The commemoration today marks 20 years since the downing of plane carrying the former president over Kanombe airport on April 7th, sparking off the genocide.

The commemoration today marks 20 years since the downing of plane carrying the former president over Kanombe airport on April 7th, sparking off the genocide.

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has warned groups cooking genocide plans against and others engaged in rebellion against Rwanda that they would be defeated.

Museveni who was speaking at the 20th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda at Amahoro stadium this morning, also referred to himself as a patriotic veteran of the Rwandan struggle.

“As a patriotic veteran of the Rwanda struggle, I want to warn all those hobnobbing with the genocidaires that we are now very capable and more organized to decisively defeat them,” Museveni told over 30,000 guests at the stadium that included delegations from about 20 countries of the world.

Museveni who gave a long history of the symbiotic relationship of the Great Lakes Regiontribes until their were disrupted by the colonialists, congratulated Rwanda on the progress made and promised Uganda will always stand by Rwanda.

“Rwanda should know they can always count on the people of Uganda. I congratulate RPF upon defeating the traitors because they created divisionism amongst the people of Rwanda. We are now much stronger and capable to defeating these traitors,” he said.

The genocidaires who were defeated and pushed into the Congo, have been organized attacks against Rwanda under a rebel group known as the Forces Democratic Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR).

Many others have been harbored and given protection in countries like France sparking off occasional spats between Rwanda and the France. A delegation that had been prepared to represent France at this year’s commemoration cancelled at the last minute following accusation by the Rwandan President Paul Kagame that France ought to take responsibility for their involvement in training and arming. The French Ambassador to Rwanda was also conspicuously absent for the events at Amahoro Stadium.

The Genocide in Rwanda in which ethnic Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed in just under 100 days was halted when the Ugandan-backed rebel group, the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA), mainly composed of exiled Tutsis, defeated the regime of a Hutu-leaning President Juvenile Habyarimana and restored order on July 1st, 1994.

The commemoration today marks 20 years since the downing of  plane carrying the former president over Kanombe airport on April 7th, sparking off the genocide.

With the world abandoning the Rwandan people and the United Nations pulling out their peacekeepers, the Rwanda were left at the mercy of the genocidaires who killed, maimed and raped thousands of Tutsis in a carefully planned genocide programme until they were pushed into the Democratic Republic of Congo by the victorious RPA.

This year’s commemoration was organized under the theme: ‘Remember, Unite, Renew.’

Graced by Presidents of Uganda, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, South Sudan, Congo Brazaville, Gabon, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and special delegations from the United States, UK, New Zealand, Netherlands, Canada, South Africa, Tanzania, Burundi, Germany, Spain and Cameroon.