Rwanda will on Wednesday began the commemoration of the 27th anniversary of a genocide that saw more than one million Tutsis killed, an official source confirmed Tuesday to APA in Kigali.
According to Jean-Damascene Bizimana, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the fight against the Genocide, different from last year’s commemoration that happened when the country was in a total lockdown, there are a few changes this year in regards to programming and guidelines to follow, thanks to a decrease in Covid-19 infections.
Commemoration is set to begin at the memorial site at Gisozi, a hill overlooking Kigali city, where Rwanda President Paul Kagame and first lady Jeanette will lay wreaths at the burial site, which holds the remains of more than a quarter of a million people.
It is expected that few officials will also convene at the same Genocide Memorial to light the flame of hope that will kick-start the remembrance activities.
On the same day, a national event is scheduled at Kigali Arena and will bring together different officials and representative of different groups of people such as diplomats, genocide survivors, women, youth, clerics, the private sector and others.
At the event, President Paul Kagame is expected to deliver a keynote address and this, like all scheduled activities will be aired on national television and live-streamed on other social media platforms.
No community gatherings will be allowed during this year’s commemoration.
Before the outbreak of Covid-19, during the commemoration week, people would gather at village level and participate in discussions around the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi with intent to prevent a repeat of the atrocity.
It is estimated that one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus lost their lives in the massacre that began following the death of former President Juvenal Habyarimana, and his Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira, when their plane was shot down over Kigali on Apr. 6, 1994.
CU/abj/APA