Remembering families wiped out in Genocide

Families that were wiped out during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi were Saturday remembered at an event organised by the Organisation of Former Students Survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi (GAERG) in Ruhango District. Some 819 families that completely perished were identified in Ruhango, Muhanga and Kamonyi districts in Southern Province. The families were composed of 3,691 people. Speaking at the event, Ibuka president Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu called on Genocide perpetrators to reveal where victims’ bodies were dumped so that their remains can be accorded decent burial. Not revealing where other victims were thrown is a kind of Genocide denial, Dusingizemungu said. He cited a case in Huye District where remains of one victim were retrieved near someone’s home while carrying out VUP activities. “Survivors had always pleaded with the neighbour to help them locate the place but the person was reluctant,” Dusingizemungu said. Local Government minister Francis Kaboneka lauded GAERG for compiling the history of families that were completely wiped out. “The gathering and storage of history is sign of defeating denial. Despite their demise, we are at least happy there other survivors’ to tell their history,” the minister said. “We need to act to rebuild the country and defeat denial. That is what will inspire the future generation.” Frere Wellars, a Ruhango survivor, said while some were killed by guns and grenades, others died of hunger. “It was in the morning, my dad was milking the cows when a neighbour informed us of the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana. I was too young to understand the situation. Displaced Tutsi fled to the parish while men resisted the militia using bows, arrows, sticks and stones that children and mothers could gather,” Wellars recalled. “At the parish, there was registration of Tutsi with promise of support but it turned out to be a tactic to know our strength so that they could reinforce the militia to defeat the resisting men.” Wellars recalled that the killings intensified on April 12, 1994. Before the Genocide, a huge, deep ditch was dug by the then mayor of former Ntongwe commune (current Ruhango) Charles Kagabo. Bodies of more than 50,000 Tutsi were dumped in the ditch during the Genocide, Emmanuel Gasangwa, another survivor, narrated. Kagabo is said to have acted with Jacques Nsabimana, who was leader of CDR (coalition for the defence for the republic) which supported Hutu ideology but they are both yet to be brought to book. Nsabimana had set up a ‘judgement desk’ where victims were tortured under his watch before being killed, Gasangwa added. At Kinazi memorial site, where the commemoration took place, more than 60,000 victims are buried there.During the event, remains of 28 other victims were given decent burial. Research GAERG continues to conduct research on families that were wiped out. To-date, there are 6,911 completely perished families composed of 30,567 members from 14 districts of Northern Province, Kigali city and Gatsibo, Karongi and Nyamagabe districts. The target is to reach all the districts, according to the president of GAERG, Charles Habonimana. Habonimana said completely perished families proved that the Genocide was planned and systematically executed to decimate the Tutsi. “We remember completely perished families to ensure that their memories never fade, to ensure that what happened never happens again anywhere in the world. Remembering them is our priority and shows respect to all the families killed in the Genocide. It is a pact we have with them,” he said. “Conducting research on completely perished families is a responsibility GAERG undertook. Problem is that in some places, names of members of completely perished families are being forgotten, but we hope to conclude the research in the 16 remaining districts by next year.” GAERG was founded by graduate Genocide survivors to create a world where the memory of the Genocide is preserved and a self-sustaining Genocide survivors’ community exists. This year is the seventh time completely perished families are remembered. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Remembering families wiped out in Genocide