Thirty-two years ago, a genocidal campaign was unleashed against Rwanda’s Tutsi minority, resulting in more than one million deaths. On Tuesday, the UN is holding commemorations to ensure that the genocide is never forgotten and never repeated.
Serge Gasore’s childhood is the stuff of nightmares.
He was a young child when the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi began in Rwanda and narrowly escaped death on multiple occasions. His mother was murdered, and he saw his grandmother killed by a grenade attack on a church where Tutsis were hiding.
He spent weeks fleeing from Hutu attackers but couldn’t avoid being drawn into the war: at nine-years-old, he fought with the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) army.
Eventually, as a young adult, Gasore was able to leave Rwanda and settle in the United States, where he and his wife founded Rwanda Children, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing shelter, food, medical care and education to at-risk children in the country.
Gasore is just one example of the thousands of people rebuilding their lives, over three decades on from the horrific events of 1994, during which more than one million people – overwhelmingly Tutsi, but also Hutu and others who opposed the genocide – were systematically killed in less than three months.
Alongside another survivor, Marcel Mutsindashyaka, who lost 25 members of his family, Gasore shared his story at a ceremony at UN Headquarters on April 7, 2026, marking the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
When the plane carrying the Hutu president of Rwanda was shot down in early April 1994, extremist Hutus began a wave of killings against the nation’s Tutsi minority and moderate Hutus. This conflict resulted in the deaths of up to perhaps one million Rwandans. Rwanda’s own national commemoration and day of mourning, called Kwibuka, which translates as “remembrance,” is held annually on April 7th.
Honoring ‘stolen dignity’
UN Secretary-General António Guterres mourned the victims, including “entire families brutally erased”, and honored “their stolen dignity.”
In his message, Guterres paid tribute to survivors like Gasore, whose resilience, he said, “shows the strength of the human spirit.”
Recalling the international community’s failure to heed warnings and take immediate life-saving action, Guterres said we must learn from past failures and protect the living “by rejecting hatred, inflammatory rhetoric and incitement to violence.”
The April 7 event, along with other commemorations held at UN offices around the world, are coordinated by the Outreach Programme on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and the United Nations, established by the General Assembly in 2005 to “mobilize civil society for Rwanda genocide victim remembrance and education in order to help prevent future acts of genocide.”
UNESCO also commemorates the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It also promotes education about genocides as a means to sensitize learners for the causes, dynamics and consequences of such crimes and to strengthen their resilience against all forms of discrimination.
Remember – Unite – Renew
The African Union (AU), in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Rwanda in Ethiopia, solemnly observes the commemoration at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, under the theme “Remember – Unite – Renew”.
Each year, this commemoration reminds African peoples and the international community of the sanctity of life and the value of humanity, while reinforcing our collective resolve to prevent genocide, uphold human rights, and safeguard future generations. It also provides a solemn moment to remember the lives that were lost.
The occasion offers an opportunity to reflect on the magnitude of human suffering, honor the memory of all those lost, and reaffirm the shared responsibility of African peoples and the international community to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated.
The event commenced with “The Walk to Remember” and the laying of wreaths in honor of the victims of the genocide at the AU Human Rights Memorial. The walk to remember was followed by a commemorative ceremony held at Nelson Mandela Hall at the AU Headquarters. The programme featured prayers delivered by representatives of the Muslim, Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic communities, followed by the Lighting of the Flame of Remembrance, accompanied by a commemoration song.
Participants then viewed the documentary “Rwanda: From Despair to Hope” and observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims. The commemoration also included the official launch of the African Union Human Rights Virtual Memorial with the United Nations Office to the African Union (UN/OAU) as a core partner, introducing dedicated component on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, further reinforcing the AU’s commitment to preserving its memory and promoting human rights across the continent.
Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, in his remarks, said, “Remember over one million lives lost to hatred, indifference, and inaction.” He stressed that Kwibuka is not only a moment of mourning but also a call to truth, responsibility, and vigilance. He further added that in African affairs, ‘Never Again’ will organized hatred be allowed to become a political project.
