The US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power paid an emotional visit to the memorial to the Rwandan genocide in Kigali earlier this month, as part of a mission from the UN Security Council.
In an passionate interview after her visit, Power said,
In an passionate interview after her visit, Power said,
"My name is Samantha Power, I’m the US ambassador to the United Nations. I have just come out of the memorial, and I honestly need time to recover. This is very soon to be talking to all of you… This is my third time visiting Rwandan memorials, it is almost 20 years after the genocide, and the power of not only what happened here in 1994 but the strength of the Rwandan people as they seek to move forward is immensely moving to me and to my colleagues."Read more at Mondoweiss here.
"I am here as part of a mission from the United Nations Security Council, and of course we all know what the United Nations failed to do back in 1994 for the Rwandan people. But the international community is determined to stand with the Rwandan people in the same way that our guides today have, who were themselves 13-year-old boys at the time of the genocide– I’m sorry– and they tell their stories so that diplomats like me, journalistis, citizens, churchgoers, everyone in the world can know what happened here so that it never happens again in Rwanda and it never happens again anywhere else in the world…"
"Nobody who comes to this memorial site is ever the same when they leave. People who come to this site dedicate themselves with new passion… to the broader cause of preventing genocide forevermore."