Genocide survivor wins top award

7:15pm Tuesday 6th November 2007

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A woman whose entire family was murdered during the Rwandan genocide was tonight named Ultimate Survivor in a prestigious London ceremony.

Liliane Umubyeyi, 29, of Shepherds Hill, Greater Leys, Oxford, received the award in Cosmopolitan's Ultimate Women of the Year 2007 Awards.

Miss Umubyeyi, an ethnic Tutsi, was just 15 when her family were killed in 1994. She managed to escape, despite enduring rape, imprisonment and seeing her family die.

She got involved with the Survivors Fund, the only international charity dedicated to supporting survivors of the genocide which saw the ethnic cleansing of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Miss Umubyeyi moved to Oxford in 2000 and continued to work with the charity, of which she is now co-chair. She now dedicates herself to helping those less fortunate than herself, particularly women survivors raped and infected with HIV/Aids. Miss Umubyeyi, who received the award in the Ultimate Campaigner category, told the Oxford Mail she was proud of her work for the charity, and added: "I feel a responsibility to help the survivors."