Continuing, he said “we must confront rising threats, hate speech, division, and polarization with unity, courage, and action.” Rwanda’s remarkable journey of resilience and renewal reminds us that history is not fate; it is shaped by the will of people, he added. He concluded by saying, “Remembrance obliges us to act, to prevent, and to defend human dignity everywhere. Africa stands firm for peace, justice, and the protection of all.”
In his statement, Hadera Abera (Amb.), Ethiopia’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, noted that Rwanda’s history now stands as a definitive testament to the human spirit and a reminder that through the difficult work of accountability, a nation can be reborn, healed, and made whole again.
On his part, Bankole Adeoye (Amb.), Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the African Union Commission, in his welcome remarks on behalf of the AUC Chairperson, stated, “We stand in solidarity with the victims, the survivors, and all Rwandans across the globe to reaffirm our collective commitment in saying, ‘Never Again!’” He commended Rwanda’s remarkable resilience in rebuilding a just, reconciled, and inclusive society that stands as a beacon of hope for the entire continent and beyond.
Infamous Legacy
Rwandans and humanity will never forget April 7. It was the D-Day of the apocalypse that the extremists had earlier warned about. The warning had come during the Arusha peace talks between the RPF and the Rwanda Government (July 1992-August 1993). On Jan. 9, 1993, Theoneste Bagosora (Col.), the infamous architect of the genocide, stormed out of the peace talks, vehemently rejecting concessions to the RPF. He declared that he was heading back to Rwanda “to prepare the apocalypse.” As we would soon witness, not only did Bagosora prepare the apocalypse, he also executed it, ordering the killing of countless innocent people.
But the genocide against the Tutsi was the climax of the killings, not the beginning. Killing Tutsis had been a strategy for the Hutu extremists who were handed power on a silver platter by the Belgians at the independence of Rwanda in 1962.
Like most colonial powers around the independence period, the Belgians abhorred leaving power in the hands of nationalists. They branded them communists to justify their exclusion and extermination.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they killed Patrice Lumumba, the Prime Minister, and in Rwanda, they eliminated the nationalist King Rudahigwa. They went on to install a puppet President, Gregoire Kaibanda, a Hutu groomed in the Catholic Church who was glad to perpetuate their hold over Rwanda.
In the anarchy that followed, thousands were killed, and tens of thousands fled to neighboring countries. The Tutsis who remained in Rwanda continued to be targets of arbitrary killing, alienation and all sorts of abuse. By 1994, the extremists had perfected their genocide plan.
In January 1994, Romeo Dallaire (Gen.), the Canadian UN Force commander in Rwanda, received intelligence on the extremist killers’ capabilities. An informer confided to him that he was in charge of training militias to kill Tutsis, and his teams were ready with necessary arms and ammunition. He further revealed that these teams, which were deployed to many parts of the country, could kill at least 1000 people in 20 minutes. The UN’s inaction, when Dallaire transmitted this information to New York, remains a testament to the organization’s ineffectiveness in the face of such humanitarian crises.
Moving on from Genocide
Some 32 years later, Rwanda has moved on to become one of the most promising countries on the continent of Africa.
Over the past two decades, the country has recorded sustained economic growth averaging around 7-8 percent annually, significantly reduced poverty levels and invested heavily in human capital and institutional reform. Under the leadership of Paul Kagame, the Rwanda Patriotic Front has unified the earlier fractured country, institutionalized unity and reconciliation and built accountable governance systems.
Today, Rwanda ranks among the safest countries in Africa and is globally recognized for its governance reforms and gender equality, with women holding over 60 percent of parliamentary seats, which is the highest representation in the world.
But the legacy of genocide still reverberates in the Great Lakes region.
(This article is compiled from AU, UN, UNESCO, Kansas African studies center, European Sting and DailySabah.)
