Victims of Rwandan genocide still being found 30 years on

The remains of more than 100,000 genocide victims have been unearthed across Rwanda in the past five years.

With shovels and garden hoes, villagers stood this January digging where a house once stood in Rwanda to reveal a mass grave filled with bones – victims of the genocide still being found 30 years on.

Around 100 volunteers, many wearing face masks and rubber gloves turn over the red soil in Ngoma village in the country’s south, with a sombre determination as a crowd watches on from a slope above.

Skulls, teeth and other shards of bone are placed carefully into plastic bags while shoes and tattered clothing – possible clues to identify loved ones never found – are collected elsewhere.

The remains of 119 people had been unearthed over three days, said Napthali Ahishakiye, president of the genocide survivors’ group Ibuka.

Andre Kamana, deputy mayor of the wider Huye district in the country’s south, said there was no telling how many more might be found.