Kigali, May 29 (IANS): The remains of more than 9,000 victims of the 1994 Rwanda genocide were given a befitting burial at the Nyanza Genocide Memorial site in Kicukiro district.

The remains were recently retrieved from mass graves in different parts of Kigali following information volunteered on their whereabouts by some perpetrators, reports Xinhua news agency.

"It is quite unfortunate to see that decades after the genocide, we are still retrieving the remains of genocide victims and giving them decent burial," Paulin Rugero, an official of Ibuka, the umbrella association of Rwanda genocide survivors.

Jean-Damascene Bizimana, Rwanda's National Unity and Civic Engagements Minister, castigated genocide perpetrators for withholding information about mass graves.

Florence Mukantaganda, a survivor whose family were killed in the genocide, appealed to people with any information leading to mass graves to come forward and inform local leaders within their respective communities in order for all genocide victims' remains to get befitting burial.

The burial ceremony was attended by several residents, government officials and families of the victims as part of the 100 days of commemoration which started on April 7.

This year marks the 28th anniversary of the 1994 genocide that occurred between April 7 and July 15, 1994 against the Tutsi, minority ethnic group, in which more than one million people were killed.

Besides the Tutsi, making up for majority of the deaths, moderate Hutu and Twa members were also killed.

The genocide was triggered following the assassination of then President Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994, which created a power vacuum and ended peace accords between the government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group composed mostly of Tutsi refugees.

Genocidal killings began the following day when soldiers, police, and militia executed key Tutsi leaders.