Kigali, 7 April 2025: President Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame led Rwandans as they begin the 31st Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi.

In his speech, President Kagame assured Rwandans that genocide will never happen again, urging people to always stand up for their rights.

“When people were saying in the testimony, that the hope they have is that what happened here 30 something years ago will never happen again. It won’t, not because those who were responsible for that dark past will not try again or are not even trying now again. It will not happen again just because there will be people who will stand up and fight. It’s not because there are fewer people who wish for us to perish or who would have wished for this country to disappear. How can people accept that? What kind of people do not stand up and fight?”.

“There is a risk of dying when you stand up and fight but if you don’t, it’s a sure thing: you are going to die. So why don’t I try to stand up and fight with the chance that I might survive and live life as I want it, instead of giving up and you let people treat you as if for you to live, it is a favour that they are going to do for you. Why? But my message goes to other Africans who live like this on a daily basis, who are dehumanized and they accept it and they beg. I can’t beg to live. I can’t beg anybody. We’ll fight, If I lose, I lose. But there is a chance. There is a chance, a significant chance, that if you stand up and fight, you will live. And you will have lived a dignified life that you deserve, that anybody else deserves.

Rwandans, don’t owe your life to anybody else. Have the courage to deal with the situation and moment as it is, don’t offend anybody, but always fight for what is yours. Don’t allow anybody to dictate to you how you should live your life because the moment you accept it, that is the day you have lost your life” said President Kagame | #Kwibuka31