Ceremonies remember slaughter

2004-04-07 13:30

Kigali - Sombre ceremonies were held in Rwanda on Wednesday to mark the 10th anniversary of the genocide when in just 100 days up to a million people were slaughtered in an savage outpouring of ethnic hatred.

The highlight of the painful commemoration of events began at noon in Kigali's packed national stadium, with a rendition of the national anthem, followed by three minutes of silence and prayers.

Although about a dozen foreign delegations were present, only one western state, Belgium, Rwanda's former colonial power, was represented at the highest level, by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

The absence of the leaders of other world powers has reinforced the bitterness felt by many Rwandans over the failure of the international community to intervene to stop the slaughters of 1994.

This attempt to wipe out the central African country's Tutsi minority, orchestrated by the then Hutu authorities, was set in motion on April 7, 1994, the day after President Juvenal Habyarimana was assassinated.

In Geneva, UN chief Kofi Annan, who as head of the organisation's peacekeeping department at the time of the genocide has been widely criticised for the lack of robust intervention, issued a form of mea culpa.

"The genocide in Rwanda should never have happened. But it did.

"Neither the UN, nor the Security Council, nor member states in general, nor the international media, paid enough attention to the gathering signs of disaster," Annan said in a statement.

Never again

At the Amahoro stadium in Kigali, whose name means "peace" in the Kinyarwanda language, a black banner in front of the presidential stand bore the an imprecation in English and French, "Never Again, Plus Jamais."

Kagame, who in 1994 led the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a Tutsi rebel group that took control of the country in July that year, was due to address the stadium ceremony.

Other foreign leaders at the stadium included presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Mwai Kibaki of Kenya as well as Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Countries and organisations heavily criticised for their inaction in 1994: the UN, the US, France and Britain, were only represented by second-tier officials.

A little earlier on Wednesday, Kagame inaugurated a genocide memorial overlooking the capital.

Kagame lit an eternal flame at the entrance to the site.

The inauguration was a solemn affair, and there were no speeches.

In all, some 200 000 bodies have been laid to rest at the memorial.

Later in the day, another memorial, in memory of Belgian peacekeepers killed in Kigali on April 7, 1994, was due to be unveiled in Camp Kigali, the headquarters of Rwanda's army.

A vigil with prayers and recollections of the genocide was planned to for the evening.

- AFP