Members of the public have been cautioned against concealing information related to the whereabouts of remains of victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Officials sounded the warning over the weekend during a sombre event to offer decent burial to 2,500 Genocide victims in Rukumberi, Ngoma District.

Most of the remains were exhumed from fields on the banks of Lake Mugesera, an exercise prompted by a group of herder boys who landed on human remains as they dug up sweet potatoes on a farm last year.

The exhumation effort on the lakeshore started in August 2020 but some locals frustrated the exercise because they did not want their farms to be tampered with, officials and representatives of Genocide survivors said.

Callixte Kabandana, the head of Ibuka, a Genocide survivors umbrella, in Rukumberi, said that, in bid to cover up the atrocities in the area, commune (district) officials of the genocidal regime ordered villagers to scatter remains of victims across fields around the lake at the height of the Genocide.

Some of the locals were aware of the presence of remains of Genocide victims beneath their crops but remained coy, while others resisted efforts to retrieve them altogether, mourners heard.

Remains ‘desecrated’ in fields

Kabandana cited a case of a bell pepper farmer who tried to foil exhumation of remains from his field saying he had a loan to service.

"Here in Rukumberi, we still have a long journey to go,” he said.

He said those who had volunteered information about the remains of the victims have been threatened or even killed, citing a case of a convicted perpetrator who was found dead a day after someone told him he would not live to make further revelations. He added that the person who killed him is serving time in prison.

Some residents, he said, feigned ignorance claiming they mistook the remains for dead animals.

"How can one see human remains in clothing and still think that it’s a dead animal? We have been agonising about this for a whole year,” Kabandana said.

He added, "Remains of the victims were desecrated and used as fertiliser….Some were destroyed with hoes or burned.”

The victims were accorded a decent burial at Rukumberi memorial which was already home to some 40,000 Genocide victims.

15 face full wrath of the law

Speaking at the event, Johnston Busingye, the Minister for Justice and Attorney General, underlined the role of unity and reconciliation in Rwanda’s reconstruction and development.

"Unity is the choice this country has made, it is the pillar of everything we do as a country and people without which you cannot talk of a sustainable future,” he noted.  

Busingye warned members of the public against concealing information or evidence related to the whereabouts of the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi, saying 15 people from Rukumberi were in custody over the same crime.

Hailing those who have come forth with information that has led to recovery of remains of victims, the minister said sharing such information was a responsibility of all.

It’s criminal to withhold such crucial information, he warned.

Busingye reiterated the government’s commitment to "protect those who willingly provide information on where the victims were dumped.”

Over a million people lost their lives during the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Remains of up to 2,500 Genocide victims, recovered from fields on the banks of Lake Mugesera over the last one year, were accorded a decent burial at Rukumberi memorial.

Military and police officers joined residents as well as government and Ibuka representatives to honour the victims.

Busingye pays tribute to the victims interred at Rukumberi Genocide memorial over the weekend.

Jean-Damascene Bizimana, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against the Genocide, lays a wreath during the event.

Emmanuel Gasana, Governor, Eastern Province, lays a wreath.

Minister Busingye speaks at the event in Rukumberi, Ngoma.