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Twenty-five years after the start of its genocide, in which some 800,000 people were killed, Rwanda is rebuilding with hope and shines with a new light, said President Paul Kagame.
Speaking at commemoration services yesterday, Kagame said that Rwandans would never turn against each other again.
“Our bodies and minds bear amputations and scars, but none of us is alone,” said Kagame at the ceremony attended by several heads of state. “We Rwandans have granted ourselves a new beginning. We exist in a state of permanent commemoration, every day, in all that we do … Today, light radiates from this place.”
Earlier in the day, Kagame and his wife laid wreaths and lit a flame at the mass burial ground of 250,000 victims at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in the capital, Kigali. Those attending the ceremonies included the leaders of Chad, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Niger, Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, as well as the African Union and the European Union. “I am moved beyond words at this memorial to tragedy,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission. “Time can never erase the darkest hours in our history. It is our duty to remember.” Songs, poems and plays about the rebirth of Rwanda after the genocide the new nation were later performed at the Kigali convention center. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said “the duty of remembrance must be a sacred requirement.” Belgian peacekeepers were among those killed in Rwanda during the genocide.
Ethiopian Prime Minister expressed solidarity with Rwandans and said under Kagame’s leadership, seeds of unity and never again had been sowed.
