Prince Charles on Wednesday heard harrowing testimony of the genocide in Rwanda from survivors and perpetrators of the 1994 killings during the first visit to the country by a British royal.<\/p>\n
The Prince of Wales also met face-to-face with President Paul Kagame, whose pact to resettle asylum seekers deported from the UK reportedly attracted strong disapproval from the British heir to the throne.<\/p>\n
Charles is representing Queen Elizabeth II in Kigali at a Commonwealth summit she has championed since assuming the throne in 1952, as the organisation faces questions over its future role and relevance.<\/p>\n
The prince and his wife Camilla arrived late Tuesday in Kigali for the 54-nation gathering that was twice postponed by Covid and takes place amid outrage over Britain's migrant deal with Rwanda.<\/p>\n
The royal couple began their visit with a sombre tour of the Kigali Genocide Memorial, the final resting place for over 250,000 victims of the massacres nearly three decades ago.<\/p>\n
Housing skulls, bone fragments and shreds of clothing, the memorial is a testimony to the horrors of the genocide and a customary stop for foreign dignitaries visiting Rwanda.<\/p>\n
The royals laid a wreath of white flowers and paused in silent tribute, before viewing a collection of photographs of victims and their possessions.<\/p>\n
They also spoke with survivors of the genocide in which some 800,000 mainly Tutsi people were murdered by Hutu extremist forces between April and July 1994.<\/p>\n
Later they visited a village outside Kigali where genocide perpetrators and survivors live side by side -- sometimes even marrying -- and heard stories of loss and reconciliation.<\/p>\n
They also toured a nearby church-turned-memorial where tens of thousands were slaughtered and skulls unearthed from mass graves are kept on grim display.<\/p>\n
\"In special remembrance,\" the prince wrote in a visitor book, according to photographs of the visit published by Rwandan state media.<\/p>\n
- Migrant controversy -<\/p>\n
The leaders of many Commonwealth nations including Britain's Boris Johnson and Canada's Justin Trudeau are expected in Kigali in the coming days for the meeting of mainly former British colonies.<\/p>\n
Rwanda, a former German and Belgian colony, joined the Commonwealth in 2009 and has in recent years moved closer to the English-speaking world.<\/p>\n
Charles and Camilla also met Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame at the Rwandan leader's official residence.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Charles reportedly described the migrant deal as \"appalling\" and feared it would overshadow the summit.<\/p>\n
Those criticisms, reported by The Times newspaper, threatened to make for an awkward meeting in Kigali.<\/p>\n
The royals and their hosts gave little away, smiling for photographs flanked by the flags of their respective countries, before a closed-door meeting.<\/p>\n
The UK said Wednesday it would introduce legislation allowing it to ignore certain decisions by the European Court of Human Rights after a judge in Strasbourg intervened to halt the first flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups and senior Christian leaders have denounced the plan, which supporters say breaks the business model of traffickers who smuggle migrants across the Channel.<\/p>\n
The Commonwealth has been accused of turning a blind eye to Rwanda's record on human rights, with critics saying it risks its credibility and integrity by hosting its summit in Kigali.<\/p>\n
Charles has been anointed the next head of the Commonwealth when he becomes king, but there is increased discussion about a move away from the royal family as its ceremonial head, and republican movements are taking hold in some member states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prince Charles on Wednesday heard harrowing testimony of the genocide in Rwanda from survivors and perpetrators of the 1994 killings during the first visit to the country by a British royal. The Prince of Wales also met face-to-face with President Paul Kagame, whose pact to resettle asylum seekers deported from the UK reportedly attracted strong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553,1],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-102568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed","category-non-classifiee"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n