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Rwanda: genocide remembered

Sunday, April 06, 2014 - 01:57

Apr. 6 - Twentieth anniversary of Rwanda's three-month killing spree by Hutu extremists that killed hundreds of thousands. Paul Chapman reports.

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PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3 In the months following the Rwandan bloodbath of 20 years ago these simple photographs helped to change shattered lives. They were used by Save the Children to reunite youngsters and their families who became separated during the 100 days of genocide. (SOUNDBITE)(English) HANNAH MATTHEWS, SAVE THE CHILDREN, SAYING: "I think for many children, and without exaggerating, this could be the only photograph and documentation of their childhood." Floduard was 15 when he and his younger brother and sister fled for their lives after witnessing the slaughter of their parents. Another sister, just a baby at the time, died because they were too young to look after her. Now a 35-year-old father of three, the memories of what happened do not fade. (SOUNDBITE)(kinkyarwanda) FLODUARD, FORMER CHILD DISPLACED BY RWANDA GENOCIDE, SAYING: "When the massacres were happening I was there but I hid myself underneath the corpses. It was as if God was hiding me but I saw everything that happened." His surviving sister Gloriose is now 25 and student at university. (SOUNDBITE)(kinkyarwanda) GLORIOSE, FORMER CHILD DISPLACED BY RWANDA GENOCIDE, SAYING: "I think when this photo was taken I still believed that everything was going to be okay and that my parents were still alive and that they would give me a happy life." The three-month killing spree by Hutu extremists in 1994 claimed more than 800, 000 lives. The victims were ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The trigger was the fatal downing of a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana. His fiercely loyal presidential guard unleashed a campaign of terror against the Tutsis whom they suspected of involvement. Hundreds of thousands fled to refugee camps where disease killed more people.