By John Stephen Katende

13^th Dec 2010

An archive of Rwanda’s genocide is being unveiled in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, the BBC has reported.  According to the report, thousands of documents, photographs and audio-visual recordings have been collected from survivors, witnesses and perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.

The initiative is the work of the Rwandan government and the UK-based Aegis Trust, which works to prevent crimes against humanity.  An estimated 800,000 people were killed in 1994, most of them from Rwanda’s Tutsi ethnic group.

All across the country, there are chilling memorials, like the one at Nyamata Church, close to Kigali.  According to the BBC’s East Africa correspondent Will Ross, “…the archive is a new way of learning about the events of 1994, some of which will be available online”.

The BBC correspondent said the idea is that as Rwanda develops and the landscape changes, the evidence of where the atrocities took place will not be erased forever.  He however added that the genocide remains an extremely contentious issue.

Places where the atrocities took place have also been mapped out using the GPS satellite system. In Rwanda, it is illegal to dispute the government’s official version of the terrible events of the 1994 genocide.

President Paul Kagame’s critics however maintain that he has used laws relating to the genocide to oppress his opponents and to maintain a firm grip on power.  END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.