because of the way they were created [by God].

In his opinion, the heinous ideology was indoctrinated into Rwandans, including children in primary schools.

He commended the RPF-Inkotanyi’s army for stopping the Genocide, and encouraged Rwandans to further unity and reconciliation, as well as strive for the development of their country. 

The President of the Rwandan Community in Guinea Bissau, Moise Sande, called on all people to shun Genocide deniers and those who trivialise it, as well as those who spread genocide ideology, wherever they are.

Ambassador Karabaranga thanked the Rwandan Community in Guinea Bissau for the organisation of the 27th commemoration of the Genocide.

He talked about the divisive history which characterised Rwanda from 1959 to 1994, and explained how Tutsi were brutally killed during the Genocide.

Though foreign nations abandoned Rwanda during the Genocide, RPF-Inkotanyi army – led by the current President Paul Kagame – made a heroic endeavour to stop the Genocide. 

He urged Rwandans and friends of Rwanda to fight, through all possible means, speech and acts related to Genocide denial and minimisation, as well as Genocide ideology.

For genocide never to reoccur, he encouraged Rwandans, especially the youth to continue upholding the unity of Rwandans and striving for the country's better future.