Rwandans commemorate 30 years since the genocide whose legacy still scars the small country

Former US President Bill Clinton and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa arrive to lay a wreath at a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Photo / AP

Rwandans are commemorating 30 years since the genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed by government-backed extremists, shattering the small East African country that continues to grapple with the horrific legacy of the massacres.

Rwanda has shown strong economic growth in the years since, but scars remain and there are questions about whether genuine reconciliation has been achieved under the long rule of President Paul Kagame, whose rebel movement stopped the genocide and seized power.

Kagame, who is praised by many for bringing relative stability but vilified by others for his intolerance of dissent, will lead sombre commemoration events on Sunday in the capital, Kigali. Foreign visitors include a delegation led by Bill Clinton, the US President during the genocide, and Israeli president Isaac Herzog.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame lights a memorial flame during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Photo / AP

Kagame will light a flame of remembrance and lay a wreath at a memorial site holding the remains of 250,000 genocide victims in Kigali.

The killings were ignited when a plane carrying then-President Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down over Kigali. The Tutsis were blamed for downing the plane and killing the president. and became targets in massacres led by Hutu extremists that lasted over 100 days in 1994. Some moderate Hutus who tried to protect members of the Tutsi minority were also killed.

Rwandan authorities have long blamed the international community for ignoring warnings about the killings, and some Western leaders have expressed regret.

Clinton, after leaving office, cited the Rwandan genocide as a failure of his administration. French President Emmanuel Macron, in a prerecorded video ahead of the Sunday’s ceremonies, said on Thursday that France and its allies could have stopped the genocide but lacked the will to do so. Macron’s declaration came three years after he acknowledged the “overwhelming responsibility” of France — Rwanda’s closest European ally in 1994 — for failing to stop Rwanda’s slide into the slaughter.

Rwanda’s ethnic composition remains largely unchanged since 1994, with a Hutu majority. The Tutsis account for 14 per cent and the Twa just 1 per cent of Rwanda’s 14 million people. Kagame’s Tutsi-dominated government has outlawed any form of organisation along ethnic lines, as part of efforts to build a uniform Rwandan identity.

National ID cards no longer identify citizens by ethnic group, and authorities imposed a tough penal code to prosecute those suspected of denying the genocide or the “ideology” behind it. Some observers say the law has been used to silence critics who question the government’s policies.

Rwandan refugees cross the bridge of Rumumo River which marks the border between Tanzania and Rwanda, in 1996. Photo / AP

Rights groups have accused Kagame’s soldiers of carrying out some killings during and after the genocide in apparent revenge, but Rwandan authorities see the allegations as an attempt to rewrite history. Kagame has previously said that his forces showed restraint in the face of genocide.

Kagame is expected to give a speech and a night vigil will be held later on Sunday as part of a week of remembrance activities.

Naphtal Ahishakiye, the head of Ibuka, a prominent group of survivors, told the Associated Press that keeping the memory of the genocide alive helps fight the mentality that allowed neighbours to turn on each other, killing even children. Mass graves are still being discovered across Rwanda 30 years later, a reminder of the scale of the killings.

Coffins containing newly discovered remains of victims of the 1994 genocide arranged before a funeral ceremony, in a Catholic church, in Nyamata, Rwanda. Photo / AP

“It’s a time to learn what happened, why it happened, what are the consequences of genocide to us as genocide survivors, to our country, and to the international community,” said Ahishakiye.

He said his country has come a long way since the 1990s, when only survivors and government officials participated in commemoration events. “But today even those who are family members of perpetrators come to participate.”

Kagame, who grew up a refugee in neighbouring Uganda, has been Rwanda’s de facto ruler, first as vice president from 1994 to 2000, then as acting president. He was voted into office in 2003 and has since been reelected multiple times. A candidate for elections set for July, he won the last election with nearly 99 per cent of the vote.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his wife, first lady Jeannette Kagame prepare to light a memorial flame to commemorate the genocide. Photo / AP

Rights activists and others say the authoritarian Kagame has created a climate of fear that discourages open and free discussion of national issues. Critics have accused the government of forcing opponents to flee, jailing or making them disappear while some are killed under mysterious circumstances. Kagame’s most serious political rivals are his Tutsi ex-comrades now living in exile.

Though mostly peaceful, Rwanda also has had troubled relations with its neighbours.

Recently, tensions have flared with Congo, with the two countries’ leaders accusing one another of supporting armed groups. Relations have been tense with Burundi as well over allegations that Kigali is backing a rebel group attacking Burundi. And relations with Uganda are yet to fully normalise after a period of tensions stemming from Rwandan allegations that Uganda was backing rebels opposed to Kagame.