On 7 April 2021, we commemorated the 27th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide targeting the Tutsi in Rwanda.

On this day in 1994 extremist government-led Hutu militias began to execute a long-planned campaign to murder all Tutsi, as well as any Hutu, who opposed their genocidal plan. The Twa, neither the target nor the main instigators, were involved in the genocide on both sides. In less than three months, between 800 000 and one million men, women and children were killed.

“Mass violence and genocide do not occur by accident. They are caused by human will, and they can be prevented by human will.” – Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire

Left, Rwandan refugees fleeing violence en route to refugee camp, 10 July 1994.