Rwandan expats gather for memorial 25 years after beginning of genocide
Posted April 5, 2019 11:26 pm.
Last Updated April 5, 2019 11:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) – In April 1994, a slaughter of unimaginable proportions was triggered in Rwanda.
Rwandans around the world, including here in Metro Vancouver, will be taking some time out on Sunday, to remember the massacre on its 25th anniversary.
The genocide only lasted 100 days, but it claimed 800,000 lives. Most of the victims were Tutsis, who were targeted as part of a long-simmering and very public vilification of the tribe, which once held power in the land-locked country.
Peace negotiations were underway between Tutsi rebels and the Hutu government when an airplane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down on April 6, 1994.
That’s when violence erupted. The attacks pitted neighbours, colleagues and even family members against each other.
Nobody was spared. Men, woman, children and even babies were killed.
The horror unfolded as Canadian Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire led a small UN troop in Rwanda. He had notified the UN that a massacre was imminent, but it delivered orders to him not to intervene.
Hinda Ruton helped organize a memorial walk in New Westminster.
He says the type of hatred that spurred the genocide can arise in any nation. “The genocide was not a spontaneous event. It came about by looking at people as different and creating artificial barriers between each other.”
Although the atrocity is blamed on tribalism, he has another explanation. “We forgot who we are. People were killing each other. It was so horrible that neighbours killed neighbours.”
Ruton is in Canada to study, but he says he looks forward to going back to Rwanda to help it rebuild.
“The theme this year in Rwanda is Remember and Unite. We remember what happened but we use the occasion to unite the country and rebuild the nation. Twenty five years later we are full of hope.”
Ruton was living in Congo during the genocide but he did lose family members.
The walk will begin at 3:00 p.m. at New Westminster’s Columbia Theatre.
