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NewsTranscript
00:00 Excellencies, Heads of State and Government, Heads of Delegations, Distinguished Ladies
00:21 and Gentlemen, I want to thank you in person, each one of you, for being here with us on
00:45 an occasion like this.
00:54 (Speaks in foreign language)
01:02 (Speaks in foreign language)
01:30 (Speaks in foreign language)
01:38 On a day like this, when language fails, the first words that come are words of gratitude.
01:56 To you, the friends by our side on this heavy day, including the different leaders present,
02:11 I once again say thank you very much.
02:17 Many of you have been with us all along, and we cherish you for contributing to the healing
02:33 and rebuilding of Rwanda.
02:40 I also thank my fellow Rwandans who joined hands to recreate this country.
02:57 In 1994, there was no hope, only darkness.
03:10 Today, light radiates from this place.
03:20 How did it happen?
03:25 Rwanda became a family once again.
03:32 The arms of our people intertwined constitute the pillars of our nation.
03:44 We hold each other up.
03:51 Our bodies and minds bear amputations and scars, but none of us is alone.
04:06 Together, we have woven the tattered threads of our unity into a new tapestry.
04:22 Sisters became mothers. Neighbors became uncles. Strangers became friends.
04:38 Our culture naturally creates new bonds of solidarity which both console and renew.
04:52 Rwanda is a family.
04:58 That is why we still exist, despite all we have gone through.
05:08 There is no way to fully comprehend the holiness, loneliness, and anger of survivors.
05:23 And yet, over and over again, we have asked them to make the sacrifices necessary
05:35 to give our nation new life.
05:42 Emotions had to be put in a box.
05:51 Someone once asked me why we keep burdening survivors with the responsibility for our healing.
06:06 It was a painful question, but I realized the answer was obvious.
06:20 Survivors are the only ones with something left to give.
06:30 Their forgiveness.
06:35 And that is their forgiveness.
06:40 Our people have carried an immense weight with little or no complaint.
06:52 This has made us better and more united than ever before.
07:04 At a memorial event some years ago, a girl, young girl, brought us to tears with a poem.
07:20 She said, "There is a saying in Kinyarwanda that God spends the day elsewhere but returns to sleep in Rwanda."
07:40 And then she asked, in a course, "Where was God on those dark nights of genocide?"
07:56 Looking at Rwanda today, it is clear that God has come back home to stay, as we heard earlier.
08:16 To survivors, we can only say thank you.
08:23 Your resilience and bravery represent the triumph of the Rwandan character in its purest form.
08:39 Joining us today are families from other countries whose husbands, fathers, sisters, and aunts were claimed by the same deadly ideology.
09:00 The Belgian peacekeepers murdered 25 years ago this morning.
09:10 Captain Mbae Dianye from Senegal, who saved so many lives.
09:21 Tonia Lokatevi, killed in 1992 for telling the truth of what was to come, among others.
09:37 The only comfort we can offer is the commonality of sorrow and the respect owed to those who had the courage to do the right thing.
09:58 Our people, other people, many other people around the world also stood up and made a difference.
10:15 Ambassador Karel Kovanda from the Czech Republic joined colleagues from New Zealand and Nigeria to call for action to stop the genocide,
10:36 despite the indifference of more powerful states.
10:48 And my brother, as you heard, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, knows where Rwanda is coming from.
11:00 Having served in an Ethiopian peacekeeping contingent after the genocide, together with troops from elsewhere in Africa and beyond.
11:19 Thank you all for your presence.
11:26 Those among us who perpetrated the genocide or stood by passively are also part of our nation.
11:42 The willingness in a number of cases to tell the truth, pay the price and rejoin the community is an important contribution.
11:59 The witness of perpetrators is irrefutable proof, if any, was still needed that genocide happened.
12:17 Genocide hibernates as denial.
12:24 Both before the killing and after, there is a long chain of events which are interconnected.
12:40 Revisionism is not merely demeaning but profoundly dangerous.
12:53 The genocide did not begin on one specific day for decades.
13:09 It was a history.
13:15 Why were the refugees Rwanda's biggest export for decades?
13:29 Why were the same people repeatedly targeted for persecution and massacre from the late 50s to the 1990s?
13:48 Why were bodies dumped into rivers to send them back up the Nile where they supposedly came from?
