Issues of the remains of Genocide victims continue to bother survivors, officials of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) said on Wednesday.Appearing before a parliamentary committee on the fight against the Genocide, Jean de Dieu Mucyo, the commission’s Executive Secretary, raised the challenge of chronic budget constraints needed to preserve the remains and handle trauma cases.The committee was analysing the commission’s 2010-2011 report, with a view of helping Parliament to find lasting solutions.Mucyo told the lawmakers that even though some progress was being made, the issue of ensuring that remains of victims get a decent burial was still a problem.Part of the dilemma is that remains are believed to be hidden in places where important economic activities were put before news of their presence came out. The meeting heard that in Rwinkwavu lowlands, in Kayonza District, there are rice plantations as well as very deep water filled mines believed to contain remains of victims. Old tin mines in Rwinkwavu are believed to contain remains. Some buildings in urban areas, especially, Kigali neighbourhoods are also built above remains of Genocide victims. Mucyo also noted that in neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania, even though sites were located and bodies buried, there are concerns over who will actually own and preserve the burial sites.MP Jacqueline Mukakanyamugenge noted that the issue of providing information on where remains are located should not be left to survivors alone. “Every Rwandan should own this. If we really think about it, it is not the survivors who know where remains are. They are not the ones who killed these people!” she said.“In addition to this, they were hiding and the information they have is what they are told by other people. My advice is that new strategies be found by local authorities in concerned areas.”Mukakanyamugenge noted that even in the city, there are buildings in places like Nyakabanda which are thought to have been built on top of Genocide victims’ remains. Mucyo noted that some countries, including South Africa and the UK, have accepted to provide room for memorials on the Genocide against the Tutsi, but this requires huge sums of money. “In South Africa, there is a place they want to set up a memorial for the Jews and they allowed us to put up one, too, but they want money. In the UK, we got a place to put our memorial. They asked us for 400,000 pounds,” he said.“Let us just look at memorial sites alone. They need a lot of money. Just consider three of them in Murambi, Bisesero, and Nyarubuye. Each of these requires about Rwf100 million for rehabilitation. We do not blame the government because even in other sectors, they trim budgets”.There are about 300 Genocide memorial sites in the country.
