Kigali, (Samajweekly) The Rwandan Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE) has urged the public to observe guidelines issued ahead of this week’s commemoration of the 1994 genocide, which will begin on Friday.
The upcoming 29th commemoration will be held under the theme “Kwibuka twiyubaka: Remember-Unite-Renew,” and will last until April 13, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Commemorative activities to begin the mourning week at the national level will be held at the Kigali Genocide Memorial on April 7, where over 2,50,000 victims are laid to rest,” Jean Damascene Bizimana, Minister of the MINUBUMWE, told journalists in the capital, Kigali on Wednesday.
Similar activities at the district level will be held at district genocide memorial sites, he added.
On April 7, all business activities will open after midday, but as has been the norm, entertainment activities, including sports betting, will be prohibited throughout the commemoration week, Bizimana said.
Also restricted during the mourning week are wedding ceremonies and other mass celebrations, according to the guidelines issued by the Ministry.
Bizimana stressed that in line with the country’s development agenda, commemorative activities should not hinder normal development activities except during the beginning and closing of the mourning week.
In this regard, roads will not be closed during this year’s Walk to Remember, and all commemorative activities will not last beyond three hours, according to the guidelines.
Commemorative activities involving members of the diplomatic corps and international organisations in Rwanda will be conducted between April 8 and 12 to remember and reflect on the role of the international community.
On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying then Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira was downed by a rocket attack, killing all passengers on board. The plane crash triggered the massacres by Hutu extremists in which about one million people, mostly of the Tutsi community and moderate Hutus, were killed.
