US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, April 3 announced a delegation of US government officials who will attend the 30th Commemoration (Kwibuka30) of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda on Sunday, April 7. The presidential delegation will be led by former President Bill Clinton, the White House said in a statement. Clinton will be accompanied by US Ambassador to Rwanda Eric Kneedler, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs Mary Catherine Phee, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Legislative Affairs Casey Redmon, and Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development Monde Muyangwa. ALSO READ: Kwibuka: Eight things to know ahead of commemoration week The Mourning Week and the period of 100 days of Kwibuka will begin on April 7, the date on which massacres of Tutsi began in 1994, in which more than one million lives were lost. Several global leaders including heads of state are also expected to attend. The Genocide against the Tutsi was stopped in July 1994 by the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA). ALSO READ: Kwibuka30: Africans should learn lessons from atrocities, says AU This year’s commemoration will be held under the theme Remember, Unite, Renew, and will also focus on the achievements registered along Rwanda’s 30-year journey of national unity, economic growth and development. A Walk to remember will also take place on April 7. ALSO READ: Rwanda turns 30: Why it matters for all of us ALSO READ: UNESCO boss to meet Murambi Genocide survivors In 2018, the United Nations designated April 7 as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Commemoration events are held annually at the UN headquarters in New York. In September 2023, four memorials of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, a decision lauded as historic in the fight against genocide denial and revisionism. ALSO READ: With Kwibuka30 approaching, how is it possible that no lessons have been learnt? However, the 30th commemoration will take place at a time genocide denial remains persistent. And there is growing hate speech in the region, especially in eastern DR Congo where Tutsi communities are persecuted and killed, with the involvement of the FDLR, a Congo-based militia linked to the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The violence against the Congolese Tutsi communities has raised concerns within the region and the international community. In 2022, the United Nations Office for the Prevention of Genocide said the violence in eastern DR Congo should serve as a “warning sign” in a region with genocide history.
