Forgive but never forget, Rwandan bishops say on the 16th anniversary of the Genocide: The Church of England Newspaper, April 16, 2010 p 6.

Bishop-elect Louis Muvunyi of Kigali and his wife, Winnie.

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Church leaders across Rwanda have marked the 16th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide with a call to forgive, but never forget.

The Bishop-coadjutor of Kigali, the Rt. Rev. Louis Muvunyi urged his countrymen to seek the truth and support the investigations of the descent into murder and madness that nearly destroyed their country. But he urged them also to follow Christ and forgive. In the 100 days following the assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994 an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered by militant Hutus.

Preaching to a congregation gathered on the shores of Lake Muhazi, the Tutsi bishop recounted how his three brothers were murdered on the second day of the Genocide by their Hutu neighbors and their bodies, and later the bodies of his parents, were dumped into the lake by their killers. “I only survived because I had gone to study in Tanzania. So, when I sit close to this lake, I try to come to terms with what happened,” the new bishop said on April 10.

He called upon Hutus and Tutsis to live in peace, to set aside hatreds and the desire for revenge and work together to build a new Rwanda. Elected by the Rwandan House of Bishops to succeed Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, Bishop-elect Muvunyi was archdeacon of Kigali and acting dean of the Kigali Anglican Theological College at the time of his election on March 27. The Primate of Rwanda, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini will retire as Bishop of Kigali on his 65th birthday later this year.

The Bishop of Butare, the Rt. Rev. Nathan Gasatura told students and faculty at a ceremony marking the anniversary held at the National University of Rwanda that without forgiveness, the pains of the Genocide would continue to scar the country.

“Failure to forgive is like keeping a heavy burden on your heart, but to forgive is to liberate yourself from trauma which leads to healing of a broken heart and building hope for the future,” Bishop Gasatura said, according to the New Times of Kigali.