Remains of 32 people have been exhumed from the construction site of Amahoro Stadium in the past two weeks, local authorities have said.
Although the remains are suspected to be of victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi, a process is being undertaken to gather more information about their identity and the circumstances of their death.
Remera Sector's Social Affairs team leader, Pauline Rutazana, confirmed the development in an interview with The New Times.
"Yes, there are bodies that have been found at the stadium. They have been removed from the site and taken to the premises of the administration of Remera Sector, so that more information is sought regarding them," she said.
"We are working with Ibuka and village and cell administrations so that we can find people who can identify them," she added.
The New Times understands that the process of trying to establish the identity of the remains is underway.
On Thursday, August 31, a meeting will be held between authorities and people who survived the genocide from Amahoro Stadium, so that they can try to figure out who these victims might be.
The attempt to identify them will involve looking at the clothes that were unearthed from the stadium, as well as trying to remember how the events unfolded in 1994 during the Genocide Against the Tutsi.
A survivor's take on identity of the remains
Reverend Antoine Rutaisire, a survivor of the genocide, who fled to Amahoro Stadium as the killings unfolded, told The New Times that there are many reasons for finding human remains there.
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Among the reasons, he noted is that behind the stadium, during the genocide, there were sector offices and a police station where people suspected of being accomplices to the RPF were imprisoned.
With that, he said there is a possibility that some were killed and buried there. In addition, he said that on the night of April 6, 1994, the roads within the vicinity of the stadium as well as other areas close to the airport were targeted by the Interahamwe and government soldiers.
"Many Tutsis who were found on the roads were killed," he said.
He also pointed out that there was a day when the government army shelled the stadium, targeting the civilians who had fled there.
"Many people were killed," he said, noting that these might also possibly be the bodies that are being exhumed now.
The district administration of Gasabo is expected to follow up on the process of identifying the bodies, as well as their burial.
