Culture

Rwanda commemorates 30 years anniversary of genocide

Published

1 month ago

April 7, 2024

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.

Related Topics:Anniversary Featured Genocide Hutus Paul Kagame Rwanda Tutsis

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Culture

Legendary American music icon Stevie Wonder becomes full Ghanaian citizen

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Legendary American singer and songwriter, Stevie Wonder, is now officially a Ghanaian citizen after he took an oath of allegiance administered by President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Wonder who was granted citizenship of the West African country on Monday which marked his 74th birthday, is one among a number of American celebrities who have decided to trace their family roots back to Africa.

While granting the icon the country’s citizenship with a certificate at a ceremony in the presidential palace, Akufo-Addo said it was a big honour to the country and Africa that such greats were coming back to the black continent.

He was also presented with a birthday cake with a Ghanaian flag iced on top.

After the ceremony, Wonder told the BBC that gaining Ghanaian nationality on his birthday was an “amazing thing” moment for him and his family.

The superstar was born and bred in the US state of Michigan but has long had an affinity for Ghana.

As far back as 1975, Wonder had openly expressed a desire to quit music and move to Ghana, a country he believed his ancestral lineage could be traced there while in the 1990s, he made frequent trips to the country as well as headlining a Ghanaian music festival where he again expressed a desire to set up a home there.

Wonder had, in an interview, confessed that his love affair with Ghana was ignited by the people he met whilst there including the late Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings, who in the 1990s hosted him at the presidential residence.

“I remember the late President Rawlings, who allowed me to be a co-pilot on a flight,” Wonder had said.

“I was able to fly with him from one end of Ghana to the other end. The north to the south, and it was amazing.”

Aside Stevie Wonder, other American-African celebrities who took up Ghanaian citizenship included writer, W E B Du Bois, who moved to Ghana and was buried there in 1963, while Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali all paid high-profile visits to the country to reconnect with their African roots.g

Culture

Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie fires shots at Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Asake in new single ‘Brag’

Published

3 days ago

May 13, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Ghanaian rapper, Michael Owusu Addo, popularly known as Sarkodie, has sparked a new round of storm after he fired shots at Nigerian Afrobeats singers, Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy and Asake in his new single, “Brag.”

In the single which dropped on Friday, May 10, Sarkodie boasted about his 2016 sell-out performance at the O2 Arena, claiming he paved the way for the Nigerian acts.

The Ghanaian rapper said he laid the light for Nigerian Afrobeats top artistes and as such, they should be grateful to him and his pioneering role in projecting their careers.

The “Painkiller” hitmaker boasted about selling out the O2 in 2016, long before the Nigerian stars and created the platform they are now enjoying.

He went on to place himself in the same league as Grammy Award-winning Burna Boy and Ghanaian rapper, Black Sherif.

Sarkodie also stated that his main competitors in the music industry were American rappers Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, noting that he wasn’t on the same level as African rappers.

A line from the song goes:

“Wizkid came, I was already doing it, Davido started, I was improving it, then Odogwu came through Black Sherif & Asake.”

The release of “Brag” has however, elicited controversy and heated debates within the African music community, with fans weighing in on Sarkodie’s bold assertions and the perceived rivalry between him and the mentioned Nigerian artists.