General Marcel Gatsinzi in Gacaca court

Kigali: – President Paul Kagame announced major changes in the Army Saturday evening. Defense Minister Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi has lost his job and has been replaced by Gen. James Kabarebe.

The sacked Defense Minister Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi was named to the position in 2002 � at the same time as Gen. James Kabarebe was made army chief. Gen. Gatsinzi replaced exiled Maj. Gen. Bem Emmanuel Habyarimana.

However, along the way � Genocide accusations surfaced which have haunted Gen. Gatsinzi for years. He was acquitted of all charges in 2007 by a Gacaca court, but that was not enough not clear his name.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Colonel Theoneste Bagosora � considered the �brain� behind the Tutsi Genocide, Gen. Gatsinzi is wanted to give testimony. The Lower Court first called General Gatsinzi to the stand on September 11, 2006. However, the Minister would only testify on two conditions: first, that he would be a court witness rather than a witness of the Defence and, secondly, that he would be heard via videoconference. This was rejected and not followed upon.

The defendant has always objected that on April 7, 1994, the control of the Army was placed into the hands of General Gatsinzi, when he was appointed interim Chief of Staff in replacement of General Deogratias Nsabimana, who had been killed aboard President Habyarimana’s plane on April 6.

However, last month, the defense team of Colonel Bagosora�s raised the request again, claiming that he was deprived in his first trial of a �fundamental testimony� – that of General Marcel Gatsinzi.

Col. Bagosora is appealing against a life sentence for Genocide. In total, the 65 pages Defence memorandum contains six grounds for appeal and concludes on a request urging the judges to either “reverse the sentence and acquit the defendant” or “to order a new trial”.

[adapted from ARI-RNA]

Gen. James Kabarebe, new Minister of Defence, replacing Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi

Kigali: Defense Minister Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi – with long-standing Genocide accusations still haunting him for years, has lost his job – in major changes in the Army announced Saturday evening by President Paul Kagame.

The army�s internal and external intelligence systems were affected as well.

The new minister is Gen. James Kabarebe � who has been the Chief of Defense Staff. Gen. Kabarebe is the fastest rising star in army ranks � up from President Kagame�s aide-de-camp in the rebel army, to the country�s Army chief in 2002.

The new army changes also see men that had become synonymous with the face of the country�s intelligence system removed from their jobs or moved to less sensitive areas, or thrown out with no new appointments. No reasons where given for the changes, made as the Rwanda continues with the Tutsi Genocide commemoration week.

In other changes, Lt. Gen. Charles Kayonga � who local media reports had claimed is under house arrest over a coup plot attempt, has been promoted to Chief of Defense Staff. He has been deputizing Gen. Kabarebe, and in charge of Land Forces.

The promotion of Lt. Gen. Kayonga clearly undermines widespread rumours that he was in serious trouble over allegations of planning to oust the commander-in-chief. President Kagame dismissed the rumours in his press conference last week, but did give any details.

The former long-serving boss of the Rwanda football league (FERWAFA), Maj. Gen. Ceaser Kayizari will take charge of the Land Forces. He has been the 3rd Division Commander based in Western Province.

Lt. Gen. Charles Muhire is now the Reserve Force Commander � a new arm of the army which has been in the works for sometime. The largely reclusive Lt. Gen Muhire has been heading the Airforce � where he has worked for several years.

The Airforce will now be headed by little-known Colonel Joseph Demari, who was actually promoted from the rank of Major before being given the top job. He will be the Acting Airforce Chief of Staff.

Brig. Gen. Jack Musemakweli has been moved from the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI or J2) to the Army�s political affairs department (J5). He was replaced by Lt. Col. Dan Munyuza � who was also promoted to Colonel.

Major Gatete Karuranga � promoted to Colonel, is the new Director General of External Intelligence. He was the Commanding Officer of Maintenance Battalion. Col. Karuhanga now replaces long-reining Colonel Rwakabi Kacyira, who is also husband to Kigali city Mayor Dr. Aissa Kirabo.
Related:

- Rwanda: Who is the new Defence Minister Gen. James Kabarebe?

- Rwanda: Sacked Rwandan Defence Minister Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi still haunted by genocide accusations.

[adapted from ARI-RNA]

It is the RPF that is not ready for democracy and not the Rwandan people.

