Rwandans in Arizona commemorate 1994 genocide against Tutsi

The event in Phoenix was organized by the Rwandan Community of Arizona in collaboration with IBUKA USA chapter.

The mourners lit a flame of hope and observed a minute of silence in honor of the memory of the more than one million lives lost within a span of 100 days.

Held under the theme “Remember-Unite-Renew,” the event featured survivor’s testimonies and dirges by Rwandan artiste Dieudonne Munyanshoza.

Speaking at the event, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Rwandan embassy in the US, Lawrence Manzi criticized the genocidal regime for dehumanizing Tutsis population to lay ground for the genocide.

He called on Rwandans to unite and to renew their commitment to preventing similar atrocities from happening anywhere in the future.

“Your presence here speaks to your determination to make genocide a tragedy of the past. Let us rededicate ourselves to ending the genocide and teach every child that there is only one race, the human race. We must never let our nationalities, ethnicities, religions, or political-cultural- economic differences divide us,” Manzi, who represented Rwandan ambassador to the US Mathilde Mukantabana said.

He said the best way to keep the survivors and victims of the genocide in memory, is to support the lives that were affected.

“Let us assure survivors that they are not alone, though they lost their loved ones, we are there for them,” said Manzi.

He commended the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) under the leadership of President Paul Kagame for unifying the country and helping in rebuilding the nation and broken institutions from scratch.

“Due to the tireless determination of the people of Rwanda, we refused to accept that genocide will be the final word, we refused to give up on each other, we refused to give up on our country,” he said.

“Instead as President Kagame has said we made a choice, to stay together, to be accountable to ourselves and to think big.”

Manzi also urged the world and people of Arizona in particular to use the right name of the genocide against Tutsi and avoid ambiguities which leave room for denial.

To the Rwandan youth, Manzi called on them to own Rwandan history.

 Let us together educate the world about our history, let us remain close to survivors, he said.

The mourners reaffirmed their commitment to educating youth about the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi and fighting genocide ideology.

Manzi meanwhile described as regrettable the current situation of hate speech and atrocities targeting Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwanda has expressed concern that Congolese ethnic Tutsi, Kinyarwanda-speaking people, are being targeted in the ongoing fighting between the government forces and M23 rebels.

Manzi commended Rwanda’s development partners for helping in rebuilding the country.

To the guests, as we remember this critical part of our history, your solidarity with the people of Rwanda speaks volumes; thank you for your friendship, support and solidarity, he said.

Turning to the survivors, he said it is difficult to speak about the pain of the genocide against the Tutsi more than the survivors, who still live with the effects after seeing everything collapse before them.

The international community abandoned them... yet we still ask them to unite and reconcile for the sake of rebuilding Rwanda, cognizant of how hard it is, he said.

“You can only imagine the gruesome incidents survivors went through for a period of 100 days. We shall make sure the victims are not forgotten,” he said.