By Gashegu Muramira
The New Times-Kigali
October 22, 2009
Kigali — Remains of victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, have been discovered buried in the Kagera region in Tanzania, an official of the National Commission for the fight against Genocide (CNLG) has said.
Martin Muhoza, the in-charge of conservation and exhibition at the commission, said in an interview yesterday that nine hundred and seventeen bodies of the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi are buried in Ngara District of Tanzania.
"We were actually tipped by someone that there were Genocide remains buried in Tanzania. We made a trip there last month and indeed found that some remains that floated on Kagera River in 1994 were buried there."
During the Genocide, victims were dumped in the Akagera and Nyabarongo rivers - both tributaries of Lake Victoria - and were washed down and landed at different shores of East Africa's biggest lake.
It is reported that Everready Nkya, a Tanzanian national, took up the initiative of burying the bodies in 1994 in Ngara, located three kilometers away from the Rusumo border that divides Rwanda and Tanzania.
The bodies were buried in a mass grave but not accorded a decent burial; an issue the Genocide commission says is being considered by both Rwandan and Tanzanian authorities.
"We would prefer that the site be turned into a modern Genocide memorial to serve as an example."
"We were also told that there could be more sites in Tanzania, but what we have so far done is at the technical level," Jean de Dieu Mucyo, the Commission's Executive Secretary said in an interview.
The discovery in Tanzania follows several others that were made in Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Uganda leads in numbers with over ten thousand bodies buried there in parts of the country's districts of Mpigi, Masaka and Rakai.
Related Materials:
Massacres at the Kagera River in 1994 Rwanda genocide
The Rwandan Genocide: The Bodies That Were Floating In The Kagera River Were Victims Of The RPA
During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Kagame massacred both Hutu and Tutsi
Uganda to rebury Rwanda genocide victims
This relevant information should be dissected under the microscope.
ReplyDelete1. These human remains are from the bodies that were carried by the river Akagera during the genocide. Some of these bodies have been rejected by the river banks while others have arrived in Lake Victoria.
2. According to concordant sources well documented these bodies were those of people massacred when they tried to cross the Kagera river fleeing to Tanzania (Filip reytjens, Andre Guichaoua, etc...)
3. These mass killings took place between April and July 1994 and were committed by soldiers (victims bear traces of bullets and grenades).
5. The United Nations reports indicate that this zone was under the control of the RPA and a statement on this subject was made in June 1994 (RFI, BBC).
In conclusion, these victims of genocide are not those that Kigali would like us to believe! These are Hutus and Tutsis massacred by the RPA.
My suggestion:
On the memorial to be built on site it should be clearly written in capital letters that these are "VICTIMS OF THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE" and in small letters, that these are "RPF victims".
That way these victims should really rest in peace!