Murambi Memorial
The Murambi Genocide Memorial was created on 21st April 1995. During the genocide, the Tutsis of this region sought sanctuary at Murambi, where a technical school was being constructed. Today Murambi serves as one of six National Genocide Memorial Sites, and contains the remains of approximately 50,000 victims killed at the technical school, including some remains exhumed from the surrounding area. Only 34 people from this site are believed to have survived the genocide. The 21st of April every year is dedicated to the commemoration of the victims of Murambi.

Southern Province (Gasaka Sector, Nyamagabe District)

Murambi was historically part of the prefecture of Gikongoro, which was formed in 1963 through the amalgamation of the territories of Bufundu, Nyaruguru, Bunyambiriri, and Buyenzi.

Early Violence 1959-1962

Gikongoro had a history of persecution of the Tutsis ranging from cattle theft, expulsion to less developed areas of the country, and killings. During the period of 1959-60, violence against Tutsis, which was symptomatic of the later 1994 genocide, took place throughout the region. Tutsi chiefs, leaders, and prominent community members were killed.  Others were forcibly relocated to rural areas, including the forests of Gihunya (Kibungo) and Nyamata (Bugesera), where many died.

The policy of ethnic discrimination introduced by Chief Jean Baptiste Rwasibo, and enacted with the support of Belgian authorities, ran contrary to the more unifying policies and experiences under the leadership of Chief Rutaremara. Chief Rwasibo sought to demonstrate to the Hutus living in Bufundu that Tutsis were of a lower status and must be expelled from the area. Some Tutsis resisted forced relocation; on the 25th June 1960 at Mount Sovu, for example, an operation led by Deputy Chief Gaspard Gasarabwe and Commander Paul Murindabigwi to arrest Tutsis, was unsuccessful. The Tutsis used traditional weapons, including bows and arrows and spears, to fight them off. This led to a military retaliation by heavily armed Belgian commandoes who arrived by helicopter. Tutsis in neighbouring villages provided reinforcement to those resisters at Mount Sovu; however, the imbalance in terms of weapons ultimately led to the resistance being defeated, with 75 Tutsis killed and 35 injured.

Some survivors of the resistance effort took refuge in churches, while others fled Rwanda. With their homes destroyed, those that remained began to rebuild their lives but continued to be persecuted in this region.

First Republic 1st July 1962 – 4th July 1973

During the First Republic, discrimination against the Tutsi, particularly in education and employment, became widespread.  There were also violent massacres and incidences of murder. On the 23rd December 1962, Andre Nkeramugaba, the former leader of Gikongoro Prefecture, held a meeting with leaders of 12 communes where he confirmed that the Inyenzi, or cockroaches (a derogatory term used to describe Tutsis and Tutsi forces) had attacked Rwanda from Burundi. He then incited those leaders to kill the Tutsis before they began to kill the Hutus. From the 27th December, under the leadership of Jean Baptiste Nkurikiyimana (alias Kajugujugu), the killing of Tutsis became more widespread. Some Tutsis went into hiding in the forests. Others went to Nyaruguru and Mubuga communes, where the population was more moderate and thus not participating in the killings. Some Tutsis left for Burundi, while others were killed and thrown into the Rukarara and Mwogo rivers.

Several aspects of Tutsi discrimination in this period find resonance with the 1994 genocide, including segregation, throwing bodies into the river, and anti-Tutsi propaganda being propagated by authorities. Also consistent with 1994 was the awareness of what was happening by the international community. Denis-Gilles Vuillemin, a member of the UNESCO team working in Butare, wrote an article in Le Monde in 1964 that he was resigning from his post, given Belgium’s complicity in the massacres. In an RFI radio broadcast, Lord Bertrand Russell compared the systematic massacre of the Tutsis to the Nazi’s massacre of the Jews. The World Council of Churches estimates the number of Tutsis killed to be between 10,000 and 14,000; the UN estimate was 1,000 to 3,000.

