In Nyamagabe, former Gikongoro Commune, over 50,000 Tutsi from different regions were brutally killed.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of National Commission for the Fight Against the Genocide (CNLG), Dr. Jean Damascene Bizimana explained that the killing of Tusti in Gikongoro had been planned before, the attacks of 1963 which were referred as Inyenzi attacks.
By explaining the plan, Bizimana referred to the letter by former Prefect Andre Nkeramugaba. The letter dated December 17th 1963 was urging the bourgoumestre in Gikongoro to kill the Tutsi.
He said that they will preserve Murambi Genocide memorial forever.
The mass killing in Gikongoro took place on April 21st in 1994.
“To pay respect to the Tutsi killed here at Murambi, we will preserve this memorial site forever. Let us remember them and others who were massacred on this day in neighboring areas like Karama where over 30,000 Tutsi were slain,” he said.
In her testimony, Claudette Uwimana, a Genocide Survivor who was in S4 when the Genocide against the Tutsi begun, recalled the persecutions she endured before the 1994.
“We were always asked to stand up in classes on ethnic lines; and tortured by our Hutu colleagues,” she said.
Speaking at the event, the Speaker of Parliament, Donatilla Mukabalisa said that they should not always remember bad history only but also remember the history of people who contributed in saving Tutsi who were being killed during the genocide.
“This country was led by bad leaders who had no humanity at heart but characterized by cultivating hatred among people and calling them to kill their Tutsi neighbors,” she said.
Murambi Genocide memorial was formerly a Technical School where French Soldiers disguising under Operation Turquoise were based and contributed in the execution of the genocide.
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