Rwandan Genocide Remembered after 20 Years

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Apr 07, 2014

Rwandan Genocide Remembered after 20 Years

April 7 marks the 20th anniversary of the horrifying  Rwandan genocide. 800,000 Rwandan civilians were killed, and the country still feels the effects of the terror today.

Civil war between the Hutu-led government and the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front, the majority of the country’s population. After the death of President Juvénal Habyarimana on April 6 1994, Hutus broke out in riots, the beginning of 100 days of genocide reports Christian Today.

Samaritan’s Purse Vice President of programmes and government relations Ken Isaacs travelled to Rwanda during the genocide to give aid to survivors and spoke of his experience.

"Death is always a horrible thing, but death perpetuated by the unbridled darkness in the heart of man is something beyond horrible; it's dark and evil. I've never seen anything compared to that kind of atrocity, and I hope to never again."

Samaritan’s Purse ran the refugee camps in Tanzania and Rutare during the genocide, giving survivors medical attention, food and water. The organization also reopened the Kigali hospital after its medical personnel were either killed or evacuated.

Louis Muvunyi, Bishop of Kigali said that the nation is still struggling to improve its education, healthcare and poverty level with the assistance of Samaritan’s Purse.

"There is hope: for the future, for survivors, for victims and for the perpetrators," Muvunyi said.



Rwandan Genocide Remembered after 20 Years