Zimbabwe’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Amon Murwira, has hailed Rwanda for its ability to regenerate itself from calamity to prosperity following the devastating 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in which more than a million people were brutally murdered.

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Speaking at the Kwibuka 31 commemorations held in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Monday, April 7, Murwira expressed admiration of Rwanda’s recovery from devastation and hopelessness to becoming a model country.

"Our presence today at this commemoration is a demonstration of our solidarity with you and your country. Dear Ambassador (James Musoni), and also an expression of our admiration towards your country’s ability to regenerate itself from calamity to prosperity. Rwanda’s national healing and reconciliation is a well-documented success story,” he said.

"The traditional community based Gacaca courts and reconciliation villages are a powerful example of how a country can come together to overcome dark pasts.”

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Murwira said commemorations to mark the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda are significant in helping the world never to forget what happened in Rwanda when over one million people were brutally murdered. Murwira said the commemorations, each year, are also a reminder of the collective failure of the international community to protect those who were killed.

"Today we salute the courage and resilience of survivors who had the bravery and acceptance to forgive and live side by side with the perpetrators amidst the dark history of the country,” Murwira said.

"Commemoration of this event each year helps the world never to forget what happened in Rwanda. It reminds us of the collective failure of the international community to protect those who were killed, so that history does not repeat itself.”

The Kwibuka 31 commemoration was attended by the Rwandan community in Zimbabwe, government officials, the business community, diplomats accredited to Harare and friends of Rwanda.

Muriwira emphasised that Zimbabwe will always stand in solidarity with Rwanda in remembering the atrocities that claimed the lives of over one million innocent children, women and men who were brutally murdered.

Murwira said a solid foundation has been laid for future generations to build upon.

"Thirty-one years on, the milestones that Rwanda has made are evident,” he said. "There is no doubt that future generations will build upon this foundation that has been clearly laid out for them.”

Rwanda’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James Musoni, thanked the government of Zimbabwe for joining Rwanda and the international community in honouring victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi and comforting survivors.

Musoni paid tribute to Rwanda’s heroes who stopped the genocide. The mass slaughter was stopped by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by President Paul Kagame.

"As we commemorate the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, we remember, the dark times of our history, commemorate and honor the lives of ours that perished, show solidarity with survivors and unite to ensure that such tragedy never happens again in Rwanda or elsewhere,” said Musoni, adding that after defeating the regressive genocidal regime, the RPF set up a new governance system that promoted unity among the people and set the stage for socio-economic progress.

When Rwanda gained its independence in 1962, he recalled, the regimes that took power up to 1994 perpetuated the segregation legacy of the colonial masters which included propagating sectarianism. Musoni said Rwanda was still battling effects of genocide ideology, traceable in the Great Lakes region, especially in eastern DR Congo where remnants of the perpetrators of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda are perpetuating the genocide ideology.

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He was referring to FDLR, a DR Congo-backed terrorist group formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Integrated into the Congolese army coalition which is battling the AFC/M23 rebel movement, the genocidal militia joined forces with Kinshasa’s allies, with a plan to attack Rwanda. The genocidal militia’s genocidal ideology is the biggest threat to Rwanda, and the region.

Musoni bemoaned that these genocidal forces were targeting the Congolese Tutsi community while the international community looked aside.

However, Musoni commended the East African Community (EAC)-Southern African Development Community (SADC) peace initiative, which promotes dialogue to address the root causes of the conflicts in eastern DR Congo.

"We urge the international community to fully back this process and refrain from actions that do not address real issues,” said Musoni.