Rwanda's genocide: Mass graves discovered with 5,400 bodies

A 14-year-old Rwandan boy from the town of Nyamata, photographed in June 1994, survived the genocidal massacre by hiding under corpses for two days.

A 14-year-old boy, Rumanzi, stands in front of rows of human skulls outside the Nitarama church near the town of Nyamata, where some 600 people were killed during the civil conflict that began in April. Rumanzi survived the massacre by hiding beneath the corpses for two days.

By the end of 1994 in Rwanda, UNICEF created the Trauma Recovery Programme (TRP) to address the psychosocial needs of a nation of traumatized children. Some 64% of children witnessed massacres during the civil conflict that began in April, including the killing of family members or other children. An estimated 95,000 unaccompanied children have lost or been separated from their parents. In addition to trauma treatment programmes initiated in schools and UNICEF-assisted centres caring for 30,000 unaccompanied children, UNICEF is working with the Government and NGOs to train social workers, teachers, health care providers and religious leaders in trauma treatment, as well as preparing radio messages on trauma identification and first aid.

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Rwandan authorities have discovered the bodies of 5,400 victims of the 1994 genocide, the executive secretary of Genocide Survivors Organisation Ibuka said on Thursday.

The executive secretary, Naphtal Ahishakiye, added that the bodies were exhumed from 26 mass graves in the Masaka and Kicukiro districts of the capital, Kigali.

“A resident from Kicukiro, who had lived through the genocide, had pointed the authorities towards the previously unknown mass graves.

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“The search for more graves in the same district was ongoing,’’ Ahishakiye said.

He noted that about 18,000 bodies have been discovered since April.

More than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in only 100 days in 1994.

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