IN THE NEWS - Tenth Anniversary of Ethnic Killings in Rwanda

IN THE NEWS - Tenth Anniversary of Ethnic¹ Killings² in Rwanda
By Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: Saturday, April 10, 2004

This is Steve Ember with In the News in VOA Special English.

Wednesday was the tenth anniversary of the start of widespread ethnic killings in Rwanda. Thousands of people attended a national burial ceremony in the capital, Kigali. They gathered there to honor the victims and to show support for the central African nation.

The leaders of South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia attended the ceremony. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt was the only Western leader to attend. Rwanda criticized Western countries for not sending high-level officials.

 
President Kagame controls his emotions as coffins³ are laid to be put into mass grave at Gisozi, Rwanda
During the ceremony, Rwandan President Paul Kagame led Rwandans in observing three minutes of silence for the victims. Earlier, he lit a flame at the new Kigali National Memorial Center.

The killings in Rwanda began on April seventh, nineteen-ninety-four, after a plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down over Kigali. Both leaders died in the crash. Rwanda's President Juvenal Habyarimana was an ethnic Hutu.

Following the crash, extremists in the Hutu government began a plan to kill all of the country's minority Tutsi population and politically moderate Hutus. An estimated eight-hundred-thousand Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in three months of violence.

The killings ended when Mister Kagame's Tutsi-led rebel army ousted⁴ the extremist Hutu government and seized control of the capital. More than two-million Hutus later fled to nearby Democratic Republic of Congo.In a speech during the ceremony in Kigali, President Kagame said Rwanda takes the most blame for the mass killings. But he criticized the international community for failing to intervene to stop the killings. He also repeated accusations⁵ that French officials helped train and arm the Hutu government soldiers and militants⁶ who carried out the killings.

France has denied the accusations. It later withdrew its deputy foreign minister from the ceremony in Kigali.

 
Genocide survivor⁷ lights candles at mass grave in Nyamata
Rwanda is one of the world's poorest countries. Many Rwandans are still suffering as a result of the violence ten years ago. Many women were infected with the disease AIDS during widespread sexual attacks. And thousands of children lost their parents in the mass killings or from AIDS.

Human rights officials say the situation in Rwanda now is calm and the government has control in the country. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is trying some of those accused of planning and carrying out the killings. But tensions continue between the Hutus and Tutsis. And human rights groups say there are still very serious problems with the justice system because of the failure of Rwandan courts.

Former President Bill Clinton and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan have apologized for failing to intervene in Rwanda. During a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland this week, Mister Annan proposed a five-point action plan designed to prevent future ethnic killings.

In the News, in VOA Special English, was written by Cynthia Kirk. This is Steve Ember.

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

3 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

4 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

7 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。