During a commemoration event of the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi hosted by the Rwandan High Commission in Tanzania on Friday, Tanzania’s minister of foreign affairs reportedly stressed that unless the Genocide ideology championed by the remnants of the perpetrators of the mass killings 22 years ago is combated, there will always be problems.

Dr Augustine Mahiga was the guest of honour at the event attended by over 350 people, among them, senior Tanzania government officials, members of diplomatic corps, students, friends of Rwanda and Rwandans living in Tanzania, held in the Tanzania capital Dar es Salaam.

According to a statement by the Rwandan High Commission in Tanzania, in his solidarity message, Dr Mahiga emphasised the severity of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and called upon the international community, especially those denying it while supporting the perpetrators, to ‘style up’.

He further reiterated Tanzania’s commitment to fighting Genocide ideology and denial.

Dr Mahiga said when the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) stopped the mass killings by the Interahamwe, the entire killing machinery stampeded the civilian population to flee with them.

"What we are witnessing today in Eastern Congo is a product of that time. The refugees that have been held hostage by Interahamwe are the ones that are now constituting the now so-called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). These are the elements who refused to go back to Rwanda, these are the elements that held the refugees hostage, these are the elements that kept on retreating inside the Congo forests, and these are the elements who are still loyal to the Genocide ideology. Unless the Genocide ideology is combated there will always be problems,” Dr. Mahiga said. 

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