Four Rwandan genocide memorial sites inscribed in UNESCO’s heritage list

APA –  Kigali (Rwanda) –  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has added four Genocide memorial sites from Rwanda on the World Heritage List.

The decision was announced during the 45th UNESCO summit in Ryad-Saoudi Arabia earlier this week, according to a statement obtained by APA in Kigali.

Kigali Genocide memorial site, Bisesero Genocide memorial site, Murambi Genocide Memorial site and Nyamata Genocide memorial site are the latest addition on this list.

They are memorials where scores of victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi lay to rest and all of them have distinctive characteristics that show the cruelty with which the Tutsi were slaughtered mercilessly, without sparing any one.

Kigali Genocide memorial in the heart of the capital city where more than 250,000 victims are laid to rest shows the animosity of the killers, including Interahamwe militia and extremist Hutu.

On top of this, the memorial, specifically located in Gisozi has explored all options of the Genocide history conservation, to an extent that whoever visits the site gets it all about the tragedy which cost life to over one million Tutsi within three consecutive months-April-early July.

The Bisesero Genocide Memorial located in Western Rwanda Western Rwanda, is home to stunning scenery and a stirring genocide memorial.

During the early days of the genocide, more than 50,000 Tutsis fled here in the hope of evading the Interahamwe. For more than a month, these brave individuals were able to fend off their aggressors with little more than basic farming implements. On 13 May, a reinforced regiment of soldiers and militia descended on Bisesero, slaughtering more than half of the refugees. By the time the French arrived on the scene in June, there were fewer than 1300 Tutsis remaining.

Murambi from Nyamagabe, Southern Province where a technical school was under construction was a central place where the killers gathered all the Tutsi from across the province in a plan to kill them all.

Murambi was under Zone Turquoise which was created by French peacekeepers. The latter watched the Tutsi die in Murambi and did nothing to stop the killings even at the neighboring Cyanika parish where a few survivors attempted to escape.

CU/abj/APA