"We are all Rwandans, what do you want from us?” These were the words of Nyange students when they were asked by Abacengezi assailants to separate along ethnic lines on March 18, 1997.

Aloys Kayiranga was 19 when the attacker stormed Ecole Secondaire de Nyange in Ngororero District. He still hears the defiant voice of his classmates echo through the shattered classroom that still stands today.

Nearly three decades later, the 49-year-old father of three, said the defiant words were not out of ignorance. It was said with full awareness of who they were, and what they were refusing to accept.

Seven students were killed in the attack, that happened as the country was still reeling from the impact of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

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"We knew each other,” Kayiranga, said on March 18, as the school observed the 29 anniversary of the attack.

"We had just come out of the Gonocide, and we knew its history. We were 17 or 18, meaning the Genocide happened when we were 14, 15, 16. At that age, even if you are young, you understand what is happening.”

"Many of us had lived through the Genocide, some directly. That memory... it was the first thing that came to mind,” he says. "It made us refuse the orders of the attackers.”

"They said, ‘We want the Hutu on one side and Tutsi on the other side,’” he recalls. "But what came out was, ‘We are all Rwandans.’”

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Kayiranga emphasised the legacy of the defiance.

"Those who died became a strong light for us,” he says. "Instead of dividing us, it gave us compassion and determination to stay united.”

He is one of 47 students later recognized under the Imena category of national heroes.

Perched on an exposed hill in Ngobagoba Village, Gaseke Cell, Nyange Sector, the school stands almost alone, visible from all surounding hills.

In the years following the Genocide against the Tutsi, in northwestern Rwanda at the time, armed groups made up of remnants of the defeated genocidal forces operated as Abacengezi, infiltrators who moved among civilians before launching attacks. Nyange was one of the places they struck.

How it all happened

Kayiranga tells the rest without rushing, almost exactly as it happened.

"It was on the evening of March 18, during dinner, from 6:30 to 7:30,” he says. "They first came to the refectory. They were many, and we could see them through the windows.”

"We thought maybe they were government forces, because they too used to pass by during patrols. Even when we saw guns, it felt normal.”

"But that night, they didn’t pass. They stayed and watched us.”

After dinner, students went back to their classrooms.

"They stopped us, greeted us, asked why we carried extra food. We told them it was for sick students. They even asked if the food was delicious. We just passed and went to class.”

A few minutes into revision, the situation changed.

"They came towards our classes in big numbers, with different weapons.”

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There was a soldier from a nearby camp of government forces (Inkotanyi) who had come to charge their equipment on the power generator at the school. "He saw them and came closer, asking them loudly, ‘Who are you?’” Kayiranga recalls.

"They did not reply.”

"He asked again, ‘Are you students or not?’ Still no answer.”

"And then they said, ‘You’re about to know who we are.’”

The soldier opened fire.

"He shot one of them,” Kayiranga says, adding that the situation raised the alarm.”

He noted that they tried to surround the soldier, but he escaped running between the classroom blocks.

"They had come to select students quietly, the Tutsis and kill them without being known,” he explains. "But because of that soldier, their plan was interrupted.”

The attackers reacted immediately. "They became angry and rushed,” Kayiranga said.

Before reaching the classroom, they killed the gatekeeper with a sword.

"Then one of them threw a grenade into our classroom,” Kayiranga says. "We had already laid on the floor because of the gunshots. The grenade exploded upwards and broke the ceiling.”

Moments later, they forced their way in.

"One entered with a blood-covered sword, cleaned it using a notebook, and said, ‘Studying, what are you studying?’”

"Then they said, ‘Stand up. We want Hutu on one side and Tutsi on the other side. Hurry up.’”

"Chantal Mujawamahoro stood up immediately,” he says. "She was seated by my side. She said, ‘We are all Rwandans, what do you want from us?’”

"They shot her.”

The attackers repeated the demand.

"They said, ‘All we want is the Tutsis, point to them and our work will be easy.’”

Another student stood. "Sylvestre Bizimana stood up right away and said, ‘No, it’s impossible, we can’t accept that, we are all Rwandans.’”

"They shot him in the kidney. He later died as we tried to take him to hospital.”

"Mujawamahoro was a beloved girl, peaceful, prayerful, generous, intelligent. When she was shot, it didn’t divide us,” he says. "And Sylvestre Bizimana, we called him ‘Philosophe.’ He was brilliant and kind. They made us feel that anyone could be targeted, and it strengthened our bond.”

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The violence escalated.

"Then their leader said, ‘Time is running out... proceed quickly’. He went out and blew a whistle and said, ‘Time is running out. If they refuse, shoot them.’”

Instead of selective killings, the attackers turned indiscriminately on the students.

"That’s when they began shooting randomly,” he says. "They shot at Beatrice Mukambaraga through the window,” he continues.

In the chaos, Kayiranga made a split-second decision. "I told others, ‘But look, they are going to shoot us all, let’s go!’” he recalls.

He jumped through a window with two classmates.

"They tried to shoot me with many bullets, but they hit the two who escaped with me, Nepo Museni Birori and Joseph Nyagasaza,” he says. "They were shot, but I managed to slip away.”

What followed, he recalls, was not silence but a deliberate attempt to hold off any response.

"As they went out, we could hear two heavier guns shooting from a distance,” he says. "I believe it was to delay the help, so that government forces could not reach us quickly.”

From there, the attackers moved to the next target.

"They entered class Senior Five,” he continues, "and there also they asked students to divide themselves, Hutu on one side and Tutsi on the other.”

But the response remained the same. "They resisted as well,” he says. "They refused,” and violence repeated itself.

"They shot different students, and some died there,” Kayiranga recounts. "Then Valence Ndizeye pushed the one of the attackers who was at the door, and that allowed some students to escape.”

Ndizeye was killed that night.

"He was shot on the spot,” Kayiranga says, adding that inside the classroom, grenades followed.

"They threw grenades inside and many were injured.”

The intervention

"In a few minutes, the government forces were already on the ground,” he says. "They started chasing the assailants, while others were trying to save students who were still alive.”

"The bravery of the Inkotanyi did not stop at ending the Genocide, it continued afterwards and was evident even here,” he says.

"If it hadn’t been for that soldier, their plan would have succeeded.”

"We later learned that they had prepared lists with student&039;s names. They wanted to kill them quietly and leave,” he adds. "But the soldier stopped them.”

"It was because of him that they rushed,” Kayiranga explains.

Why they chose to stand together

"We had a slogan even before the attack: Faire le bien, éviter le mal, loosely translated as "Do what is good, avoid the evil.” That united us. We lived it in plays, scouts, Red Cross activities. It gave us togetherness and love.”

"This courage was not something we were born with. It was something we were trained in,” he says.

"We had students from different backgrounds, survivors, children of Genocide convicts, returnees, but the leadership emphasised unity.”

Nearly three decades later, his reflection turns outward.

"These stories are not finished, Genocide ideology still exists,” he says.

He points to the wider region, particularly eastern DR Congo, where elements linked to the perpetrators of the Genocide against the Tutsi and the FDLR militia continue to operate, promoting the same ideology and targeting Tutsi communities, often with backing from actors aligned with Kinshasa.

"In Rwanda it is not very strong, but in neighbouring countries and among some poeple abroad, the ideology remains powerful,” he says.

For him, that is why Nyange still matters.

"Today’s youth have a great responsibility, to truly understand what unity means,” he says. "Because without unity there can be no development, there cannot be Rwanda that we live in today.”