Next week is the start of the commemoration of the anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda in which one million Tutsis, and a number of moderate Hutus, were targeted and killed in just one hundred days from April to July 1994.
Survivors Fund (SURF), in association with the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region of Africa, today held a Parliamentary commemoration to mark the anniversary (a week early, as Parliament will be dissolved next week for the Easter recess).
The event was powerful and moving, led by two addresses of UK-based survivors: Jean Bosco Ngabonzima, who shared his testimony, and Alphonsine Kabagabo, who reflected on the lessons of the genocide.
The testimonies of two survivors, Phillipe and Bernadette, were read by Stephen Crabb MP and Nicola Blackwood MP, as a symbolic Reading of the Testimonies.
His Excellency Ernest Rwamucyo, Rwandan High Commissioner to the UK, led a minute of silence in remembrance of the victims, and David Russell, Director of Survivors Fund (SURF), spoke on the situation of survivors today.
The event was chaired by Eric Joyce MP, Chair of the APPG on the Great Lakes.
We are thankful to all those that attended and supported the event.
Further events will be staged over the coming weeks, including the annual public commemoration of the High Commission at 3pm at Southwark Cathedral on Thursday April 7th, International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. Further information is available here.
