Leaders of various religious denominations across the country have committed to join hands with the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) by including the Ndi Umunyarwanda (Iam Rwandan) programme in their preaching to promote cohesion among believers.

They made the pledge yesterday after a meeting in Kigali with the commission officials.

Speaking at the meeting, Retired Bishop John Rucyahana, the president of NURC, said the move will help foster unity and reconciliation in the country.

He said, "What we have so far achieved in terms of unity and reconciliation is satisfactory but we want to collaborate and cooperate with religious and faith based organisations to ensure that Ndi Umunyarwanda is promoted, which will fast-track reconciliation among our people.”

Bishop Philippe Rukamba, the spokesperson of the Catholic Church in Rwanda, said the Church had embarked on several engagements aimed to promote Ndi Umunyarwanda to restore peace, unity and reconciliation among Rwandans.

"We are convinced that unity and reconciliation are in line with what the Holy Scriptures say, that’s why in 2000 we established Christian Gacaca that helped to deliver restorative justice to our people. We have also published books on unity and reconciliation,’’ he said.

Some challenges that still undermine unity and reconciliation, according to National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, include people who still define themselves or define others on the basis of ethnicity, genocide ideology, and the wounds caused by the country’s sad history and the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.

Rev. Julie Kandema, the deputy spokesperson of Presbyterian Church in Rwanda said that clerics should teach those who do not want to repent and seek forgiveness, and those who were offended to forgive to make sure that people reconcile truly.

She explained that they have always been involved in activities promoting unity and reconciliation.

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