President Paul Kagame has urged Rwandans to strive to live their lives as they wish and standing against anyone who seeks to dictate on how they should live, noting that what happened in the country 31 years ago has strengthened their hearts and prepared them to face any challenge.

He was addressing Rwandans as the country and the rest of the world commenced the commemoration period of the 1994 Genocide against the Tusti, on April 7.

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President Kagame and the First Lady Jeannette Kagame joined Rwandans and other dignitaries at Kigali Genocide Memorial where they laid a wreath in honour of more than 250,000 victims laid to rest.

They also lit the Flame of Remembrance, which will burn for the next 100 days in memory of the over one million people who were killed in the Genocide.

In his address, Kagame shared how someone once asked him how a person can manage to live carrying both the dark past and the cruel present, something to which he understood to be a question about Rwandans.

He responded that "From the beginning, we were never under any illusion that the two –our dark past and our cruel present –are separate. They are siblings. And we have to deal with them as such. We must face the cruel present knowing fully well that it is deeply connected to our dark past.”

He noted that the only choice left for Rwandans was between being crushed between the two and cease to exist or standing up and fight.

With survivors’ hope rooted in the resolve that the Genocide will never happen again, the Head of State reiterated that it won’t reoccur because those who were responsible for that dark past will not try again or are not even trying now again.

"It will not happen again just because there will be people who will stand up and fight. It’s not because there are fewer people who wish for us to perish or who would have wished for this country to disappear. How can people accept that?”

According to him, it is better standing up and fight with a risk of dying than not doing so because there is a chance of surviving and living life as one deems, instead of giving up and letting people treat you as your life was a favour they gave you.

No one owes you life

"Rwandans, don’t owe your life to anybody else. Have the courage to deal with the situation and moment as it is, don’t offend anybody, but always fight for what is yours. Don’t allow anybody to dictate to you how you should live your life because the moment you accept it, that is the day you have lost your life.”

ALSO READ: Bizimana highlights history of violence, discrimination against Tutsi before 1994 Genocide

Kagame also addressed other Africans who live under threats and risks of death on a daily basis, who are dehumanized and they accept it and they beg.

"I can&039;t beg to live. I can't beg anybody. We’ll fight, If I lose, I lose. But there is a chance.

There is a chance, a significant chance, that if you stand up and fight, you will live. And you will have lived a dignified life that you deserve, that anybody else deserves.”

He pointed out that people who warn him because he stands and says things that challenge those who threaten people’s lives, because they have the power to kill him, it means that they are in fact killers.

"If I were to be there to just accept these things to happen, I don't think I would count myself as living anyway. It's like I would already be dead. To live a life of lies, of pretense, and owe my life to somebody else, I would be dead anyway. So, why don't I die fighting?”

"So, you Rwandans, why don't you die fighting? Instead of dying anyway. Just dying like flies. Why?”

He added: "We have to live our lives; we have to live the way we want. And I tell anybody to his face, to go to hell. If anyone comes around and says we are going to sanction you. Go to hell...You have your own issues to deal with. Go and deal with your own issues. Leave me to mine. This is the spirit Rwandans must have in their daily lives.”

Kagame also told foreign partners that Rwanda to not misunderstand or mistreat Rwandans because, "we have had enough”, however, he pointed out that the country is open and willing to partner on basis of mutual respect.

During the commemoration event, Jean Damascene Bizimana, Minister of National Unity and Civic Education, delved down the history of colonization which led to ethnic division among Rwandans, and even after independence, the Belgians continued the divisive rule, condoning the plan

Genocide survivor and CEO Aegis Trust, Freddy Mutanguha, share his testimony on what life was before the Genocide against the Tutsi and how it claimed his parents and relatives, to only survive with his sister.

He narrated how hatred and discrimination was systematically embedded in education system, and even prepared young students with skills of making traditional tools, which were later used as weapons of killing.

After days of hiding in bushes, masquerading as someone else just for survival, and trekking long journeys, like many other survivors, Mutanguha found rescue when he met two soldiers of Inkotanyi who told him "Ntugipfuye (translating into you can no longer be killed)” which was a message of hope he had longed for.

He thanked the government of national unity that took every surviving child as its own and took care of them, providing them with support and education. Mutanguha is now a husband and father of five children.

His work of coordinating activities at Kigali Genocide Memorial ensures that the country’s history is well documented and taught to every young Rwandan and foreigner who visit the memorial.