"What happened here will never happen again," said President Paul Kagame. The country will mark the deaths of 800,000 people with a candlelight vigil in a stadium that once sheltered victims.
Image: Getty Images/A. Renneisen
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Thousands of Rwandans, as well as President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame, marked the 25th anniversary of the country's 1994 genocide in a somber ceremony on Sunday.
The Kagames laid wreaths at a mass burial ground where 250,000 victims have been laid to rest.
"In 1994, there was no hope, only darkness. Today, light radiates from this place ... How did it happen? Rwanda became a family once again," Kagame said.
The president added that "our people have carried an immense weight with little or no complaint. This has made us better and more united than ever before."
"What happened here will never happen again."
Later on Sunday, Kagame led a candlelight vigil in Kigali's National Stadium, where 25 years ago many Tutsis sought shelter from the violence under the protection of UN troops.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the leaders of Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Niger, Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia and the African Union also took part in the commemorations.
"I am moved beyond words at this memorial to tragedy," Juncker said. "Time can never erase the darkest hours in our history. It is our duty to remember."
100 days of violence
On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu, was shot down. Ethnic Tutsis were blamed for the killing, causing bands of extremists to begin slaughtering Tutsis, supported by the army, police, and militias. The violence lasted for 100 days and left 800,000 people dead.
Kagame has ruled Rwanda since the end of the genocide. He has helped steer the country through economic recovery, but has been accused of rights abuses as well as failing to lead a national reconciliation about the violence. Many of the killers remain free and many families were never able to locate their relatives' remains.
President Kagame has also publicly accused the 1994 Hutu-led government of shooting down his predecessor's plane, and has said the French government, which had soldiers stationed in Rwanda, turned a blind eye.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered an investigation into whether his country's government played a role in the genocide, and declared his intention to make April 7 a national day of remembrance.
Portrayals of Rwanda's genocide
Over the course of just 100 days in April 1994, up to 1 million people were killed in Rwanda while the world watched without acting. Trauma still runs deep 28 years after the genocide, yet art addressing it may help.
In the British Netflix series, Kate digs into the turmoil of her past. She wants to put those responsible for the genocide in her home country behind bars, but that puts her in grave danger. It's a dramatic reappraisal of the genocide — and its aftermath to this day, accompanied by Leonard Cohen's "You want it darker" as the soundtrack.
Paul Rusesabagina ran the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali in 1994. During the genocide, he protected more than 1,200 people from certain death. In 2004, the story was turned into the film "Hotel Rwanda." The disturbing drama was not only nominated for three Oscars, but also reminded the general public of the atrocities of the genocide.
Romeo Dallaire (photo) was commander of the UN mission in Rwanda before and during the genocide. In his book "Shake Hands with the Devil," he lays blame on the international community for the catastrophe of 1994. The Canadian had said that intervention was vital in order to stop the murder, but his cries for help and those of the Rwandans went unheeded. His book was turned into a film in 2007.
Image: A.Joe/AFP/GettyImages
Hate Radio
Radio was used by the genocidaires, who perpetrated the genocide in Rwanda, as a propaganda tool to spread their hate messages throughout the country. The RTLM broadcaster called Tutsi and moderate Hutu "cockroaches." In his play "Hate Radio," the Swiss theater director Milo Rau stages a frighteningly authentic day in the studio of the infamous station.
Image: IIPM/Daniel Seiffert
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families
The church is also partly to blame for the genocide in Rwanda. This dramatic, formal sentence from a Tutsi pastor's letter to a church superior collaborating with the genocidaires was chosen by US journalist Phillip Gourevitch as the title of his book. In Rwanda, he collected reports from survivors. Through them, he tried to understand the psychological aftermath of the genocide.
Shooting Dogs
The film "Shooting Dogs" shows how quickly a supposedly healthy world became hell on earth. In a school in Kigali, hundreds of people seek shelter from the murderous militias waiting outside the gates. They initially believe that the UN blue helmets can protect them, but then the evacuations of Americans and Europeans begin. The Rwandans are left behind — and the killing starts.
Image: picture-alliance/Mary Evans
Left to tell
For 91 days, Immaculee Ilibagiza hid in the bathroom of a pastor's house. Machete-wielding men had been looking for her and the seven other women who had taken refuge in the small room. When they were finally able to leave, she discovered that almost her entire family had been murdered. She believes that it was her faith that saved her, and has written about the genocide and its lasting effects.
Rwandan Records
Even 25 years after the genocide, Rwandans remain inextricably linked to the darkest chapter in their history. But many Rwandans also want to look to the future — including rapper Eric1key and the "Rwandan Records" project. Their goal is to show how the victim mentality may be overcome by promoting the perspective of self-confident people. They've had shows in Berlin and Rwanda.
