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Rwanda pays tribute to victims of 1994 genocide

African Union chief Moussa Faki, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, his wife Jeannette (2ndR), and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker light a remembrance flame for the 25th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali.
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The head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has paid tribute to the more than 800 000 people who lost their lives in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

On Sunday begins a week of events and a 100 days of national mourning in Rwanda.

Juncker is among the heads of states attending the events to commemorate the massacre at the Amohoro Stadium in the capital Kigali.

“It is our generation’s duty to never forget what human kind is capable of. It is only by remembering that building a brighter future together is possible. Europe has seen some of the worst atrocities known to men and in Europe just as in Africa and elsewhere time can never erase the darkest past in our history…”

“It is the duty to remember that brings us here today it is our moral and political imperative,” he added.

The event to commemorate the death of about a tenth of Rwanda’s population mostly ethnic Tutsis in the genocide 25 years ago.

A number of heads of state are in attendance including former South African President Thabo Mbeki.

To mark the start of the commemoration events, Rwandan President Paul Kagame lit a flame of remembrance at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Richard Sezibera opened the ceremony at the Stadium.

Sezibera said, “I would like to extend a warm welcome to you all to the 25th commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsis. Official statistics show that Rwanda currently has close to 13 million inhabitants but in this month of April we are over 14 million, because collectively in our hearts and in our minds we carry the more than 1 million victims who perished during the genocide.”

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