THE KIGALI GENOCIDE MEMORIAL CENTRE

On every  Rwanda safari, a visit to the Kigali genocide memorial center is  truly a worth experience as you get to know more about  the 1994 Rwanda slaughter. The Kigali genocide memorial is located in Gisozi of Kigali the capital city of Rwanda. It was constructed in commemoration of the Rwanda genocide against the Tusti.

The Rwandan genocide occurred in 1993 between the 7^th April and 15 July during the Rwanda civil war. The Rwandan civil war was led by the late Fred Rwigyema who Invaded Rwanda from north, coming south of Uganda. Fred Rwigyema died after the third day of the war and command was taken by his deputy Paul kagame.

The rebels came under a flag of the Rwandan patriotic front that was composed of the Tutsi refugees. The Rwanda genocide was sparkled off by the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana on April 1994.  This genocide was against the Tusti, twa and the moderate Hutu.

Further details

Over 10,000 deaths occurred in Rwanda of which 70% were the Tutsi. The rebels killed many people; villagers, neighbors and families killed each-other.

The memorial center holds over 250,000 remains of the victims of the 1994 Rwanda genocide. This site has a section for information regarding the genocide and also a students’ area.

The victims remains were collected and buried in piles of 10,000.  The Kigali genocide memorial is among the five genocide sites in Rwanda and these include; Nyarubuye, Nyamata, Ntarama, Bisesero and Murambi located in the different regions of Rwanda.

The Rwanda genocide memorial center construction begun in 2000 with the help of the Aegis trust. As of today, the Aegis-trust manages the center on behalf of the National commission for the fight against Genocide. The Aegis trust is an NGO that was founded in 2000 to prevent worldwide genocides. The Aegis trust helped in collecting data that was to be installed in the center. The process included importing three graphical exhibits, written in three languages and installed in the memorial center.

Sections inside the center

The upstairs of the center has three permanent exhibitions. The first is a children’s memorial which exhibits intimate details of the children’s final moments, their toys, manner in which they were killed and life-sized photos of the children.

Another side exhibits the terror side of the Rwanda genocide of 1994. This is the largest of the three exhibitions.

The third exhibition shows the world-wide history of genocide violence and how it has impacted the people across the globe. There are also informative audio tours at the Kigali genocide memorial.

The beauty with scares at the Kigali genocide memorial is truly a must see on every safari in Rwanda.

Besides the genocide sites, one can visit national parks of Rwanda; volcanoes national park, Akagera national park, Gishwati -Mukura national park and  Nyungwe national park.