President Paul Kagame has said “Rwanda will not die twice,” like it happened during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, underscoring the country’s resilience and commitment to protecting its future. He was speaking at Kigali Genocide Memorial on Monday, April 7 as Rwanda and the international community marked the 32nd commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi (Kwibuka32). ALSO READ: 32 years later, Rwanda remembers At memorial, which is the final resting place for over 250,000 Genocide victims, Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame lit the Flame of Remembrance, which continues for 100 days of Kwibuka. The flames symbolises hope for the country that lost more than a million lives over 100 days of the Genocide. Kagame, the First Lady and other officials and representatives of Genocide survivors laid wreaths in honour of Genocide victims. “Those who try to deny or distort [ the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi] have a difficult task if they seek to change people’s history,” Kagame said in his remarks. He noted that efforts to rewrite Rwanda’s history are more prevalent abroad, where some people, for various reasons, attempt to misrepresent the events leading up to and during the genocide. “People cannot simply rewrite such history,” he said, adding that times have changed and Rwanda is no longer vulnerable in the way it once was. ALSO READ: Genocide: Some of the places that faced most vicious massacres Kagame stressed that the country has learned from its past and will not allow a recurrence of the atrocities witnessed in 1994. “No one will ever die like that again. You cannot kill someone twice. If you try, they will stop you before you do,” he said. “As we stand here, some people watching us, those who mock from outside, should understand that Rwanda will not die twice.” “Rwanda will not die twice. Whether it is the older generation or our children, no one will kill us twice. It is impossible; it will not happen,” he added. He added that Rwandans will continue to live with dignity and self-determination. “We will live as people are meant to live. We do not ask anyone for permission to exist.” During the commemoration event, a Genocide survivor called Theoneste Ngiruwonsanga shared his experience in 1994. Ngiruwonsanga, born in what is now Nyamasheke District, said Tutsi families lived in constant fear even before the Genocide. ALSO READ: Survivor-authors documenting truth for future generations He described fleeing with his family after the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana, losing relatives along the way, and narrowly surviving attacks by the Interahamwe militia. “I was 14 years old... boys were taken to a pit and killed,” he recalled. He survived multiple attacks. He survived because, in a church he and others had sought refuge, bodies of victims piled on him and the killers could not find him. Ngiruwonsanga also recounted prolonged violence in his area due to the so-called Zone Turquoise, and abuses committed during that period. He said the arrival of RPF-Inkotanyi brought hope and safety. “We have rebuilt our lives... I went to university, and all four of my children are in school. Let us continue building our country,” he said.
