Rwanda 'a family again', 25 years after genocide: Kagame

President Paul Kagame said Sunday that Rwandans had become a family again, 25 years after more than 800,000 people were slaughtered in a genocide that shocked the world.

Kagame lit a remembrance flame at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 mainly Tutsi victims are believed to be buried, as the country began its annual 100 days of mourning that coincides with the length of the slaughter.

"In 1994, there was no hope, only darkness," said Kagame, at the Kigali Convention Centre, a dome-shaped auditorium in the centre of the capital, a modern building emblematic of the regeneration of Rwanda.

"Today, light radiates from this place ... How did it happen? Rwanda became a family once again," he added.

"The arms of our people, intertwined, constitute the pillars of our nation. We hold each other up.

"Our bodies and minds bear amputations and scars, but none of us is alone. Together, we have woven the tattered threads of our unity into a new tapestry."
"The fighting spirit is alive in us. What happened here will never happen again."