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Rwanda somberly marks the start of genocide 25 years ago

Rwanda somberly commemorated the start, 25 years ago, of its genocide in which some 800,000 people were killed, as the country continues to grapple with the consequences of the slaughter

From left to right, Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, Rwanda's First Lady Jeannette Kagame, and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, light the flame of remembrance at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali, Rwanda, Sunday, April 7, 2019. Rwanda is commemorating the 25th anniversary of when the country descended into an orgy of violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
From left to right, Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, Rwanda's First Lady Jeannette Kagame, and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, light the flame of remembrance at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali, Rwanda, Sunday, April 7, 2019. Rwanda is commemorating the 25th anniversary of when the country descended into an orgy of violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)Read moreBen Curtis / AP
    by Associated Press, The Associated Press
    Published 

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwanda somberly commemorated the start, 25 years ago, of its genocide in which some 800,000 people were killed, as the country continues to grapple with the consequences of the slaughter.

President Paul Kagame and first lady Jeannette Kagame on Sunday lay wreaths and lit a flame at the mass burial ground of 250,000 victims at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in the capital, Kigali.

There will be a procession through the capital to the National Stadium where 30,000 are expected to participate in an evening candlelit ceremony.

The mass killing of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority was ignited on April 6, 1994, when a plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down and crashed in Kigali, killing the leader, who, like the majority of Rwandans, was an ethnic Hutu.