The shed at Bisesero memorial where the victims� remains are kept temporarily

As the country commemo�rates the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis, in some areas of the country victims� re�mains are still awaiting appropriate burial, due mainly to the fact that some memorial sites have been de�molished or heavily damaged.

The Rwanda Focus visited sever�al memorial sites and found some of them indeed in a poor state.

One of the heavily damaged ones is Bisesero, located in Karon�gi district. Funded by the ministry of sports and culture and super�vised by the National Commission against Genocide (CNLG), the re�habilitation works at the memo�rial were supposed to cost Frw 150 million. However, in the last years several contractors were hired to do the job, only to leave the work un�finished.

Part of the project consists of reno�vating the main part which lies next to the memorial monument at the entrance, consisting of spears that symbolize the resistance of the fall�en Tutsis. CNLG�s agent at Bisesero said the roof of the main building is about to collapse because of rain water accumulated on it for more than twelve years.

It is also scheduled for the me�morial to be expanded with more rooms representing places where the victims sought refuge on Muy�ira hill. The rooms will also show historic moments of the Bisesero massacres which occurred under the eyes of French soldiers guarding the so-called Zone Turquoise while thousands were brutally massacred by Interahamwe militia and the then army (FAR) who then fled to neigh�boring Congo (then Zaire) with the French.

With the memorial�s main build�ing in disrepair, the remains of the victims are kept in a small structure made of iron sheets, where they are rather exposed to the elements. This makes the rehabilitation all the more urgent.

The survivors of the horror on the Bisesero hills strongly protest against this situation. �This memo�rial reminds us how we had to fight for more than three months for our lives,� stresses Damascene Ntagani�ra. �We have to bury the dead in an honorable way and not keep on ar�guing with incompetent and care�less contractors.�

�If we have to be self-reliant we have first to make sure that our own are given back the dignity they lost when they were killed for how they were born. Once we are sure they are buried in an appropriate way, we have the courage to work hard and develop ourselves towards self-reliance,� says Samuel Ndarisi, also a Bisesero survivor.

The only mass grave where Bis�esero heroes were buried was de�stroyed last year by heavy rains. Their bodies too were taken to the temporary shack at the memorial. �It is disturbing to see that we will wait for years to re-dignify our fel�lows,� Ndarisi complains.

�Even if the other works have to wait, we should give priority to the graves so that we stop seeing the traumatizing images of the remains of our brothers, sisters and parents exposed in that so-called house,� he says, casting an eye on the forlorn structure.

According to Salomon Nshimyu�mukiza, who is in charge of social welfare in Rwankuba sector which neighbors the Memorial�s Twumba sector, officials are doing what they can to get the Memorial rehabilitat�ed. �Despite the scarce resources, we are doing all in our possibilities,� he says, and refusing to give any fur�ther comment.

The head of Ibuka in Karongi, Isaac Habarugira says that although three previous contractors have failed, the one that has now been hired gives hope that the works will have been completed by June, when the Bisesero massacres will be com�memorated.

Other memorial sites like Nyama�ta are also in a deplorable state and need immediate renovation to pro�vide a decent resting place to the re�mains of the Genocide victims.

Source: The Rwanda Focus