During a ceremony held in the capital Kigali on April 7, Rwandan President Paul Kagame paid his respects by laying wreaths on mass graves and lighting a memorial flame at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 victims are believed to be buried.
President Paul Kagame lights a memorial flame during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Photo: AFP
Alongside thousands of people, the ceremony was attended by African heads of state and former US President Bill Clinton, who called the genocide the greatest failure of his administration.
In front of thousands of people, Mr Kagame said the international community had failed to stop the genocide. The failure of the international community to intervene had been blamed for the prolonged situation, with African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat saying that "no one, not even the African Union, can absolve the international community of inaction".
The events on April 7 marked the beginning of a week of national mourning in Rwanda, with national flags flying at half-mast. Music will not be played in public places or on the radio, while sporting events and films will be banned from TV.
French President Emmanuel Macron continues to admit that France failed to live up to its responsibility during the genocide by refusing to heed warnings of impending massacres.
At the time of the genocide, France had long supported the Hutu-dominated regime in Rwanda, leading to decades of tension between the two countries.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said the aftermath of the massacres was “still being felt across Rwanda and around the world”. He said: “We will never forget the horror of those 100 days, the pain and loss suffered by the Rwandan people”.
On the night of April 6, 1994, the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana - a Hutu - sparked the wrath of Hutu extremists and the "Interahamwe" armed forces, and sparked the genocide just hours later.
Victims were shot, beaten or hacked to death in massacres fueled by anti-Tutsi propaganda. According to UN figures, at least 250,000 women were raped, and over 800,000 Tutsis and more than 200,000 moderate Hutus were killed in just 100 days.
Rwanda now has more than 200 genocide memorials and new mass graves continue to be discovered. The genocide is included in the compulsory secondary school curriculum.
According to Rwanda, only 28 genocide suspects have been extradited to the country while hundreds of other suspects are still at large.
Ngoc Anh (according to AFP)
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