It is said that the words written on the wreath read ‘We will always Forget you.”
The wreath was laid at the memorial yesterday as residents in Ntarama sector commemorated for the 25th time the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, an event that was preceded by a walk to remember.
Following commemoration activities, a genocide survivor who stayed around inspecting the place where relatives are buried saw the wreath, got traumatized and started ripping the wreath. Residents rushed to the scene, assembled parts of the wreath where they found genocide ideology words.
The Executive Secretary of Ntarama sector, Marthe Uwamugira has told IGIHE that security officials were alerted and are hunting for the suspect.
“We are still searching from those who took pictures and sharing information that might lead to the arrest of the culprit. We have also alerted security officials,” she said.
Uwamugira warned residents against genocide ideology and urged them to be watchful reporting whoever is identified with such destructive ideas.
It is said the man committed the murder and suicide after attempting to kill his wife who fled the home.
The incident took place around 9 pm yesterday after heated arguments with her 26-year old wife, Tuyizere.
IGIHE has learned that after escaping the husband, Tuyizere alerted neighbors who returned to the house with her and found the man hang and the baby dead.
Police spokesperson in Kigali city, CIP Marie Goretti Umutesi, has told IGIHE that the man was known as a drug addict.
“They had no family conflicts known but the man was a famous cannabis smoker. We always advise spouses to report conflicts to family friends or seek assistance from officials to mend relations,” she explained.
The incident took place yesterday as the six mine workers were on mining activities in Mageragere sector.
The mine belonging to ETMIN Ltd was licensed six months ago.
John Kanyangira, the director of mining inspection unit at Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RBM) has told IGIHE that the investigation is underway to establish the cause of the accident.
“The mine collapsed as six mine people entered it to do their work. Four died while two of them sustained minor injuries. Following the accident, we are seeking support from Rwanda.
Investigation Bureau to identify the cause. The owner of the mining company is subject to be brought to justice if there is evidence that he neglected workers’ protection,” he said.
The majority of genocide ideology cases during the commemoration week held from 7-13 April 2019 were related to hurting words compared to previous years characterized by killing livestock of genocide survivors and destroying while their houses.
RIB received 72 allegations of genocide ideology cases during the commemoration week preceding 100 days of mourning. So far 69 suspects have been arrested.
The Southern Province accounts for 25 of the allegations, Eastern has 25, Western has 3, Northern Province has 7 while 10 allegations are from Kigali city.
The spokesperson of RIB, Modeste Mbabazi has told IGIHE that prevalence genocide ideology has reduced compared to previous years.
“It is evidenced in the increased participation in commemoration talks. Even those who were reluctant came in large numbers and gave testimonies and revealed where remains of victims are located,” he said.
Mbabazi explained that there were reduced numbers of trauma cases during the commemoration period.
“Before genocide ideology was propagated by intellectuals but current suspects are not people with advanced education. They do it in bars or for other reasons. Today it is mainly manifested through spoken word. Before, they would beat genocide survivors, throw stones at them, destroy their houses or chop their livestock among others,” he said. 72 genocide ideology allegations were filed during the commemoration week in 2018 down from 114 of 2017.
The commutation request was part of the message Catholic Church bishops in Rwanda delivered to Christians for the 25th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi on 7th April 2019 as commemoration activities began. The message was read in all churches across the country.
Following criticism of the request, the Catholic Church released the apology statement on 13th April 2019 as the commemoration week closed.
“There are clauses from the letter that hurt people especially the ones concerning the request for commuting sentences of old and sick genocide convicts,” reads part of the statement signed by the President of Episcopal Conference in Rwanda, Bishop Philippe Rukamba.
“We regret that the message hurt people especially considering the period during which it was communicated. This was not our intention. We apologize for having communicated the message during the commemoration period,” adds the statement.
Speaking to IGIHE, the president of IBUKA, Prof Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu has said that the apology of the Catholic Church is wanting because it sought apology for communicating the message in commemoration period only. He explained that the church should be aware that these convicts were not remorseful they were given enough time to do so.
“Why does the Catholic Church want the convicts to be pardoned yet they are reluctant to repent. Our concern is beyond what the church is apologizing for. The Catholic Church may seek apology over communicating the message during the commemoration period with the intention of doing it again after this period. We blame two things. The time during which the apology is sought and asking for a reduced sentence of these convicts” added Prof Dusingizemungu.