Reaction of the Support Committee for UDF-Inkingi to the President Paul Kagame�s speech on the 16th Commemoration of the Genocide

On Wednesday April 07, 2010, to mark the 16th commemoration of the genocide of 1994, in a long tirade against the opposition leaders in general, and against the Chairperson and candidate of UDF-Inkingi to the presidential elections of August 2010, Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza in particular, President Paul Kagame treated the opponents of �political hooligans�, �people who came out from nowhere…the useless people�, presenting them elsewhere as �people that the West would prefer to see at the head of Rwanda� on which the West would like to �impose values�, in reference to multiparty democracy, a system that took Westerners �hundreds�thousands of years� to implement in their countries.

1. This vindictive and disrespectful language, worthy of Patrick Hooligan, indeed took the place of the words of comfort which hundreds of thousands of genocide survivors were waiting for from a person who is also the Head of State, on this day of sadness.
It took the place of reflection, deep thoughts that the country, the region and the world were expecting from the Chief of a State that experienced the worst of the tragedies.
It revealed how President Paul Kagame still belongs to an era that Rwanda needs to overcome, without forgetting, in order to build a secure future for all its children.

2. If in sports, a hooligan is a follower of a discipline, usually football, who uses violence to influence the outcome of fate of a match, then a political hooligan is a follower of a party who uses violence to weigh on the outcome of a political confrontation.
In the political confrontation looming on the horizon, namely the presidential elections scheduled for August 2010, leaders of the opposition in general, and those of UDF-Inkingi in particular, use only peaceful and legal political means. At no time, they have resorted to violent means.

3. In this regard, the leaders of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in general and its President Paul Kagame in particular, are repeat offenders. Since 1990, they routinely use violent means to solve political issues, both in home and foreign policies.

4. In 1990, to address the issue of Tutsi refugees which was under discussions between the Government of Rwanda and the Government of Uganda, RPF took up arms against the Government of Rwanda.
In doing so, they committed serious crimes against the internal security of the State, in violation of the Penal Code (Article 164 et seq.), provisions they now use to try to convict to life prison the Chairperson of UDF-Inkingi by forging evidence tending to associate her with existing armed groups (FDLR-Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), and imaginary armed groups (CDF- Coalition of Democratic Forces).

5. In April 1994, to influence the provisions of the Arusha Peace Agreement, the RPF shot down the plane carrying the Head of State in office, Juvenal Habyarimana.
They killed at the same time the Burundian Head of State, Cyprien Ntaryamira, who was also on board, and all their staff and crew members.
This attack which was committed in time of peace since the Arusha Peace Agreement, signed by both parties involved, including the RPF, had ended the armed conflict, is considered by all objective observers as the trigger for the genocide.
By shooting down the presidential plane, the RPF also interfered with the person of the Head of a foreign State, causing an institutional crisis in Burundi.

6. In April 1995, to address the issue of internally displaced people in Kibeho (south-western Rwanda), the RPF sent its army, surrounded and pounded by heavy weapons camps for the internally displaced people, killing in one day at least 8,000 Rwandans mainly of Hutu descent whose evocation of the suffering and the memory led to accusations of genocide denial against the Chairperson of UDF-Inkingi.

7. In 1996-1997, to address the issue of Rwandan refugees massed in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (former Zaire), the RPF army surrounded and bombed with heavy weapons refugee camps, forcing some survivors to return home and others in a frenzied flight throughout the Congolese forests where at least 300,000 of them perished.
In 1996 and 1998, to settle political differences with the late Colonel Theoneste Lizinde, former MP and the late Seth Sendashonga, former RPF Minister of Interior, the RPF sent death squads to assassinate them in Nairobi (Kenya), without hesitating to cover up some of the murderers, by brandishing their immune status as diplomats.
Therefore, if there are political hooligans, it is not within UDF-Inkingi that one needs to find them. It is within the RPF-Inkotanyi�s leadership that one must look and get them.

