29.04.09 - RWANDA/BRITAIN - RWANDA TO CONSTRUCT GENOCIDE MEMORIAL SITE IN LONDON

Arusha, 29 April 2009 (FH) - The Rwandan government obtained from the City Hall of London a piece of land on which will be erected a memorial for the genocide committed against Tutsis in 1994.

"We obtained the land. The British architects (who will build the memorial) have already come to Rwanda for a visit of the existing memorials",the Rwandan Minister for Culture and Sports, Joseph Habineza, told Hirondelle Agency Wednesday on phone from Kigali.

The minister indicated that the funds for the project would come from the Rwandan government and various donors.

 It will be the first international genocide memorial erected outside Rwanda, according to the Minister..

 A monument in memory of genocide victims has been erected in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Belgium.

The Rwandan deputies asked their government in March to carry out negotiations with Uganda so that a memorial was erected in the neighbouring country in memory of the thousands of people who  were washed ashore in 1994 on the banks of Lake Victoria.

Committed by Hutu extremists, the genocide from April to July 1994, resulted, according to the U.N., in nearly 800 000 killed, primarily Tutsis.

 ER/MM/SC/GF

© Hirondelle News Agency

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