27.05.09 - RWANDA/GENOCIDE - DECENT HOMES REMAIN MAIN CONCERN FOR1994 RWANDA GENOCIDE SURVIVORS

Kigali, 27 May 2009 (FH) - The umbrella organization for genocide survivors (IBUKA) in Rwanda, considers that owning a house remains the main concern for the 1994 survivors of worst slaughter in the modern history.

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"Owning a decent house remains most alarming for the genocide survivors,, Benoit Kaboyi, IBUKA's Executive Director, told AMANI [meaning peace], a monthly magazine published in French, in an exclusive interview.

The magazine is published by the Kigali-based League for Human Rights in the Great Lakes Region (LDGL).

According to Kaboyi, IBUKA counted this year more than 30,000 households (of survivors) without decent housing .

"When we say survivors without housing, it does not mean that they spend their nights in an open air," he explained, adding that the survivors deserved better and fairly comfortable homes to allow them overcome the post-genocide psychological trauma and other related problems.

Kaboyi lauded the government efforts for the construction of  new houses this year, which he hoped would shelter at least 10,000 victims of genocide, almost 15 years after the bloody crime.

"IBUKA unfortunately does not have a budget to carry out an activity of such a scale. It thus falls on the state to provide houses for genocide survivors", he said.

IBUKA was established on 14 December 1995 to defend and supervise the rights of Rwanda genocide victims.

The April-July 1994 killings claimed lives of about 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

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