Ntarama- Commemoration of innocent Tutsi who were thrown in waters

Ntarama, Bugesera – This Saturday, in the swamp of the Nyabarongo, survivors of the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in the former Bugesera who have relatives thrown in the rivers of Nyabarongo and Akagera commemorated their beloved ones.

The swamp was nicknamed CND ( Conseil National de Devélopement) to link it to the CND Parliamentary Building where 600 soldiers of the former RPF-Inkotanyi Front were brought in order apply the Agreement with the Habyarimana regime.

Commemoration event was organized by Dukundane Family composed by survivors who studied at Saint André secondary school.

Many young people attended that commemoration event at the swamp both from the Dukundane Family.

The commemoration activities of The Dukundane Family members involve all Tutsi killed and thrown in different rivers of Rwanda.

The commemoration event took place at area where both Nyabarongo and Akayaru form a delta, an area called Amasango in Kinyarwanda.

The swamp is large enough to become a hiding place for a fugitive. The Interahamwe militias hunted the Tutsi from the neighboring areas with dogs and different kinds of weapons.

The Interahamwe killed all Tutsi that they found and have  thrown the bodies in the Nyabarongo and Akanyaru rivers, which ones make the Akagera River.

Many Tutsis from the surrounding areas searched for a refugee in  the swamp and tried to resist against the killers.

The eyewitness who survived the Genocide in the swamp Roger Habumuremyi said that the former RPA-Inkotanyi soldiers rescued few people who survived from the killing in the swamp.

The name of CND was also given to the mass grave located in the District of Ruhango in the former Kinazi sector in the Ntongwe Commune.

Few months before the genocide started, six hundred soldiers of the former RPA- Inkotayi were living in the CND building in order to apply the Arusha agreement.

Minister of culture and sports, Mitali Protais said that these waters of Nyabarongo and Akanyaru have specific historic explanations that show  the aim of the killers to exterminate the Tutsi.

Minister Mitali Protais said that the Ministry has planned to build different memorial sites in the various valleys and swamps to commemorate the Genocide.

UM– USEKE.RW