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The Conversation
The Conversation
Politics
Gretchen Baldwin, Researcher, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

How Rwanda's annual genocide commemoration fans the flame of ethnicity

Riders pass a billboard in Kigali during Rwanda's 100-day commemoration of the 1994 genocide. Thierry Falise/LightRocket via Getty Images

Each year, Rwandans at home and in the diaspora remember those killed in the 1994 genocide. This is not a single-day event. Kwibuka (“to remember” in the local Kinyarwanda language) consists of 100 days of official commemoration. It’s characterised by explicit acknowledgement and public discussions of ethnic identity.

But there’s a puzzling contradiction of state policy at play during Kwibuka.

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