Rwanda on Sunday, April 7, commemorated the 30 years anniversary of the genocide with solemn tributes to the victims and a resolve that the country must never experience such devastating episode again.

The killing spree in the tiny eastern African country lasted 100 days from April to July 1994 before the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebel militia led by incumbent President Paul Kagame took the capital Kigali. It claimed the lives of an estimated 800,000 people, largely from the Tutsi ethnic group and moderate Hutus, in what has been described as one of the bloodiest massacres of the 20th century.

The genocide was triggered by the assassination of Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana on the night of April 6, when his plane was shot down over Kigali, which triggered the rampage by the Hutu extremists led military and the Interahamwe militia made up largely of Hutus.

The genocide victims were shot, beaten or hacked to death in killings fuelled by vicious anti-Tutsi propaganda broadcast on TV and radio, with at least 250,000 women raped and sexually assaulted, according to UN figures.

But since the end of the genocide and the assumption of office by Kagame, Rwanda has found its footing, becoming one of the fastest developing countries in Africa.

In keeping with tradition, the ceremonies on April 7, the commemoration began with President Kagame lighting a remembrance flame at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 victims are believed to be buried.

Local media reports that as an army band “played mournful melodies, Kagame placed wreaths on the mass graves, flanked by foreign dignitaries including several African heads of state and former US president Bill Clinton, who had called the genocide the biggest failure of his administration.”

“As part of the weeklong activities, President Paul Kagame will give a speech at a 10,000-seat arena in the capital, where Rwandans will later hold a candlelight vigil for those killed in the slaughter.

“The week of national mourning begins on Sunday and the lineup of events mark the start of a week of national mourning, with Rwanda effectively coming to a standstill and national flags flown at half-mast.

“Music will not be allowed in public places or on the radio, while sports events and movies are banned from TV broadcasts, unless connected to what has been dubbed Kwibuka (Remembrance) 30”.

As part of the healing process instituted by the Kagame administration, Rwandan ID cards do not mention whether a person is Hutu or Tutsi, while secondary school students learn about the genocide as part of a tightly controlled curriculum.

The country is home to over 200 memorials to the genocide, four of which were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list last year.

The memorials house skulls, bone fragments, torn clothing and images of piled up corpses as well as the guns, machetes and other weapons used to carry out the slaughter and each year, new mass graves are uncovered around the country.