Rwanda National Police

Today’s event is hosted by Mayor Ambroise Ruboneza and will reflect on the events of the 1994 genocide as well as the journey of unity and renewal in Gatsibo and Rwanda since. The Flame of Remembrance will be received from Nyagatare District by two 20-year-old students, Laetitia Kayitesirwa and Cyprien Habimana. A children’s choir from Kiramuruzi Primary School will sing ‘Urumuri Rutazima’ (Never Ending Flame) to welcome the flame. The special guest is Hon. Protais Mitali, Minister of Sports and Culture. 

Pastor William Ndongozi, who is a survivor of the genocide, will give a testimony and Jean Bosco Kadunguli will deliver a message of unity. A poem titled ‘Dusangiye isano’ will be read by Justin Nzabahimana. Father Laurent Rutinduka will give a history of Kiziguro in Gatsibo.

Gatsibo District is made up of former Murambi, Gituza, Ngarama, Muhura and Giti communes. It is an area in which massacres were carried out as early as 1990 in preparation for the genocide in 1994. Many Tutsi were also killed in the pogroms of 1963-1964. During the 1994 genocide, Murambi commune was one of the worst affected areas and killings began immediately after the death of President Habyarimana.

Jean-Baptiste Gatete led the massacres in Murambi where he served as mayor from 1987 to 1993. He imprisoned Tutsi, especially teachers, businessmen, nurses and those considered to have positions of responsibility in the community. He accused them of being accomplices of the Rwandan Patriotic Army. Most of these Tutsi were taken to Byumba military camp and killed. Furthermore, government officials had registered all Tutsi in Murambi before the genocide started. 

Under pressure from the international community and opposition politicians who were concerned by the killings in Murambi, the Habyarimana regime replaced Gatete with a staff member in his office. But little changed and the killing of Tutsi continued. Jean Baptiste Gatete remained highly influential in Murambi and on the morning of 7 April 1994, called a meeting to discuss how to quickly carry out the final plan to kill Tutsi. Many Tutsi fled to the Kiziguro Catholic Parish and while some were killed on their way to the parish, around 3,700 arrived there alive.

On 11 April 1994, Gatete went to Gabiro military camp and brought back two buses of soldiers to kill the Tutsi who had taken refuge at the parish. Before these soldiers arrived, militia stationed at the parish day and night prevented Tutsi from escaping. The militia launched several attacks on the church but were repelled until reinforcements arrived. When the soldiers arrived, Gatete ordered them to take all Tutsi men out of the parish and to undress them so that Tutsi could be easily identified among the large number of militia there. The soldiers and militia started killing the Tutsi and forced survivors to take the bodies to a mass grave located 200 meters away. A group of militia was stationed there to kill the person who had carried the body to the mass grave. Both victims were then thrown in. After killing all the men at the parish, the militia killed the women and children and dumped them into the mass grave.

Because the killing had been taking place in Gatsibo since 1990, it took only one week for all Tutsi in the area to be exterminated. The Rwandan Patriotic Army arrived in Kiziguro on 14 April 1994 and rescued 12 people from the mass grave. The Kiziguro genocide memorial holds more 14,000 victims including the 3,700 who were killed and thrown into the mass grave at the parish.

Kwibuka Flame Tour: Gatsibo Program

When: 2:00 – 4:00pm, 13 March 2014                 
Where: Kiziguro, Gatsibo District

• Welcoming Remarks from the Master of Ceremony Jean Nepo Rwema
• Children’s Choir from Kiramuruzi Primary School singing Urumuri Rutazima
• Remarks by Gatsibo Mayor Ambroise Ruboneza
• Screening of the Kwibuka20 short film: Remember, Unite, Renew
• Testimony from Pastor William Ndongozi
  
• Poem from Justin Nzabahimana
• Testimony from Jean Bosco Kadunguli
• Guests invited to write Ribbons of Remembrance
• A history of Kiziguro in Gatsibo by Father Laurent Rutinduka
  
• Remarks by Special Guest Hon. Protais Mitali, Minister of Sports and Culture
• Final performance of Urumuri Rutazima

Background Information on the Kwibuka Flame of Remembrance

The Kwibuka Flame symbolises remembrance as well as the resilience and courage of Rwandans over the past twenty years. Carried in a simple lamp, the flame will be used to light other lamps in communities around Rwanda. To mark twenty years since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, all memorial fires throughout the country will be lit from this single Kwibuka Flame. 

President Paul Kagame will use the Kwibuka Flame of Remembrance to light the National Flame of Mourning. This will take place on 7 April 2014, marking the official beginning of the national mourning period to commemorate the genocide in Rwanda. The flame will also be the source for lighting candles at a vigil at Amahoro Stadium on the evening of 7 April 2014. Learn more about the Flame and its nationwide tour here.
 
Photos from today’s event will be available on the Kwibuka Flickr and videos will be available on the Kwibuka YouTube channel. Please direct all media enquiries to media@kwibuka.rw.