KIGALI, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Remains of 83 victims of 1994 genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda have so far been exhumed from mass graves in a valley dam in Ruramira sector, Kayonza district, Eastern Rwanda, local official said Thursday.
"We started the exhumation exercise last year after a tip-off from one of the genocide survivors in Ruramira sector that there is a mass grave in a valley dam, so far we have exhumed 83 bodies," Aaron Agaba, executive secretary of Kayonza district told Xinhua in a telephone interview.
"The exercise to exhume all the human remains continues until we have exhausted all mass graves in the valley dam," said Agaba.
According to him, initially, the exercise was quite challenging since the valley dam was full of water. This year, the government deployed machines to pump water out of the dam to make it easy for excavation process.
"We have started removing water, and the whole dam will be drained by Friday before we embark on searching for more human remains buried under the mud," said Agaba.
He pointed out that an estimated 30,00 Tutsis in Kayonza and neighboring districts of Rwamagana and Ngoma were dumped in the water dam during the genocide.
Agaba said that once all human remains are exhumed, they will be accorded a descent burial in designated genocide memorial sites in Kayonza district.
"Remains of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi are still being discovered in many parts of the country 26 years after, due to people who continue to hide information regarding undisclosed mass graves across the country," Jean-Damascene Bizimana, executive secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) told Xinhua in a telephone interview on Thursday.
Bizimana appealed to all Rwandans with information which could help in identifying undisclosed mass graves in the country to come forward.
In 2018-2019 fiscal year, remains of 118,049 genocide victims were discovered in 17 districts countrywide, according to CNLG.
Rwanda on Tuesday started a week-long mourning of more than a million victims, majority ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutu, who were killed in the 1994 genocide against Tutsi which lasted 100-day spell.
Due to outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, this year's genocide commemoration saw many memorial events cancelled and people told to commemorate genocide from their homes and as well as follow discussions on different media platforms.
This year's genocide commemoration is observed in the country under the theme "Remember, Unite and Renew."
Throughout the mourning week, until April 13, the Rwandan flag will be flying at half-mast in honor of the victims.
