08 April,2009 10:19 AM IST | | Agencies
The bodies of nearly 11,000 Rwandan genocide victims that floated more than 100 miles downriver and were placed in makeshift graves in Uganda will receive proper reburial, said Rwanda's ambassador.
The bodies will be exhumed from the shores of Lake Victoria and reburied in three permanent mass graves, Ambassador Ignatius Kamali said on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the start of the Rwandan genocide.
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"We have decided to accord a decent burial to those genocide victims," he said. "We want the exercise done within 100 days from today." Kamali did not say how much the process would cost but said that Rwanda would foot the bill. Tom Lutu, an official in Rakai district, toldu00a0AP that the Rwandan government bought the land where the bodies will be buried.
Kamali did not say why the bodies would remain in Uganda instead of returning to Rwanda, but touted the initiative as an attempt to improve the relationship between the two neighbours. Ugandan officials welcomed the plan.
