After reciting the Angelus on Sunday, Pope John Paul II recalled the ethnic clashes in Rwanda that ended in genocide and called the International community to prevent this tragedy from happening again.

“Ten years have passed since April 7, 1994, when in Rwanda serious clashes broke out between Hutu and Tutsi, culminating in genocide where hundred of thousands of people were barbarically killed,” the Pontiff said.

“Let us pray to the Lord that such a tragedy never happens again,” He added, and encouraged the people and civil and religious leaders of Rwanda,  as well as the international community, to “not be discouraged” and to work to bring peace to the Great Lakes region.