Kigali: As neighbors terrorize each other in one of the deadliest massacres of the 20th century, it is 30 years since a genocide by Hutu extremists devastated their country.
In July 1994, more than 100 days before the rebel fighters of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) captured Kigali, the massacre left more than 800 people dead, mostly Tutso, as well as moderate Hutus.
The small nation has since found itself under the iron rule of FPR-led President Paul Kagaman, but violence has left a path of destruction in Africa’s Great Lakes region.
According to tradition, on April 7 – the day Hutu militants launched the genocide in 1994 – Kagame will lay a memorial pile at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 victims are believed to be buried.
Kagame has laid flowers at the mass graves erected by foreign dignitaries, including former US President Bill Clinton, who called the genocide the biggest failure of his administration.
The international community’s lack of intervention has long been a source of shame, and French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce on Sunday that France and its Western and African allies can “stop” the bloodshed, but are unwilling to do so.
Kagame is also expected to speak at a 10,000-seat arena in the capital.
Sunday’s incident marked the start of a week of national mourning, with Rwanda standing still with the national flag flying at half-staff.
Music is not allowed in public places or on the radio, sports events and movies are banned from television unless it is related to the so-called “Kwibuka (pronunciation) 30”.
The United Nations and the African Union will also hold commemorations.
Almost a month after the killings, former Czech diplomat Karel Kovanda, the first UN ambassador to call the 1994 events genocide, said the massacre should not be forgotten.
“That page cannot be turned,” he told AFP in an interview in Kigali, urging efforts to “not forget the genocide.”
The assassination of Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana on the night of April 6, when his plane was shot down in Kigali, sparked a wave of Hutu extremists and the Interahamwe militia.
Their victims were killed, maimed or killed because of the anti-aggression propaganda broadcast on television and radio. According to the United Nations, at least 250,000 women were raped.
Every year new mass graves are opened all over the country.
In 2002, Rwanda established a community tribunal where victims “confess” those they persecuted, but rights groups say the system has led to miscarriages of justice.
Currently, the Rwandan ID does not say whether a person is Hutu or Tuthu.
High school students learn about genocide as part of a rigorous curriculum.
The country has more than 200 monuments to the genocide, four of which were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List last year.
According to Rwanda, hundreds of people suspected of genocide are being held in neighboring countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
Only 28 people were extradited to Rwanda from around the world.
France, one of the main goals for Turkmenistan to escape justice at home, was tried and sentenced for its involvement in semi-murder.
The French government has long supported Habyariman’s regime, causing decades of tension between the two countries.
In 2021, Macron acknowledged France’s role in the genocide and refused to recall warnings of impending genocide, but refused to issue an official apology.
Ahead of the 30th anniversary, there have been renewed calls from law enforcement agencies to bring those suspected of genocide to justice.
“I call on countries everywhere to redouble their efforts to bring all suspects to justice, including through universal jurisdiction,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday.
