Remains of 315 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi have been interred at the Gekenke Genocide Memorial in Buranga, Gakenke district. In a ceremony held on Sunday, April 10, during genocide commemoration, the genocide victims whose remains were found in different parts of Gakenke district were accorded a decent burial. At the Gakenke Genocide Memorial, survivors and families of the victims also mourned the untimely death of Tutsi who were killed in the district. 301 of the bodies were relocated from a memorial site in Rushashi sector, which has old premises. Other bodies included 10 people who were killed in Gakenke and buried in Musanze; and four bodies were found in Janja, Muhondo and Minazi sectors. Speaking at the ceremony, Gaspard Twagirayezu, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, said that beside honouring genocide victims, Rwandans have to fight genocide ideology in order to protect the countrys achievements in national unity. Although the journey of rebuilding the country after the Genocide against the Tutsi was hard, Rwanda has been able to restore the hope of life, returned children to schools and reconstructed infrastructure, Twagirayezu said. As Rwandans, we have to fight the genocide ideology and the people who promote it through all the ways they use. The youth have the responsibility to study the history of our country, and most important, they have to learn how heroic Rwandans stopped the Genocide. The Gakenke Genocide Memorial site was opened in 2014. A total of 1571 victims had been interred there until Sunday when the additional 315 victims who were killed in different parts of the district were buried. As she comforted survivors, Dancille Nyirarugero, the Governor of the Northern Province, also called upon residents to provide information about the whereabouts of genocide victims who are yet to be found and buried. We ask the people in the Northern Province who know where the bodies of the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi are located to disclose the information so that we can bury them decently, Nyirarugero said. Genocide survivors in Gakenke said the burial of the victims in the district memorial enabled them to honour their relatives. This years dates reflect the same dates and days in April 1994, when we were running for our lives, Immaculee Uwimana, a resident of Rushashi Sector, said. Most of our people were killed on Sunday, April 10 in 1994. Today is Sunday, the same date, when we have decently buried them in the district memorial. We have been able to lay wreaths in honour of the victims; we also held a night vigil -- things we could not do in 1994. Other speakers commended the sacrifice undertaken by the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) to stop the Genocide and liberate the country. We are grateful for the heroism and bravery of the RPF Inkotanyi who stopped the Genocide. We also appreciate the governments continued efforts to restore the national unity and support genocide survivors, Jean-Marie Vianney Nizeyimana, the Mayor of Gakenke District, said. The Kwibuka week will end on April 13. However, commemoration activities of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, in which more than one million people were killed, will continue for 100 days until July 3, the eve of Liberation Day. We are thankful for the government of national unity for building memorial sites for our people who were killed during the Genocide against the Tutsi and dumped in bushes and pit latrines. Memorial sites enable us to give a well-deserved decent burial to our people, Saadi Dunia, the president of the survivors organization Ibuka in Gakenke District, said. Dunia asked the district authorities to consider an extension of the Gekenke Genocide Memorial. We need room for a gallery, among other things, which will enable us to better tell the history of the Genocide against the Tutsi in this district. More importantly, we still find bodies of Genocide victims in different places and that means well need more space for the victims.
