Survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwinkwavu Sector, Kayonza District, shared their testimonies during a commemoration event held on Tuesday, April 7. They described how the killings were carefully coordinated, systematic, and carried out with clearly identified targets. According to the survivors, organised militias moved from house to house across the sector in April 1994, hunting down families, looting homes, and leaving a trail of bodies behind them. The attackers who entered Rwinkwavu on the morning of April 9, 1994 came organised, directed, and with names already prepared. Survivors say the killers spent that first day not only looting property but also mobilising Hutu residents, identifying Tutsi neighbours, and preparing for larger attacks in the days that followed. “The perpetrators knew who lived where. They knew who had fled and where they had gone. They came in groups, and they killed by name,” Egide Ndahiriwe, a survivor shared. He added that the killings in Rwinkwavu were so systematic that by the time the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) fighters arrived in the area, they found few bodies in open areas because others had been removed, and some dumped into mining pits dug during the Belgian colonial era. On April 12, 1994, local leaders ordered that all Tutsi hiding in the hills and forests of Rwinkwavu should be hunted down and exterminated. The killings continued until the end of April. During the commemoration on April, 7, participants paid tribute to victims killed in the mining pits of Rwinkwavu, where recovery efforts failed because the bodies could not be reached. Authorities have since placed a marker there to recognise the site as one of the places where many Tutsi were torture and killed. Fred Hategekimana said the district plans to build a memorial in Rwinkwavu. He also addressed the search for bodies that are still missing and assured survivors that local authorities are continuing to work with Ibuka to locate and bury them with dignity. Hategekimana urged residents to take ownership of remembrance activities and support genocide survivors. We want to assure survivors that the government is by their side and they should stay strong,” he noted. Rwinkwavu Genocide Memorial holds the remains of nearly 4,000 victims, but two deep mine shafts still contain bodies that have not been recovered.
