Two events in Berwick to mark the 30th anniversary of the outbreak of genocide in Rwanda
The Berwick Literary Festival has organised two events to invite people to engage and reflect on the 30th anniversary of the outbreak of genocide in Rwanda and other appalling examples of genocide to the human race.
Both events are taking place on Wednesday, March 27 at St Andrew’s Wallace Green Church in Berwick.
Legacies of genocides – revisiting Rwanda’s catastrophe thirty years on – will be an open forum, starting at 3pm, led by a panel of guest speakers and chaired by Rev Canon Dr Sarah Hills, Vicar of Lindisfarne and and Area Dean for Norham Deanery.
The people on the panel are Professor Gilbert Achcar, Dr Mark Levene, Veronique Tadjo and Michela Wrong.
Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. The genocide was sparked by the death of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana when his plane was shot down.
Whoever was responsible, within hours a campaign of violence spread from the capital throughout the country and did not subside until three months later.
Tickets are priced £5 (students free). Donations to the International Red Cross will be welcome.
The event starting at 7.30pm is called In Memoriam: remembering all victims of genocide.
There will be a performance of African music in memory of all victims of genocide, given by the world-famous Seckou Keita.
The Kora virtuoso from Southern Senegal has redefined the instrument’s possibilities and has 12 acclaimed albums and multiple BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Tickets, priced £20, are available from The Maltings. A portion of the income from the concert will, at Seckou’s request, be given to the International Red Cross.