The commemoration event took place on Friday at NIRDA’s Research Centre in Huye District to honour former staff of former Institut de Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (IRST) whose lives were gruesomely taken in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
The commemoration event was preceded by a night vigil on Thursday night in Huye District where the NIRDA research centre is based.
It was marked by a walk to remember from NIRDA premises to the University of Rwanda’s memorial site where more than 400 genocide victims are laid to rest.
At the memorial site, mourners observed a minute of silence before they laid wreaths on the graves to where genocide victims including former IRST Staff are laid to rest.
Speaking during the event, NIRDA Director-General, Dr. Christian Sekomo Birame condoled with Genocide survivors whose family members lost lives in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi that claimed over 1 million lives of innocent people killed over innate personality.
He called on all mourners to soldier on and always fight against Genocide ideology and denial that still linger in among both those who are in Rwanda and those who live abroad with all means.
Dr. Sekomo also hailed men and women from the RPA Inkotanyi who sacrificed their lives to stop Genocide against the Tutsi and the current government that gives all Rwandans equal rights and chance to live a better life unlike the previous regime that harbored hatred, planned and executed the genocide.
Sharing testimonies, Assoumpta Urujeni, one of former IRST staff members who survived the Genocide narrated the horrible events that marked the killings during the genocide.
She said that the Tutsi were targeted and killed by people they lived with and worked together while leaders who were supposed to protect them watched on.
“Until today, I failed to understand how elite people from research and academic institutions could let people be killed in day light and did nothing to protect them but some of them were also involved in killings,” she said.
She called on the government and international community to work together to arrest and bring to justice genocide fugitives who still enjoy save haven in host countries
Claire Mukeshimana, the Director General in charge of Corporate Affairs at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM) said that there is hope for life despite experienced bitter history noting that the government is committed to supporting Genocide survivors along the resilience journey.
“We will keep advocating for more research to ensure that Genocide history is documented and that the world is informed about what befell our country in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi,” she noted.
“Let is soldier on and ensure that we keep honoring those whose lives were taken and ensure that we are not held victims of bad history, let us all commit that Genocide won’t happen again in Rwanda and elsewhere,” Mukeshimana added.
During the commemoration event, NIRDA staff raised funds to support 150 vulnerable residents in Huye District to get community health insurance.
The National Industrial Research and Development Agency is a government institution mandated to enable a generation of industrial innovators to become competitive through technology monitoring, acquisition, development and transfer and applied research.
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