He explained that “The statement of the Catholic Church is wanting. We think there are people who don’t feel the severity of genocide crime. Those people in advanced ages are the ones who developed genocide ideology. Why don’t they want them punished? Their sickness might persist after release because they are old. Do they want someone handed a life sentence to be commuted? It is like abolishing the punishment, or they might not be aware of the severity of genocide crime.”
As he attended the commemoration of politicians killed during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi on 13th April 2019 at Rebero, the Executive Secretary the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) Dr. Jean Damascène Bizimana criticized the request of Catholic Church.
“When there are people requesting to release these older inmates yet they are the ones who poisoned Rwanda, it is suffocating the truth,” he said.
The Transform Africa Summit is the Smart Africa flagship event. Following four successful editions, the fifth Summit will take place at Kigali Convention Center, Rwanda from 14 to 17 May 2019.
Under the theme “Boosting Africa’s Digital Economy”, the Summit is expected to attract over 4,000 participants, including Heads of State and Government, First Ladies, UN Broadband Commissioners, Ministers, Regulators, Mayors and Governors, Public and Private Sector, International Organizations, Industry Leaders, Investors, Entrepreneurs, Young Innovators, Civil Society and Academia.
In addition to the Smart Africa Leaders Summit, the Smart Africa Women’s Summit and interactive plenaries, the summit will feature subject specific streams tackling current ICT topics. Delegates will be able to attend insightful and engaging streams including Hubs as well as several customized sessions by our partners.
As he unveiled Transform Africa Summit 2019 activities in October 9, 2018, the Executive Director of Smart Africa Alliance that partners with Rwanda to organize the Summit said the fifth edition of the Summit will focus on Africa’s digital-driven economy.
Dr. Hamadun Toure said digital innovations by Africans are a pillar of Africa’s digital-driven economy and will be showcased and sponsored so that they play a role in creating new jobs for the youth.
The presence of Sophia in Kigali will be an opportunity to interact with the humanoid robot for participants of the summit and learn from advanced technologies in artificial intelligence.
Different reports indicate that Sophia is a social humanoid robot developed by Hong Kong-based company ‘Hanson Robotics’. Sophia was activated on February 14, 2016, and made its first public appearance in mid-March 2016 in Austin, Texas, United States. It is able to display more than 50 facial expressions.
Sophia has been covered by media around the globe including CNBC, Forbes, Mashable, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian among others and has participated in many high-profile interviews.
In October 2017, Sophia became the first robot to receive citizenship of any country.
The robot was granted Saudi Arabian citizenship, becoming the first robot ever to have a nationality. This attracted controversy as some commentators wondered if this implied that Sophia could vote or marry, or whether a deliberate system shutdown could be considered murder.
Social media users used Sophia’s citizenship to criticize Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. In December 2017, Sophia’s creator David Hanson said in an interview that Sophia would use her citizenship to advocate for women’s rights in her new country of citizenship; Newsweek criticized that “What [Hanson] means, exactly, is unclear”.
On November 27, 2018, Sophia was given a visa by Azerbaijan while attending Global Influencer Day Congress held in Baku. December 15, 2018, Sophia was appointed a Belt and Road Innovative Technology Ambassador by China’
Experts who reviewed the robot’s open-source code stated that Sophia is best categorized as a chatbot with a face. Many experts in the Artificial Intelligence field disapprove of Sophia’s overstated presentation. However; Ben Goertzel, the chief scientist for the company that made Sophia, acknowledged that it is “not ideal” that some think of Sophia as having human-equivalent intelligence, that Sophia’s presentation conveys something unique to audiences.
In November 2017, Sophia was named the United Nations Development Programme’s first-ever Innovation Champion and is the first non-human to be given any United Nations title. As part of its role, Sophia will help to unlock innovation to work toward achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. On stage, it was assigned its first task by UNDP Asia Pacific Chief of Policy and Program, Jaco Cilliers.
In January 2018, Facebook’s director of artificial intelligence, Yann LeCun, tweeted that Sophia was “complete bullshit” and slammed the media for giving coverage to “Potemkin AI”. In response, Goertzel stated that he had never pretended Sophia was close to human-level intelligence.
