On Saturday 28th August 2021, at the newly completed Kiziguro genocide memorial in Gatsibo District , 5269 bodies of the victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi were buried decently.
Gatsibo District’s mayor, Richard Gasana said that the bodies include more than 5000 bodies of the Tutsi that were thrown into the 24 meter of depth hole that had been dug in the yard of Kiziguro catholic parish and 254 bodies that had been buried in the Bugarura genocide memorial while others were recovered from different areas across the District.
He said that at the Kiziguro were gathered Tutsi refugees from the communes of Murambi, Muhura, Gituza, Muhazi, Ngarama and former commune of Muvumba, all of these were killed under the surveillance of Jean Baptiste Gatete, former mayor of Murambi commune.
Sibomana Jean Nepomuscene, president of IBUKA in Gatsibo District thanked the Government of Rwanda for the memorial that offers a decent final resting place to the victims.
He suggested that a special memorial be erected at the Kiziguro church to show that there are believers who were murdered inside his holy palace.
Dr Jean-Damascene Bizimana, Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) reiterated the history of preparation and execution of the genocide against the Tutsi and the savagery with which it was perpetrated in Murambi.
CG Emmanuel Gasana, governor of the Eastern Province consoled the survivors, especially those whose relatives were killed in Kiziguro.
He thanked the survivors of Kiziguro who forgave those who killed theirs in order to support unity and reconciliation.