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Second Republic – 5th July 1973-6th April 1994

Ten years after the killings under the regime of the First Republic, there was another purge of the Tutsis, although on this occasion no killings took place in Gikongoro. Initiated by Hutus in the north of Rwanda (known as the Abakiga) who wanted to depose President Kayibanda, they began to spread anti-Tutsi ideology, urging Hutu students to persecute their Tutsi classmates. As a result, on 22nd February 1973, Tutsi students were chased away from most of the schools in the Gikongoro prefecture.

Genocide 6th April 1994 – 19th July 1994

Following the assassination of President Habyarimana on 6th April 1994, road blocks were constructed and an announcement was broadcasted, prohibiting people from leaving their homes. The genocide in Gikongoro was exceptionally well-planned. Interahamwe militias armed with guns immediately began killing Tutsi, then looting and burning their houses. The Interahamwe had received military training in the former Mudasomwa Commune and were organised and efficient. Some Tutsis who survived attacks in neighbouring towns fled to Gikongoro because they assumed it would be safer.

The leaders in Gikongoro had planned the genocide in advance and were ready to implement it. The group of leaders coordinating the specifics of the genocide operations included: Laurent Bukibaruta of Gikongoro Prefecture, Felicien Semakwavu of Nyamagabe Commune, and military officers, including Captain Faustin Sebura who commanded the Gendarmerie Camp in Gikongoro. The leaders informed the Tutsis that they were unable to protect them if they remained widely dispersed and that they would be given a safe escort to a place in Murambi where they could be protected.

Over a period of two weeks, Tutsis were sent or taken to Murambi until an estimated 50,000 were gathered at the Murambi Technical School.  The water pipes leading to the school were cut and they were deprived of food. This had the effect of weakening the Tutsis at Murambi to the point that resistance to attack would be difficult. To ensure that Hutus who had fled to Murambi would not be caught up in the massacre that was planned, they were separated and given a place of safety at a private secondary school.

On the 18th April 1994, the interim president of Rwanda during the genocide, Theodore Sindikubwabo, held a meeting with administrative leaders and military officers in Gikongoro. That evening, following the meeting, the first attack took place. The Tutsis defended themselves using stones and bricks from the site and repelled the first attack.  A similar attack took place the following day and was repelled. Elemental in planning and executing the massacre at Murambi was Emmanuel Nteziryayo, a former burgomaster in this area.

Following what amounted to two days of probing attacks, the main assault commenced on 21st April. Armed with guns and grenades, the first attacks started in the early hours of the morning. A substantial force had been assembled for the attack, enabling the school to be encircled to prevent escape. Interahamwe militia, policemen, and Hutus from the surrounding communes joined the attack. Surrounded on all sides, the Tutsis were unable to defend themselves or escape. The Murambi Technical School sits on a hill with open sides containing no cover; therefore the attackers were able to approach the school building in a tight circle and could clearly see and kill anybody trying to escape down the hill. Tutsis were killed in the main school building, in the classrooms, and outside where they were hiding. The few that managed to escape sought refuge at the Cyanika Parish Church but the Interahamwe attacked that church, too, killing those inside.  

The following day, 22nd April, leaders and French soldiers organised bulldozers to dig mass graves. Thousands of bodies were buried in mass graves over which the French soldiers built a volleyball court in order to cover them.  Subsequently, the French armed forces leading Operation Turquoise established their headquarters at the Murambi killing site.

Murambi Genocide Memorial

In September 1995, the bodies of genocide victims were exhumed in Gikongoro. In one grave, bodies had been closely packed together; very little oxygen had penetrated the grave and the bodies had barely decomposed. After being exhumed, these bodies were preserved in lime and placed on display in the classrooms at the Murambi Genocide Memorial.  

Today, Murambi is one of the six National Genocide Memorial Sites in Rwanda. The school classrooms contain 848 preserved corpses laying on display on wooden tables. The memorial exhibit is located in the main school building at Murambi. New walls were constructed to create a space for an exhibition and a burial place. The open hall on the ground floor of the main building now has an exhibition describing the context of the genocide. An additional two rooms contain burial chambers, where preserved human remains can be viewed through smoked glass.