PH
Rwandan President Paul Kagame said on Sunday that his country would never repeat the 1994 tragedy.On the 30th anniversary of the genocide against the country’s Tutsis, Kagame declared emphatically, “Never will our people be left for dead again.”
He was speaking at a commemorative ceremony at the BK Arena.
While blaming Western governments for failing to prevent or stop the genocide, Kagame thanked the African countries who came to Rwanda’s aid.
“Those soldiers did not fail Rwanda, it was the international community which failed all of us, whether from contempt or cowardice,” he said.
Foreign attendees to the ceremony included the leaders of South Africa, Congo, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, and Tanzania, as well as Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Former US and French presidents Bill Clinton and Nicolas Sarkozy both attended.
The atrocities began after a plane carrying then-President Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down above Kigali.
The Tutsis, who were blamed for downing the plane and killing the president, were then massacred by extreme Hutu forces for more than 100 days in 1994.
Some moderate Hutus who attempted to safeguard members of the Tutsi minority were also slaughtered.
Approximately 800,000 people were slaughtered.
