Following the assassination of President Habyarimana on 6th April 1994, the genocide commenced in Bugesera almost immediately. On 7th April, extremists started burning down Tutsis houses in Nyamata, but as there were many Tutsis in this area they tried to defend themselves. By 11th April many Tutsi had left their homes and gathered within the grounds of Nyamata Primary School. Women and children had taken refuge in the church, while others were at the Centre d’Enseignement Rural et Artisanal Integré (CERAI).
Nyamata Genocide Memorial
Killings began at CERAI on the morning of 11th April using similar tactics to those implemented in other parts of Rwanda. They first surrounded the area where the Tutsis had gathered, threw grenades into crowds and then fired at them with available guns. They then sprayed capsicum over the dead bodies to check if anyone was still alive and killed those that were with machetes.
Claire Nkima, a survivor of the CERAI killings says that she lay amongst the dead bodies until Tutsi refugees that had been hiding in nearby classrooms came that evening and retrieved her. The survivors of the attack made plans to escape to Gitarama or Burundi, but most did not escape because the killers had established roadblocks to finish their work.
Nyamata Genocide Memorial
Between the 14th and 16th April, approximately 5,000 Tutsis were killed inside Nyamata Church. Of the few that escaped from the church, they took refuge in nearby bushes and papyrus fields, but later many were found and killed by militia search parties until the RPF Inkotanyi finally liberated Bugesera.
After the genocide, following negotiations with leaders of the Catholic Church in Rwanda, the government converted the Nyamata Church into a memorial site. The memorial is composed of a chapel in which victims’ clothes are displayed, along with the weapons used to kill them. Beneath the chapel, there is a room displaying the remains of those killed in the church. Mass graves are situated behind the church, with a vault that houses the skulls of victims and other human remains.
Nyamata Genocide Memorial
In addition, the memorial site includes the grave of Antoinette Locatelli, with a placard explaining her life and work in Rwanda, and her eventual murder on the 9th March 1992. President Paul Kagame posthumously bestowed upon Locatelli a medal of honor on the 4th July 2010, during the ceremonies of the 15th anniversary of Liberation Day.
Nyamata Genocide Memorial
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