This footage was filmed and produced 7 April 2024.

Rwanda on Sunday began a week of national mourning and 100 days of commemoration to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

President Paul Kagame and first lady Jeannette Kagame, along with visiting foreign dignitaries, including several heads of state and government, laid wreaths at the Genocide Memorial in Kigali, where more than 250,000 victims are laid to rest.

Kagame and the first lady then lit the "Flame of Remembrance" at the memorial, before delivering a speech at a stadium in Kigali, Rwanda's capital.

"Today, our hearts are filled with equal parts grief and gratitude. We remember our dead and we are also grateful for what Rwanda has become," Kagame said. "We are indebted to the survivors among us. We asked them to do the impossible by carrying the burden of reconciliation on their shoulders. And they continue to do the impossible for our nation, every day, and we thank them for that."

SHOTLIST
1. Various from the Rwanda Genocide Commemoration Event;
2. SOUNDIBITE: Rwandan President Paul Kagame
“We had lost all fear. Each challenge or indignity just made us stronger. After the genocide, we faced the puzzle of how to prevent it from recurring. There were three broad lessons we learned as result of our experiences. First, only we as Rwandans and Africans can give full value to our lives. After all, we cannot ask others to value African lives more highly than we ourselves do. That is the root of our duty to preserve memory and tell our history as we lived it.”;
3. Various of Kagame and the First Lady lighting the "Flame of Remembrance".;
4. Several of President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame, along with foreign dignitaries laid wreaths at the Genocide Memorial in Kigali, where more than 250,000 victims are laid to rest.