US Embassy honours employees killed during the Genocide

KIGALI - The United States Embassy, on Thursday, organised a memorial service in honour of 25 of its former employees killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.Addressing mourners, the embassy’s Charge d’Affaires, Anne Casper, said that it was of great importance to always remember those who perished. 

Saturday, April 16, 2011
Relatives of former US embassy employees during the remembrance (Photo; J. Mbanda).

KIGALI - The United States Embassy, on Thursday, organised a memorial service in honour of 25 of its former employees killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.

Addressing mourners, the embassy’s Charge d’Affaires, Anne Casper, said that it was of great importance to always remember those who perished.

"During this time of remembering our employees and all those who perished during the Genocide, I thank Rwandans for their extraordinary efforts in overcoming the effects of the tragedy” Casper said.

She asked the children and relatives of the former employees to strive and achieve what their parents and relatives lived for.

The Mufti of Rwanda, Sheikh Swaleh Habimana asked Rwandans to fight the Genocide ideology, and to always remember those who died. He encouraged Rwandans to support vulnerable survivors to achieve sustainable development.

The President of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, Bishop John Rucyahana, urged Rwandans to continue speaking the truth about what occurred during the Genocide.

The Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG) Jean de Dieu Mucyo, hailed the US government for helping the Rwandan government arrest Genocide fugitives who have been hiding in the United States of America.

Dieogene Ndazigaruye, who spoke on the behalf of the embassy’s employees, revealed that they had created a Genocide survivors’ fund through which financial support would be channeled to pay school fees for the orphans of the slain US embassy employees.

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