From May 7 to 8, 1994, vulnerable children who were orphans for various reasons experienced a horrific nightmare. Despite already being disadvantaged, these children were targeted and killed for the sole reason of being Tutsi during the Genocide against the Tutsi. During the night of May 7 to 8, a tragic event unfolded at the SOS children village in Gikongoro center, resulting in the targeted selection and brutal killing of Tutsi children. This horrifying act was carried out under the orders of the then-leader of the center, Venuste Nyombayire. ALSO READ: 29 years later, Rwanda remembers He brought Interahamwe from Gatyazo commercial center and granted them the green light to mercilessly slaughter Tutsi children with the help of Venantie Kabarere, who was their teacher at the time and is now a convicted perpetrator of the genocide. On May 6, Nyombayire selected children and gathered them together in a single classroom. Disturbingly, it seemed as though Nyombayire had prior knowledge of the horrifying events that were about to unfold the following day. That night, a tragic incident occurred, claiming the lives of approximately 15 to 20 Tutsi children. Nyombayire instructed Ruzindana, a member of the Interahamwe, to commit unspeakable acts against a 12-year-old girl. According to witnesses, Nyombayire urged Ruzindana to subject the girl to rape throughout the entire night and kill her the following day. On that same night, they killed the gatekeeper and the gardener. They proceeded to murder the gatekeeper's wife and their four children. ALSO READ: Kwibuka 29: There is no hiding place from facts of our history – Kagame Initially, Nyombayire joined SOS Gikongoro as the Deputy Director of the institution. His mission was to take over the leadership of the director, Marc Yirirwahandi, who was against the idea of genocide. Upon his arrival, he began making the director's life difficult. The situation escalated to the point where, on March 8, he was targeted in a grenade attack. Following the attack, Yirirwahandi fled back to his hometown in Butare. Before joining Gikongoro SOS center, he was employed as a staff member at the Ministry of Local Government. He underwent a relocation and a change in responsibilities, facilitated by the former Minister of Local Government, along with assistance from Marcel Munyangabe, who was the head of SOS operations throughout the country at the time. Munyangabe held a prominent position within the leadership of Interahamwe in Kacyiru. Nyombayire was relocated as a means of covering him following the allegations surrounding his involvement during the trial of the Genocide in March 1992 in Bugesera. At that time, he was employed as a staff member in the local government ministry. After arriving in Gikongoro in 1992, Nyombayire joined a group of 18 officials to plan and prepare for the implementation of the genocide in the region. ALSO READ: French court hands Bucyibaruta 20-year sentence over Genocide The group in question was composed of genocide masterminds including Laurent Bucyibaruta, the former prefect of Gikongoro, who was recently convicted by a French Court for his role in the genocide. Other members of the group included Froduald Havugimana and Colonel Simba Aloys. In 2009, Nyombayire was convicted and sentenced in absentia to a special life sentence by the Gacaca court in the Gasaka sector.
