Kagame Shares Personal Story As Rwanda Marks 30-year Genocide Anniversary

As Rwanda marks 30 years of commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, survivors are reminded of the bloody and painful struggle they faced during 100 days that saw many lose most of their loved ones.

On April, 07 of every year, Rwanda pays tribute to more than one million lives lost during the Genocide with a Flame of Remembrance that burns for 100 days at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

In his speech during the 30th commemoration ceremony at BK Arena, President Paul Kagame shared his personal story, usually kept to himself,
of how his cousin sister, Florence, who was left to die at the hands of genocidal militia.

She died while the peacekeeping soldiers were ordered to protect diplomats and foreign civilians.

President Kagame narrated that in 1994, Florence worked for the United Nations Development Program in Rwanda for more than fifteen years, and the Genocide found her trapped in her house near the Camp Kigali army barracks, with her niece, other children and neighbours.

“The telephone in Florence’s house still worked, and I called her several times using my satellite phone. Each time we spoke, she was more desperate. But our forces could not reach the area.”

At that time, General Romeo Dallaire, who was the commander of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Rwanda, visited Kagame in Mulindi, and he asked him to rescue Florence, to which Dallaire said he would try.

“The last time I talked to her, I asked her if anyone had come. She said no, and started crying. Then she said, ‘Paul, you should stop trying to save us. We don’t want to live anymore anyway.’ And she hung up,” he recalls.

While he had a very strong heart, Kagame felt it weakened a bit because he understood what she meant.

“On the morning of May 16th, following a month of torture, they were all killed, except for one niece, who managed to escape, thanks to a good neighbour.It later emerged that a Rwandan working at the UNDP betrayed his Tutsi colleagues to the killers” he said

According to Kagame, witnesses remember the traitor celebrating Florence’s murder the night after the attack, and he continued his career with the United Nations for many years, even after evidence implicating him emerged

“He is still a free man, now living in France.”he added

When Kagame asked Dallaire what had happened, he said that his soldiers encountered a militia roadblock near the house, and they turned back. Meanwhile, Dallaire conveyed an order from the United States Ambassador to protect diplomats and foreign civilians evacuating by road to Burundi from attack by the militias.

“These two things happened at the same time. I did not need to be instructed to do something that goes without saying. That’s what I was going to do,” Kagame said.

Further stating that: “I do not blame General Dallaire. He is a good man who did the best that could be done in the worst conditions imaginable, and who has consistently borne witness to the truth, despite the personal cost.”

However, in the contrast between the two cases, Kagame “took note of the value that is attached to different shades of life.”

The Head of State also shared another story of latter days of the Genocide where he received a surprise visit past midnight from General Dallaire, again.

He brought a written message, of which Kagame still has a copy, from the French General commanding the force that France had just deployed in the western part of the country, Operation Turquoise.
“The message said that we would pay a heavy price if our forces dared to try to capture the town of Butare, in the southern part of our country,” he said, adding that Dallaire also warned him that the French had attack helicopters and every kind of heavy weapon to use in case the Rwandan liberators did not comply.I asked Dallaire whether French soldiers bleed the same way ours do; whether we have blood in our bodies. Then I thanked him, and told him he should just go and get some rest and sleep, after informing the French that our response would follow.”

Indeed, the response followed, Kagame immediately radioed the commander of the forces they had in that area, Gen (rtd) Fred Ibingira, and told him to get ready to move.

“We took Butare at dawn. Within weeks, the entire country had been secured, and we began rebuilding. We did not have the kind of arms that were being used to threaten us, but I reminded some people that this is our land, this is our country. Those who bleed will bleed on it,” he noted.

President Kagame emphasized that each challenge or indignity just made Rwandans stronger.
“Our people will never and I mean never be left for dead again.”

At Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre on President Kagame led dignitaries – including former US President Bill Clinton and South Africa’s current leader Cyril Ramaphosa, in laying wreathes on mass graves.

Remains of at least 250,000 victims are interred at the memorial centre.

Among the international powers Rwanda has always faulted is France, whose government Rwanda says trained the militia that carried out the slaughter.

President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged could have stopped the genocide but lacked the will to do so.
Mr Macron reiterated the admission of failure in a video message recorded for the memorial at which President Kagame also lit the remembrance flame that will be kept running for the next 100 days.

France, under then-president François Mitterrand, was a close ally of the Hutu-led government of Habyarimana prior to the killings.
Mr Macron, who was represented in Kigali his foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné, said three years ago that France bears “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” for ignoring warning signs and reports on the genocide.

President Kagame thanked African countries, including Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania for their assistance in accepting Tutsi refugees and ending the genocide.

The Rwanda High Commission in Kampala is set to to hold a series of events in Uganda from Sunday, April 7, to May 4 to commemorate 30 years of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Yesterday’s events marked the beginning of a week-long mourning period in Rwanda and among Rwandan communities abroad.

The mourning period and the entire commemoration is observed under Kwibuka, a Kinyarwanda word for remembrance.

Kwibuka is run under the theme of remember, unite and renew and during the seven-day mourning period, all entertainment – including sports, music, films are suspended in the country and national flags are flown at half-mast.