8. With regard to the link that President Paul Kagame is trying to establish between the Chairperson of UDF-Inkingi, Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, and people who were convicted for genocide, such as Joseph Ntawangundi, as the novelist from Benin, Florent Couao-Zotti, asserts: �If the sheep yard is dirty, it is not up to the pig to say it�.
First, the RPF government was unable to produce the record of the conviction in absentia supposedly pronounced in 2007 against Joseph Ntawangundi.
However, one knows how his confession which supported his condemnation of March 24, 2010 has been obtained, if one sticks to the testimony of General Kayumba Nyamwasa, former head of Rwandan intelligence, who recently escaped such manipulations.
Finally, the RPF and its President Paul Kagame whose countless MPs are in prison for genocide and whose at least forty of the most senior officials are wanted under international warrants for crimes against humanity, are absolutely not appropriate to give lessons to anyone in this matter.

9. As for the accusation that the West is attempting to impose the Chairperson of UDF-Inkingi as the head of Rwanda, it is very surprising to hear such a statement from the lips of President Paul Kagame.
Hurried back home to Uganda from a military training that he had barely begun at War College of Fort Leavenworth (Kansas, USA) as a Ugandan officer, to head the RPF militia in a country (Rwanda) that he did not know and which country did not know him either, because he had left it thirty years earlier, and despite the fact that he has successfully passed a few years of high school, President Paul Kagame is certainly not the most appropriate person to talk about leaders �from nowhere� serving foreign interests.

10. What should we deduct from President Paul Kagame�s support for the Bush administration during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, despite the fact that the invasion had been condemned by the African Union and the United Nations?
What about the proxy war in which President Paul Kagame led the country to overthrow the legitimate government of the DRC in August 1998 which led to the creation of the FDLR, which later became the perfect excuse for other armed attacks, aimed at balkanizing this neighboring State, failing to impose it another government ?

11. For UDF-Inkingi, to pretend that Rwandans are not mature enough for democracy and that they should expect �hundreds� thousands of years� is indeed an expression of contempt, the most abject one can utter towards any people.
In Europe, undemocratic regimes claimed that Western people were not ready to exercise their rights and used to grant the right to vote to the only wealthy or educated.
When it was no longer possible to deny anyone that right, they argued that women were not yet ready.

12. In Africa, during the Cold War, all the undemocratic regimes relied on this argument.
In South Africa, the apartheid regime used the same argument, deeming blacks unfit to exercise their political rights.
Today, it is outdated.
It is the RPF that is not ready for democracy and not the Rwandan people.
The RPF may take all time needed to prepare itself, but it cannot ask the people of Rwanda to wait for it even though it is trumpeting a champion of gender equity, citizen participation, good governance and economic development.
The claim that democracy is a �foreign� value in Rwanda in order to have a free hand to perpetuate dictatorship and thus continue to appropriate itself the country�s wealth shows clearly that this is only rhetoric.
The time has come for politics to change the logic: politics must move from the logic of power, which aims at getting as much power as possible and keep it as long as possible by means of violence and deception, to that of responsibility whose basic principles are to carry out multiple responsibilities in a limited time and a limited area, because one cannot be competent in everything.

The Rwandan people, like any other people in the world, are perfectly capable of choosing their own leaders.
They are perfectly capable of choosing economic policies that suit them by voting for one program.
Sixteen years later, using genocide as a pretext to continue to postpone the moment when Rwandans may exercise their political rights is no longer an option. It is time that the RPF and President Paul Kagame understand this fact and comply.

Done in Lyon, April 08, 2010

For the Support Committee for UDF-Inkingi
Eugene NDAHAYO
President

Kigali: A Kinyarwanda-English dictionary, the first of its kind, has been published.

This was announced by Simon Peter Hitiyise of Fountain Publishers Rwanda.

�Our aim is to help build a nation that can read and values literature, which will give rise to a new wave of writers,� said Hitiyise.

According to Hitiyise, the dictionary will also help users to easily learn English hence helping in the national policy of using English as the official language of instruction in all schools.

The dictionary was authored by a Rwandan writer, Cyprien Niyomugabo, a lecturer in linguistics and language sciences. He was a lecturer at the National University of Rwanda but now teaches at Kigali Institute of Education (KIE).

The dictionary contains common Kinyarwanda and English words. They include pure Kinyarwanda words, loan blends and coinages.

In the dictionary, the meaning of each headword is explained by examples. Words are explained the way they are used, setting it apart from the earlier Kinyarwanda dictionaries, in which headwords were listed according to their roots.

This previous approach, according to the new dictionary�s author, made the words difficult to use by non-linguists.

