Tanzania FM visits Kigali genocide memorial centre

Dr.Augustine Philip Mahiga laying a wreath of flowers on mass grave at Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre.

The Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister Dr.Augustine Philip Mahiga, paid a memorable visit to the Kigali Memorial Centre yesterday.

The foreign affairs minister’s visit allowed him to have a first-hand sense of the horrors of the past that led to the 1994 genocide in which over one million innocent Tutsis perished in one of the most horrible and systematically planned genocides in history.

He laid wreaths on the mass graves where 250.000 people are buried.

In an interview with Journalists shortly after the visit, Dr.Augustine Philip Mahiga has called on United Nations to live to its duty of protecting humanity as well as promoting the spirit of co-existence across the world.

 “This is a time for reflection and creating a new culture of co-existence and strengthening the United Nations so that it lives to its responsibility to the rest of humanity,” Mahiga said.

“It is very difficult to comprehend this,” he said.

The Tanzania foreign minister who was shocked by what happened in Rwanda in 1994 said preventing genocide from occurring again should not be one person or a single country’s task, but should be the duty of the international community.

 “This documented history of the 1994 Tutsi genocide is a unique and indeed a shocking experience that human beings can do to another other,” he further noted.

The Minister noted the 1994 genocide and others that happened across the world should work as all living memory and teacher for the people to respect human rights.

“The world needs to express solidarity with Rwandan people and use this experience to create systems that will bring understanding of co-existence and prosperity,” he advised.