Sophia is known for human-like appearance and behavior compared to previous robotic variants.
According to the manufacturer, David Hanson, Sophia uses artificial intelligence, visual data processing, and facial recognition. Sophia also imitates human gestures and facial expressions and is able to answer certain questions and to make simple conversations on predefined topics. It uses voice recognition (speech-to-text) technology from Alphabet Inc. (parent company of Google) and is designed to get smarter over time.
Sophia’s intelligence software is designed by Hanson Robotics. The Artificial Intelligence program analyses conversations and extracts data that allows it to improve responses in the future.
Hanson designed Sophia to be a suitable companion for the elderly at nursing homes or to help crowds at large events or parks hoping that the robot can ultimately interact with other humans sufficiently to gain social skills.
Sophia has nine robot humanoid “siblings” who were also created by Hanson Robotics. Fellow Hanson robots are Alice, Albert Einstein Hubo, BINA48, Han, Jules, Professor Einstein, Philip K. Dick Android, Zeno, and Joey Chaos.
The spokesperson of Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), Modeste Mbabazi has confirmed to IGIHE that “The arrested man was caught on the road shouting that Hutus will never live in harmony with Tutsis.”
“He was arrested when he met an old man identified as Kagubari Canisius, 65, whom he once threatened to kill in addition to Tutsis relatives killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi,” he explained.
Mbabazi said that the arrested man was once arrested in 2016 for similar words full of genocide ideology. He is detained at RIB Station in Rwezamenyo as investigations get underway.
RIB recently announced to have received 47 cases of genocide ideology in the first four days of commemoration week.
The pledge was revealed on Thursday last week during the commemoration of victims of 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi killed in the former commune of Kirambi where 17 remains were accorded decent burial at Kiziguro memorial.
The president of IBUKA in Gatsibo district, Jean Nepomuscène Sibomana said that having RPF Inkotanyi chaired by President Kagame was God’s plan to rescue Rwandans.
“We thank God for giving us a good leader who trained us to forgive that Rwandans have now united against divisionism,” he said.
Sibomana requested officials present during the event to convey their gratitude to President Kagame on their behalf.
“Please, convey our gratitude to president Kagame for rescuing us. Tell him that genocide survivors in Gatsibo will give him a cow as recognition for his efforts in liberating us. We would have been wiped out hadn’t he led soldiers to liberate us,” he pledged to request survivors in the area to make sure the promise is fulfilled.
He revealed this during the commemoration of 64 employees of the United Nations killed during the genocide.
The ceremony took place at the headquarters of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Kigali. It was attended by bereaved families, government officials, UN representative in Rwanda and different diplomats.
Minister Busingye said that Rwanda has walked a long journey and urged everyone to be watchful to avoid whoever is having intentions of sowing divisionism.
“People thought UN headquarters were immune places for refuge. There are people who thought that nothing would happen to them because they worked for UN which we all believed,” he said.
“We know that there are employees of UN who collaborated with Interahamwe hunting fellow workers at their homes to kill them or hand them to killers. We don’t oversee the justice of places where they fled but we shall do everything possible so that they are one day brought to justice,” added Busingye.
UN was accused of failure to stop genocide despite early warnings it had received.
On 11th April 1994, UN withdrew its troops on the peacekeeping mission in Rwanda abandoning Tutsi who had fled to ETO Kicukiro.
The Coordinator of One UN in Rwanda, Fodé Ndiaye has told IGIHE that UN is ready to provide justice wherever there is evidence pinning genocide suspects.
He also expressed solidarity with relatives of genocide victims.
“As we commemorate the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, my gratitude goes to bereaved families of genocide victims. We associate with you. We are here to commemorate fallen victims and reflect on the journey genocide survivors have walked,” noted Ndiaye.
During the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, some bodies of genocide victims were thrown in River Sebeya and Lake Kivu and floated to DRC where RPF Inkotanyi members living in Goma at the time retrieved 100 bodies in Kituku by Lake Kivu shore.
Talking to IGIHE; the president of IBUKA in Rubavu district, Innocent Kabanda has requested to bring back these bodies to be buried decently or build a memorial in Goma town.
“There are bodies washed away by water to DRC. We request both states to negotiate how the remains can be brought back to Rwanda for decent burial or build a memorial in Goma,” he explained.
