There is so much going on in the world at the moment, and with the world’s leaders gathered within a space of a few hundred square meters, there is bound to be drama. It is a place to wash the world’s dirty linen in public, to posture and to receive bad news, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson soon found out. His gamble to deal with Brexit his own way blew in his face when the Supreme Court ruled that his decision to suspend parliament was illegal, and his political fortunes could soon be on the way to the burial ground. Speaking of graveyards, the ghosts of former Spanish leader, Francisco Franco – who died in 1975 – will not rest soon after a court ruled that his remains should be relocated from a national mausoleum to a less controversial location because of his chequered human rights past. Here at home, another mass grave was discovered in a popular Kigali neighbourhood that contained the remains of over 100 people. Again, this is something many people have failed to reconcile with; that for over 25 years, no one came forward with information about the existence of the grave. It was not that it was dug in an isolated place, it was in the compound of one of the victim’s residence, in the midst of many other houses. But people were still hesitant to come forward. No foreign leader in New York is aware or is even bothered that people here are still wrestling with their past, seeking a lasting piece of closure. But one can be sure they have an opinion on Franco’s exhumation – in favour or against. But there is a clear difference between the two cases; while Franco is being stripped of his honours, we are exhuming our people to give them a final honourable resting place that their killers did not wish for them. That is what gives Genocide survivors the strength to trudge on, and that closure will only come when the last bone has received its honours.
