United Nations, New York (14th April 2025) – 7th April 2025 witnessed the opening of the 100-day period of Kwibuka, referring to the mourning period dedicated to the memory of the1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations joined diplomats, the Rwandan Permanent Mission, Rwandan diaspora and survivors of the genocide in the Hall of the United Nations General Assembly to mark the occasion. The UN Secretary General emphasized that “this was not a spontaneous frenzy of horrendous violence, it was intentional. It was premeditated. It was planned, including through the hate speech that inflamed division, and spread lies and dehumanization. And it was the product of a collective failure to act.”
The President of the General Assembly and the former Prime Minister of Cameroun used the opportunity to remind, that “despite early warnings, despite clear signs of impending catastrophe, the world stood by as the killing unfolded. Governments debated while cries for help went unanswered, while lives were lost,” He further implored us to ask ourselves, “today, as we reflect on our failure, we must ask: Have we truly learned from the past? Have we done enough to ensure that such atrocities never happen again? Or is it happening somewhere as we speak?”
H.E Dr Mutryce Williams relayed the Federation’s solidarity with her Rwandan colleagues by expressing that “for us in the Caribbean we know well the devastation of genocide and we must work together with our Rwanda and African family to keep the memories of historical atrocities alive, and work ever more defiantly to root out hate, tribalism, discrimination and supremacy wherever it exists, for its only through reconciliation, renewal and collective solidarity can we truly build a better world, unburdened by the shortcomings of the past.”
According to the Government of Rwanda, “the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi took the lives of more than a million Rwandans. The Genocide was organized and executed in full view of the international community, which stood idle and watched as it unfolded. The Genocide was not an accident, but rather a culmination of a decades-old, divisive, ethnicity-based ideology of hatred. These divisions began during the colonial period in Rwanda and ultimately resulted in the planning of the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, carried out by President Juvénal Habyarimana’s National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND) regime. The Genocide was put to an end by the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)-Inkotanyi in July 1994. Rwanda’s reconstruction journey started with the establishment of the Government of National Unity, which made unity and reconciliation the cornerstones of the new Rwanda.”
