Former US President Bill Clinton, left, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrive to lay a wreath during a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, held at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, in Kigali, Rwanda, Sunday April 7, 2024. Rwandans are commemorating 30 years of the genocide in which around 800,000 people were killed by government-backed extremists.
Brian Inganga/AP
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Brian Inganga/AP
Former US President Bill Clinton, left, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrive to lay a wreath during a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, held at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, in Kigali, Rwanda, Sunday April 7, 2024. Rwandans are commemorating 30 years of the genocide in which around 800,000 people were killed by government-backed extremists.
Brian Inganga/AP
KIGALI, Rwanda — Rwandans are commemorating 30 years of the genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed by government-backed extremists, shocking the small East African country that continues to grapple with the horrific legacy of massacres.
Rwanda has seen strong economic growth since then, but scars remain and questions arise about whether true reconciliation has been achieved under the long rule of President Paul Kagame, whose rebel movement ended the genocide and took the power.
Kagame, who is praised by many for bringing relative stability but vilified by others for his intolerance of dissent, will lead somber commemoration events on Sunday in the capital, Kigali. Foreign visitors include a delegation led by Bill Clinton, the US president during the genocide, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Kagame will light a flame of remembrance and lay a wreath at a memorial site housing the remains of 250,000 genocide victims in Kigali.
The killings were sparked when a plane carrying former president Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down over Kigali. The Tutsis were accused of shooting down the plane and killing the president. and became the target of massacres by Hutu extremists that lasted more than 100 days in 1994. Some moderate Hutus who tried to protect members of the Tutsi minority were also killed.
Rwandan authorities have long accused the international community of ignoring warnings about the killings, and some Western leaders have expressed regret.
Clinton, after leaving office, cited the Rwandan genocide as a failure of his administration. French President Emmanuel Macron, in a pre-recorded video ahead of Sunday’s ceremonies, said Thursday that France and its allies could have stopped the genocide but lacked the will to do so. Macron’s statement comes three years after he acknowledged the “crushing responsibility” of France – Rwanda’s closest European ally in 1994 – for failing to prevent Rwanda from descending into massacre.
The ethnic composition of Rwanda remains largely unchanged since 1994, with a Hutu majority. The Tutsis represent 14% and the Twa only 1% of Rwanda’s 14 million inhabitants. Kagame’s Tutsi-dominated government banned any form of organization along ethnic lines, as part of efforts to build a uniform Rwandan identity.
National identity cards no longer identify citizens by ethnic group, and authorities have imposed a harsh criminal code to prosecute those suspected of denying the genocide or the “ideology” behind it. Some observers say the law has been used to silence critics who question government policy.
Human rights groups have accused Kagame’s soldiers of carrying out some killings during and after the genocide, apparently in revenge, but Rwandan authorities view the allegations as an attempt to rewrite history. Kagame has previously said his forces showed restraint in the face of genocide.
Kagame is expected to deliver a speech and a night vigil will be held later Sunday as part of a week of commemoration activities.
Naphtal Ahishakiye, leader of Ibuka, a large group of survivors, told The Associated Press that keeping the memory of the genocide alive helps combat the mentality that allowed neighbors to prey on each other, even killing children. Mass graves are still being discovered across Rwanda 30 years later, reminding us of the scale of the massacres.
“This is the time to learn what happened, why it happened, what are the consequences of the genocide for us as genocide survivors, for our country and for the international community,” said Ahishakiye.
He said his country had come a long way since the 1990s, when only survivors and government officials participated in commemoration events. “But today, even those who are family members of the attackers come to participate.”
Kagame, who grew up as a refugee in neighboring Uganda, was Rwanda’s de facto leader, first as vice president from 1994 to 2000 and then as interim president. He was elected in 2003 and has since been re-elected several times. Candidate in the elections scheduled for July, he won the last election with almost 99% of the votes.
Human rights activists and others say the authoritarian Kagame has created a climate of fear that discourages open and free discussion of national issues. Critics have accused the government of forcing opponents to flee, imprisoning or disappearing them while some are killed in mysterious circumstances. Kagame’s most serious political rivals are his ex-Tutsi comrades now living in exile.
Although generally peaceful, Rwanda also has difficult relations with its neighbors.
Recently, tensions have flared with Congo, with leaders of both countries accusing each other of supporting armed groups. Relations have also been strained with Burundi following allegations that Kigali supports a rebel group attacking Burundi. And relations with Uganda have not yet been fully normalized after a period of tensions stemming from Rwandan allegations that Uganda was supporting rebels opposed to Kagame.
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