October, the month of remembrance for
@HutuGenocide —
#Day 6
📌
#RWAMAGANA KILLING SITE
➡️By June 1994, at the height of the genocide, Jean
#Bosco #Kazura—one of the leaders of the death squads—had traveled to Rwamagana, east of Kigali, an area that was now under the control of the
#RPF.
A soldier from the High Command stated that Kazura directed about 100 soldiers who hunted civilians, killed them, and made them disappear into a pit in the nearby
#Rutonde area.
▶️ “Kazura personally took part in the execution, in directing and supervising these operations of tracking and gathering Hutu civilians in this area to the east of Kigali. He brought them to a detention house and then took them to the place where they were shot,” the soldier said, recalling being present during the killings.
➡️During one incident, Hutu women and children who had taken refuge in a Catholic church were taken to
#Rutonde, where they were massacred and thrown into a pit above the Tutsi victims who had been killed earlier by the Interahamwe during the genocide. Others were captured, detained at a gas station, and then killed and buried in the same pit.
▶️ “The women’s arms were tied behind their backs with their wraps [clothing]. The men were tied with their shirts. They were taken to a detention center at the Rwamagana gas station. In the evening, they were killed on the spot or taken to the pit and killed there,” the soldier said.
▶️ He estimated that at least 600 people were killed in this way in Rwamagana alone, and more than 2,000 in the neighboring area. A junior officer stationed there said that, in early July, Kazura came to Rwamagana several times a week in his white Land Cruiser. He stayed at the
#Dereva Hotel, a guesthouse where he had access to women and [the text continues…].
▶️ The junior officer—an even-tempered, self-assured man named
#Damas—confirmed that Rwamagana was a microcosm of the detention and assassination style carried out by the
@rpfinkotanyi throughout the genocide. Damas was present in July when soldiers from the local gendarmerie barracks killed about 200 Hutu men with firearms and hoes. Many of them had their arms and hands tied behind their backs. Some were already dead from the bullets they had received during their roundup.
Damas vividly remembers the massacre, which took place under cover of night in a tent set up within the barracks compound.
▶️ “No one could say no when it was happening [or insist] for it to stop,” he said. “Personally, it was shocking, but we were in a murder situation.”
The bodies were loaded onto three Mercedes trucks and taken to Akagera Park.
▶️ “Once everything was done, a soldier shouted out loud: ‘All these idiots are not killers. We didn’t need to kill all of them!’ The soldier was then hit on the head with a hoe and taken to the hospital.”
🔸🔸Rever, J., 2018. In Praise Of Blood, The Crimes Of The Rwanda Patriotic Front. Toronto: Random House Canada, pp. 92–93.
🚨📣As we remember the tragedies of
#Rwamagana, we stand for truth, justice, and accountability for all victims and survivors. Let the world commit to “Never Again”—and to ensuring that those responsible are held accountable.
#NeverAgain #JusticePourLesVictimes
#HumanRights #GenocideAwareness #NeverForget @UNSC_Reports @UN_HRC @UNHumanRights @UNESCO_fr @AuRwanda @Genocost #Burundi #bantou
#NeverAgain #RwOT
#JusticePourLesVictimes