This month marks the twentieth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. SERVE decided to dedicate this month’s ‘Focus On’ in memory of all those who died, who were injured or who were affected during the genocide.
The genocide initiated on April 6th following the plane accident in which the President Habyarimana was killed. This incident sparked outrage and a huge outpouring of violence and disruption throughout Rwanda. Over the next 100 days, almost one million people were brutally murdered in what we now know as one of the 20th Century’s bloodiest chapter.
In April 1994 Gerry O’ Connor, Director of SERVE was on a monitoring visit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Gerry was the treasurer for Irish NGO Goal, when he received a call asking for him to go to Rwanda. At the time, no one was aware of what was taking place in Rwanda as it was not broadcast in the Ethiopian media. Read on