The Director of Fountain Publishers Rwanda, Alphonse Nkusi, said that the dictionary was written in a pedagogical method that helps the user learn easily.

He added that it was made for people who come to Rwanda and want a few concepts to help them communicate with the natives and that it contains modern words that will boost Kinyarwanda into a language to grow and benefit a cross section of people who use it.

In his introduction Niyomugabo, however, says that criticisms on any imperfections like the absence of some entries are welcome to help improve the dictionary.

Fountain Publishers are currently one of the approved publishers by the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) to supply books in schools around the country.

Press release

Warmongering politics is misplaced at the Commemoration of Rwanda genocide

President Kagame’s address on the 16th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide marked a very dangerous escalation in his merciless violent attacks on the opposition. The president has seriously failed to the obligation of reserve, for the dignity of the supreme function requires him to express his opinion with great restraint and not to insult his political and military opponents.
In an unprecedented mood, the president accused among others Ms Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, chairperson of UDF-Inkingi, of “political hooliganism“, before calling opposition “useless people“. In a
separate declaration, he talked of “killing those mosquitoes with a hammer“. The president went further challenging his critics into “a fight”, a threat he has uttered many times. He seemed to forget
the context of the day, turning his speech into an expos� of nostalgic personal war achievements, which roused unusual applause among the audience.
These utterances from a head of state, aspiring for a new bail in office are very revealing of the gap between the president agenda and the wishes of the people he is supposed to lead.
Indeed, spitting fire to the opposition and foreign critics at the commemoration of the saddest period of our history is misplaced. Inciting to violence and threatening to wage war against his
political opponents at the expenses of genocide survivors’ suffering is cynical and bad politics.

The commemoration should rather be an opportunity for healing wounds, for reconciling people, for calling for more tolerance and harmony between Rwandans.
Sweeping under the carpet all critics and labelling them all kind of abuses shows a lack of political vision and dedication to the country’s interests.
As far as UDF-Inkingi is concerned, the wind of change is on the move and no amount of intimidation will stop it. There is no honor for a torrent to boast of having removed a reed. UDF-Inkingi is of the
view that calling for more political space, more freedom of association and expression is in no way political hooliganism.
Alluding to political hooliganism is mistaking political opponents with enemies, instead of challengers. A hooligan is a follower of sport that uses violence to influence the outcome of a sporting event. Calling people like that is unacceptable when we know full well that violence is not on our side and that the regime monopolizes the political arena.
The role of political opposition is to oppose any policy that rejects the democratic debate, marginalizes the rural and peri-urban population, seeks to truncate the memory and has no plans for national cohesion.

Done in Kigali, April 8, 2010.

UDF-Inkingi
Secretary General
Sylvain Sibomana

Paul Kagame addressing the Nation

Official and cleaned version, as published by PaulKagame.com

If you want to listen to the full speech and catch the differences with the original, mainly what he says in Kinyarwanda, then listen to
President Paul Kagame’s Full Speech at the 16th Commemoration of the genocide on 07 April 2010

Address by His Excellency Paul Kagame
President of the Republic of Rwanda
16th Commemoration of the Genocide of the Tutsi – Kigali,7 April 2010

I would like to thank all our guests who came from different corners of the world and also thank their countries for sending them here. Let me also thank other countries that were not mentioned earlier. I begin with the countries in our region – the East African Community, those in Southern Africa, West Africa, America and Asia, that have joined us to commemorate this day, both here and in respective home countries.

I would like to begin by talking about what has made us gather here today. We are here to remember � remembering is a must and an obligation. In remembering we must also forgive � it is a duty � to forgive those who sincerely seek to be forgiven.

Why must we always remember? We must do so because that which caused us the pain is bad politics, bad politicians and bad leaders. Bad politics that killed people � we don�t even need to waste our time on numbers, whether it is 500,000 or one million, those who play with numbers should know that the pain of 500,000 people is not negligible and there is no difference between the politics that caused 500,000 deaths and that which caused one million deaths � both are bad politics.

I should however say that bad politics was not just internal � the bad politics which led to the loss of 1 million people, loss of values and culture is not just Rwandan. The convergence of bad national politics with bad international politics resulted in what we commemorate today � the tragic situation of 1994.

