Rwanda on Thursday commemorates the 28th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in which over a million people were beaten, hacked, and shot dead in a hundred days of slaughter.
As has become the tradition every April 7, the day the genocide began, President Paul Kagame is expected to lead the nation in mourning the genocide victims and light a remembrance flame in a national commemoration event at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 victims rest.
The national mourning will last for a week until April 13 while commemoration activities will go on until July 3, ahead of the celebrations for Liberation Day on July 4. The national event can also be followed on digital platforms.
Twenty-eight years on, the anniversary comes as Rwanda recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic shocks that have restricted public gatherings and events.
Events such as the “Walk to Remember” and the mourning vigil were cancelled to limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The events used to attract thousands of people from Rwanda and across the world.
This year’s commemoration message will focus on fighting against the genocide ideology and educating the country on what led to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
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