6 Feb 08- The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr Horst Kohler, paid a memorable visit to the Kigali Memorial Centre today.
The President’s visit allowed him to have a first-hand sense of the horrors of the past that led to the 1994 genocide in which up to one million innocent Tutsis and moderate Hutus perished in one of the most horrible and systematically planned genocides in history.
The occasion also allowed the German President to recognize the work of Aegis Trust and the Kigali Memorial Centre in the continuous campaign of genocide prevention and the fight against genocidal ideology around the world. The Memorial Centre was established by the Aegis Trust in 2004 at the behest of Kigali City Council.
The German President was welcomed by the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, by the Mayor of Kigali and by the Aegis Trust’s site manager. His first act was to pay tribute to the victims of genocide by laying a wreath on the mass graves. Away from the glare of the cameras, he then took a quiet tour of the exhibition to reflect on the long history that led to the 1994 genocide.
At the end of the visit, which lasted about 50 minutes, he addressed the waiting media, stating that “The 1994 Rwandan genocide is a wound for the country and for the entire world. I am deeply touched by this visit. Gisozi allows us to remember the horror of the past with clarity and dignity. We must jointly ensure that there is a better future for those who survived and for the generations to come”.
