RWANDAN GENOCIDE WIDOWS TO END MOURNING PERIOD SATURDAY

June 30, 2004 - (Hirondelle News Agency) The Rwandan genocide widows association (AVEGA-Agahozo) will on Saturday close this year's mourning period in memory of the victims of the genocide.

This was announced by Auréa Kayiganwa, in charge of judicial affairs in AVEGA. "We are organising a ceremony at our headquarters on July 3", Kayiganwa told Hirondelle News Agency. Official mourning began on April 7.

"There will be testimonies by survivors of the genocide and songs, and senior government and military officials will be in attendance", she said. July 3 is a highly symbolic date in Rwanda known as Liberation Day.

In the early morning of July 4, 1994, former rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) now in power, marched into the Kigali and took control of the city, thereby allowing survivors of the genocide to crawl out of hiding. July 4 marks the end of the suffering of Tutsis in Kigali. Since then, it is celebrated each year as Liberation Day.

"Today, widows of the genocide face many problems, especially as regards to health and shelter", revealed AVEGA's coordinator, Consolée Uwanyiligira

"The most vulnerable are those who were infected by HIV-AIDS as a result of being raped during the genocide. AVEGA provides them with limited medical care but is unable supply them with anti-retroviral drugs" pointed out Uwanyiligira. "Many others suffer from trauma, lack adequate shelter", she added.

AVEGA is the most important association within the umbrella group IBUKA (Kinyarwanda word for "remember) which represents the interests of genocide survivors. Rwandan government figures put the number of dead to an estimated one million people.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200406300947.html