14:06 Why did some parents even kill their own children who looked a certain way?
14:19 None of that started with a plane crash.
14:27 So where did it come from?
14:33 Through it all, we had guardians of virtue.
14:43 Aba Dindze, Vijayango and other righteous citizens, our rebirth was seeded by their actions.
15:00 The young girl portrayed in the play we just saw, who took it upon herself to care for a baby survivor despite the objections of her family.
15:20 That is a true story. And today, both men, both women, as we heard from the play, are home and fine.
15:39 The Nyanja students who refused to be separated into Hutu on one side, Tutsi on the other, is clear.
15:59 They never betrayed each other.
16:06 Six were killed, 40 were wounded. All are heroes.
16:18 These are examples of the Rwandans who kept us from losing everything.
16:28 But most of us are neither survivors nor perpetrators.
16:39 Three quarters of Rwandans are under the age of 30.
16:52 Almost 60% were born after the genocide.
17:01 Our children enjoy the innocence of peace.
17:07 They know trauma and violence only from stories.
17:17 Our aspirations rest in this new generation.
17:24 Mature trees can no longer be molded, but seeds contain endless possibilities.
17:39 Rwanda's young people have everything needed to transform our country.
17:48 They have the responsibility to take charge more and more and participate fully in securing the Rwanda we want and deserve.
18:05 We are far better Rwandans than we were, but we can be even better still.
18:18 We are the last people in the world who should succumb to complacency.
18:26 The suffering we have endured should be enough to keep our fighting spirit alive.
18:42 And here let me say one thing that I hate to say.
18:58 And we shall as much as we can avoid.
19:11 For those who think our country has not seen enough of a mess,
19:23 and in the defense of those children you saw and others in this country and our nation.
19:34 And by the way, we claim no special place, but we have a place to claim.
19:52 And I'm saying those who think we have not seen enough of a mess
20:04 and want to mess with us, whether they are from here or from outside.
20:12 I want to say we will mess up with them big time. Big time.
20:35 So that's about the fighting spirit that is alive in us.
20:44 What happened here will never happen again.
20:53 Our country cannot afford to live by twists of fate.
21:05 We must be deliberate and decisive, guided by humility and the content of our hearts.
21:18 Rwanda has to stay one step ahead.
21:26 Otherwise we are insignificant.
21:33 The facts are stubborn, but so are we.
21:46 We really have to be.
21:50 Our nation has turned a corner.
21:56 Fear and anger have been replaced by the energy and purpose that drives us forward, young and old.
22:11 Rwanda is a very good friend to its friends.
22:19 We seek peace. We turn the page.
22:28 But no adversary should underestimate what a formidable force
22:38 Rwandans have become as a result of our circumstances.
22:49 Nothing has the power to turn Rwandans against each other ever again.
23:01 This history will not repeat. That is our firm commitment.
23:11 Nothing is required from those who wronged us except an open mind.
23:21 Every day we learn to forgive, but we do not want to forget.
23:31 After all, before asking others to repent, we first have to forgive ourselves.
23:44 As for the dishonourable who remain impervious to regret, it is not our problem.
23:58 It does not stop Rwanda from making progress.
24:03 Even for one moment, it becomes their problem.
24:12 The destruction of Rwanda was more absolute than any known weapon of mass destruction.
24:27 Not only bodies were destroyed, but the very idea of Rwanda itself.
24:37 That shows the ferocious power of human sentiments and designs.
24:46 Our prayer is for no other people to ever endure the same tribulations,
24:57 especially our brothers and sisters in Africa.
25:08 Never accept it.
25:12 Confront the apostles of division and hatred, who masquerade as saviours and democrats.
25:25 Our commonalities are always infinitely greater than our differences.
25:35 No society is above any other, much less immune to fragility.
25:45 In the end, the only conclusion to draw from Rwanda's story is profound hope for our world.
25:59 No community is beyond repair, and the dignity of the people is never fully extinguished.
26:12 Twenty-five years later, here we are, all of us.
26:21 Wounded and heartbroken, yes, but unvanquished.
26:29 [Applause]
26:36 Rwandans have granted ourselves a new beginning.
26:44 We exist in a state of permanent commemoration every day in all that we do,
26:55 in order to remain faithful to that choice.
27:03 I thank you and wish you strength and peace, all of you.
27:11 [Applause]
27:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]