As Rwandans � we have no power to change bad international politics, but we have the power to change bad politics of our country and that is where we should concentrate our efforts. However, even though we don�t have the power to change international politics, international politics has not stopped interfering with our internal politics. This means that we have to deal with two issues. But then, once you are able to manage what you have the power to deal with � which is internal politics, then you will be able to also resist external forces in order to avert negative consequences. When bad internal politics converge to a great scale with bad international politics like it was the case here in Rwanda, the result is always catastrophe.

What exactly do we have power to deal with and how can we go about it? As we remember, honour our people and bow in prayer for them � as we remember the pain and grief, we should with the same spirit stand strong and confidently declare that this will not happen again. We should convert our grief into strength and determination to build a better future that we deserve. We have the capability in us to do this � we should make this a culture.

It indeed hurts, you can all hear the cries of grief here in this stadium, this is testimony of the extent of our country�s problem and people�s suffering. There is no other remedy but to work together to fight what caused this what might cause the same problem in future. In grief we must find strength and pride to build our self respect � and defy those who sought to devalue us. We must fight and show that we are better people, people who can raise themselves, and build a better life and a better future.

That is why I say that in our grief and tears, let�s be happy, laugh and clap for ourselves. Joy and remembrance should go hand in hand – one does not erase the other. Let remembering not deny us pride and happiness at who we are and our willingness to build ourselves.

Building our future must come from us. External support will only come to complement our efforts, no one will do it for us except ourselves, This includes the youth and the children who earlier delivered those uplifting words. They should receive good upbringing, good teaching, good politics as well as strength and pride of who they are. We are Rwandans, we are Africans; we should be happy to be who we are.

We should never try to be someone else. Instead, we should endeavour to be the best of who we are. We should fight to be the best we can be, there is a lot in us we can build on to shape the future that every Rwandan deserves. We should understand that we owe it to ourselves. We can seek partnerships and friendship � this is important and adds value to our resolve. But we should remain at the frontline to build and shape the future of this nation.

For those who extend friendship and partnership, we should reciprocate in similar or even larger measure. For those who bring to us a fight, we should be able to give a fight they will never forget. A fight in defence of our freedom, of our rights and of our dignity. There should be no apologies to anyone if we have to fight back when it is time to fight. When it is time to make peace, we should be at our best. But when it is time to fight, for your country, your sovereignty, your dignity, Rwandans � you should not be found wanting � you should never be apologetic about this.

Concerning rights, who has the right to lecture us on rights after what we went through? All of us Rwandans � now around 11 million � who can tell us what is good for us and what is bad for us? – We know it already. How can you give lessons to someone who has walked in the dark and met the worst of darkness? We have met with the worst, we have been there � we know it well.

When people expend time and energy inventing � saying that no one talks in Rwanda, that there is no political space, press freedom, – who are they giving lessons to? Who are they? Are these Rwandans complaining? Have they sent you to speak on their behalf? These Rwandans are as free and as happy as they have never been in their life. Freedom of expression? Freedom of Press? There are those who insult people every day! They insult me every day! I don�t give a damn. They draw cartoons, call me Hitler � I ignore them, I am not bothered at all. I just hold them in contempt. That�s all. But how can you do that and at the same time turn around and complain that you done have Press freedom! You even have the freedom to abuse people; you have no respect of anything, what more do you want to express about yourself or about others?

Democracy � we don�t need any lessons in this. We know the value of freedom, democracy, justice, social and economic transformation – we know this from the life we have lead. Some people want to encourage political hooligans. People come from nowhere, useless people � I have seen photos, some lady with a deputy who is a genocide criminal � saying that there is �one genocide but then there is another�, and the world starts saying that she is an �opposition leader�.

Well, I know those who say and support this but they know it is wrong. It is an expression of contempt these people have for Rwandans and Africans. They think Africans deserve to be led by these hooligans � and to this we say no �a big no. And if anybody wants a fight there, we will give them a fight. We can smile, we can debate, we can discuss or postpone it for another day, but when it is our decision, we make it. And when we make it, it is in relation to our dignity, our values, our pride.

