Kwibuka-Rwanda A Cassiterite Mine of Sorrows: Where Bugesera’s Genocide Victims Still Lie
“These Are the Graves of Our Loved Ones,” Say Survivors of the Cassiterite Mine
On April 11, 1994, as the Genocide against the Tutsi raged with unrelenting brutality, Ntagwabira Gaston fled his home in current Musenyi sector, Bugesera district, with his entire family.
They crossed a nearby swamp, trying to escape the advancing Interahamwe militia. Some sought refuge in an area called Nyiramatuntu; others pressed on toward Ntarama, only to be killed along the way.
Ntagwabira was 16 at the time. He was accompanied by his father and sister, who carried her five-year-old child. When they realized they were being hunted, they hid in a bush. But the child, overwhelmed by hunger, began to cry—a sound they feared would alert the killers.
Hoping to save them, their father left the bush in search of food from a nearby friend—someone he thought might offer help. But as he approached the house, an Interahamwe spotted him. The militia captured him and took him to the Cassiterite mines on Mount Nunga, where he was savagely attacked—his limbs hacked off before being thrown into the deep pit.
The children, still hidden in the bush, waited in vain for his return.
“After two days, weak with hunger and despair, we decided to go find our father,” Ntagwabira recalls. “We thought the neighbor had helped him. But when we arrived under the cover of night, we were met with devastating news.”
The neighbor hid them in a nearby bush, fearing that the Interahamwe, who had stationed guards in the area, would discover them. But it was no use. They were soon found and taken to the same cassiterite mine where their father had been killed.
“When they saw that the first pit was full, they took us to another one,” he says. “They hacked us and threw us in.”
The fall into the pit was a descent into darkness—one that many never escaped.
Miraculously, Ntagwabira regained consciousness. In the pitch-black depths of the mine, he heard a faint voice—a survivor who had been trapped for seven days, still alive. This person told him he had jumped into the pit to avoid being hacked to death, and the killers had thrown in stones and thorny branches to prevent anyone from climbing out.
Bleeding and in agonizing pain, Ntagwabira clawed his way up the vertical shaft of the mine. Somehow, he reached the top. But his sister and nephew remained behind, too injured to escape.
“I crawled to where another sister lived,” he says. “She took me in. Later, my older brother brought me to Ntarama, where the Inkotanyi (Rwandan Patriotic Army) rescued me.”
After the Genocide, Ntagwabira returned to the mine. He found that the killers had filled in most of the pits, making it difficult to identify where victims had been dumped. Only the pit where his father had been thrown remained recognizable. Of all the cassiterite pits at Nunga, only one had a few remains recovered and given a proper burial.
And still, mining continues at Nunga to this day.
The memory of his loved ones being denied a dignified burial haunts Ntagwabira. Visiting the site stirs intense trauma, making him feel like he’s reliving the horrors of 1994. During commemoration periods, he avoids crowds and sometimes dreams of his sister as though she were still alive.
“We ask that all means be used to search for the remains of our loved ones,” he says. “And we want a memorial marker here—something to show that this is not just a mine, but a place where our people were killed.”
They Were Stripped, Paraded, and Killed
Evariste Ntegengwa is another survivor. He too lost his entire family at the cassiterite mine in Nunga.
During the Genocide, Ntegengwa and a few other men tried to defend their families, but they were no match for the Interahamwe, who had guns and military support. His pregnant wife, children, sisters, and relatives—about 40 people in total—were captured after crossing a swamp in search of safety.
“They were stripped of their clothes and forced to march naked to the mine,” Ntegengwa says. “Then they were killed one by one and thrown into the pits.”
It wasn’t just his family. Victims were brought from Remera, Nyiramatuntu, Rulindo, and Gicaca—all led to their deaths at the mine.
“They would fill one pit with bodies, then move to another,” he says. “Some people even jumped in alive.”
Ntegengwa laments how the site has been altered by ongoing mining:
“They’ve dug it up so much, you can’t tell people are buried here. Today they dig here, tomorrow there—over and over. But our people are still down there.”
He urges authorities to collect survivors’ testimonies and recognize the site as a genocide killing field, not just an ordinary mine.
“Sometimes I try to visit, and they tell me I’m not allowed. But I insist—my family is there. I have the right to come, even to sit here if I want. No mineral is more valuable than our loved ones.”
He recalls one instance where miners found human remains and reported it. Their supervisor ignored it. But one miner persisted, and eventually, the remains were recovered and buried properly.
Jean Claude Rukundo, coordinator of Ibuka in Musenyi Sector, says survivors have long raised concerns.
“The truth is, we don’t know what lies in the depths of those pits,” he says. “But some survivors escaped from the mines and know for a fact that remains are still there.”
Survivors have repeatedly asked that mining stop until a thorough investigation can be conducted. The cassiterite mine is located near people’s homes and was clearly used as a mass grave during the Genocide.
They want the site marked, the remains recovered, and the truth acknowledged.
“We Don’t Have Supernatural Powers” – Minister Dr. Bizimana
Dr. Jean Damascene Bizimana, Rwanda’s Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, responded to concerns over missing remains by saying that authorities rely on information from citizens—not supernatural insight.
“We don’t have divine powers to know where remains are hidden,” he said. “We find them when people speak up or when development projects unearth them. Sometimes suspects who are released reveal information, and that’s when we begin investigations.”
He emphasized that those suspected of withholding information about burial sites are prosecuted in open court.
Dr. Bizimana acknowledged that remains are sometimes found under houses, which are then demolished. He also said that local government and security forces are responsible for following up on credible reports. The Minister said he would follow up on the new information about the new suspected site to determine if indeed there are remains of victims.
Regarding the Nunga mine specifically, he stated: “Mining won’t be stopped, but the credibility of the information will be evaluated.”
Still, he questioned how mining could have gone on for so long without unearthing any remains—if indeed they were still there. But he promised an investigation would follow if the testimonies were found to be trustworthy.
In this pit as shown in photos below, according to survivors, there are remains of genocide victims
