INDEPTH: RWANDA
Rwanda: 10 Years Later
CBC News Online | April 8, 2004
Ten years after 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered between April and June 1994, survivors gathered in the village of Gisozi, on the outskirts of the capital, Kigali. About 250,000 Hutus and Tutsis are buried on Gisozi hill in a mass grave.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame lit a torch to burn 100 days - the length of the genocide. Coffins carrying the remains of 20 victims were symbolically reburied around the newly-opened Kigali Memorial Centre. The burial marked a week-long period of mourning in the tiny African nation.
The United Nations says that each April 7 the world should remember Rwanda, designating the day as the international day of reflection on the genocide.
However, with the exception of Belgium, Rwanda's former colonial power, no western leaders attended the ceremony. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan – head of UN peacekeeping during the genocide – did not attend.
"As we leave here today, I want each of us to make a resolve and a vow to do all that we can that events such as that occurred in Rwanda in 1994 will never again occur either in Rwanda or elsewhere in the world."
Jacqueline Murekatete, genocide survivor | April 7, 2004
"Today we remember the people who were brutally murdered, and their families…We must also think what more we can do to help Rwanda and her people to recover from an unimaginable trauma. And most of all, we and the world's governments must pledge to act decisively to ensure that such a denial of our common humanity is never allowed to happen again. Only if we do these things can we honour the victims whom we remember today. Only so can we save those who might be victims tomorrow."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan | April 7, 2004
"This sorrowful anniversary provides an important opportunity to reflect on how and why the genocide occurred, and on the lessons to be learned, so that we can reform the international system in order to prevent such mass atrocities in the future."
Prime Minister Paul Martin | April 6, 2004
"When I became prime minister, I decided that it was my duty to come here to honour the memory of the victims of the genocide and especially to ask forgiveness on behalf of my country."
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt | April 7, 2004
"Today we mark the 10th anniversary of genocide in our country. Ten long agonizing years now separate us from those days which turned day into night, life into death. It is a day we remember systematic slaughter of over a million of our innocent fellow Rwandans, an orgy of bloodletting unprecedented in the history of our nation. Ten years on, the survivors of these gruesome crimes still suffer in silence. There has been dual survival. Survival of the ordeal and survival of the aftermath of the genocide. A decade has done little to alleviate the anguish."
Rwandan President Paul Kagame | April 7, 2004
"The Rwandan genocide happened because the international community – if I may be brutal, as the genocide was – didn't give one damn for Rwandans because Rwandans don't count. Rwanda is of no strategic value to anybody, and has no strategic resources."
Romeo Dallaire, UN force commander during genocide | April 7, 2004
"We cannot repair the failure, but the world can be serious about preventing genocide."
Louise Frechette, deputy secretary general to the United Nations | April 7, 2004
"We did not cry out as loudly as we should have against the enormous and heinous crime against the people of Rwanda that was committed in 1994. For that, we owe the people of Rwanda a sincere apology, which I now extend in all sincerity and humility."
South African President Thabo Mbeki | April 7, 2004
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Population: 7,810,056
Capital: Kigali
Government type: Republic
President: Paul Kagame
Ethnicity: 85% Hutu, 14% Tutsi
Major languages: Kinyarwanda, English and French are official languages. Swahili is also used.
Major religions: Catholic (56.5%), Protestant (26%), Adventist (11.1%), Muslim (4.6%)
Location: Land-locked nation in central Africa, bordering Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Area: 26,338 km sq.
Life expectancy: 39.33 years
Median age: 18.1 years
Natural resources: Gold, tin ore, tungsten ore, methane
Canadian imports from: Coffee ($700,000)
Canadian exports to: Electrical machinery ($800,000 and worn clothing $100,000)
Sources: CIA World Factbook and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
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