This is a message to everyone that we want to be as free, as happy, as democratic as you are. Some of these who give us lessons have been on a journey of thousands of years to democracy and they want to wake up one morning and distort our situation, tell lies, yet they are responsible for many of the things that have us here to commemorate this genocide. And as they talk about freedom of expression, they don�t want you to express yourself about their responsibility in this genocide. What freedoms are you teaching me? If you can�t take full responsibility for what you did, for the politics that killed one million people of Rwanda, why do you teach me freedom yet in that freedom you don�t want me to put the blame on you, and rightly so?
It is a struggle, it will take time, resolve, energy, a fight, but we should be able to do that. We should be able to define ourselves and what we want for our country and some of us are very happy to make it a lifelong commitment.

Let me go back to the problems of genocide survivors and problems they face. I would like to say that the commitment and will to find solutions to their problems will never diminish, on the contrary, this keeps increasing. We always look to find solutions to these problems. However, people tend to exacerbate the problems. You find that resources are sourced and found, but things don�t get implemented the way they should be because of poor performance. This is the bad politics that I was talking about – where people are not held accountable. That is what we have been fighting lately, in the process of building good politics.

Most of the leaders who complain – those who run away, do so because they are evading accountability. A country that cannot hold leaders accountable for what they are in charge of will always face problems, therefore holding leaders to account for their responsibilities will continue. Problems that don�t get solved have dire consequences to homeless, destitute survivors. However, I assure you that there is continued progress and we will see to it that the situation is corrected and further developed. I call upon you to make it a culture to help each other and especially support those with trauma so that everyone of us can have a role in nation building so we can reach the development that we long for.

Thank you and may God�s peace be with you.

Break The Silence Campaign

Break the Silence Campaign at BBC World Service

Wednesday April 7th, 2010, three determined citizens from the Great Lakes region of Africa braved the London rainy weather to Break the Silence on the death and ongoing suffering of millions of people in that region.

They staged their campaign of breaking the silence of those millions of lives the world seems not to care about in front of BBC World Service (London).

On the same day Rwanda commemorates the genocide which occurred in that country in 1994.

Before, during, and years after the Rwandan genocide, the Great Lakes region has continued to be the theater of atrocities that the world had only experienced during World War II.

The small group left a press release to the Producer/ Editor of Africa section at media group. Some of their demands read like this:

1. BBC World Service and other global media should point to the real culprits of the tragedy of the Great Lakes region and refuse to continue to be puppets to the rhythm of corrupt dictators and their sponsors as they serve interests of the West at the expense of millions of African lives.

2. Global media should highlight to the attention of governments, the UN and the general public the relationship between
� allocating large amounts of money to Rwandan and Ugandan dictatorships through bilateral and multilateral channels such as the World Bank and the European Union and the suffering of millions of citizens in the Great Lakes region
� arming and supporting militarily these regimes and the lack of political space for democracy, particularly during electoral years when populations are expected to freely express who they want to lead them
� plundering DRC mineral resources through embezzled structures with bases in Rwanda, Uganda and connections with companies in UK, Germany, Belgium, US, Canada, China, and the ongoing tragedy of rape, torture, imprisonment, displacement of populations…

Ambrose Nzeyimana
Co-ordinator
Organising for Africa (OfA)

Read more about:
Organising for Africa and Break The Silence Campaign
and
Break the Silence Campaign on the death of millions in the Great Lakes region of Africa

Listen to Paul Kagame’s Full Speech at the 16th Commemoration of the genocide on 07 April 2010:

President Paul Kagame’s Full Speech at the 16th Commemoration of the genocide on 07 April 2010

Listen to the April press conference hosted by President Paul Kagame at Urugwiro Village – Kigali on April 5, 2010:

Barack Obama: It is �Not enough to say �never again�� to Genocide

President Obama issued a statement Wednesday marking the 16th anniversary of the start of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. �It is not enough to say �never again,�� said Obama. �We must renew our commitment and redouble our efforts to prevent mass atrocities and genocide.�

His full statement:

�On this 16th commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, we devote our thoughts to those who were lost and honor those who survived.

More than 800,000 men, women, and children were killed and countless others continue to live with the pain and trauma of their memories and their loss.

It is not enough to say �never again.� We must renew our commitment and redouble our efforts to prevent mass atrocities and genocide.

We are inspired by the spirit of the Rwandan people to move forward and we stand with the people of Rwanda and the international community in commemorating the genocide.

�The United States is committed to its partnership with Rwanda and will continue to support efforts to promote sustainable development, respect for human rights, and sustainable peace in Rwanda and the region.�

[Politico]