ISLAM means peace and all Muslims, especially the youth, should promote unity and peace to avoid any conflict that can affect the world and lead to genocide or any other mass killings.

The call was made by young Muslims from the region when they paid tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre on Saturday.

Over 60 youth from nine regional countries are in Rwanda to take part in a three-day Qur’an reciting competition.

Participants are from Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Egypt, DR Congo and Rwanda.

While at the memorial centre, they laid wreaths on the graves containing remains of more than 250,000 Genocide victims.

Later, they were briefed about the history of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi which claimed the lives of over a million people, how it was planned and executed.

"The visit today helps us have first hand information on how the massacres were executed. This was an inhumane act and as young Muslims, we have to resist this and stand firm to ensure this never happens anywhere in the world again and that its ideology is fought against in all forms,” said Ahmad Sedky from Egypt.

"We are future leaders, if our voices are raised, understanding the cause of genocide is very important as it helps us prevent any kind of conflicts which can lead to genocide or to any other killing. Islam means peace and Muslims should promote peace and unity fighting against any bad act,” he added

Hamza Muhyidin Rage from Kenya said "This memorial centre has a lot of chilling memories and I believe there is a lot to learn from bad history that led to the genocide in Rwanda. As youth we are the ones to make the world better and this can be done through learning from bad history to fighting against genocide ideology while promoting unity and peace in our countries and beyond.”

"We are thankful for the opportunity to visit this memorial centre to learn what happened in Rwanda, what happened in Rwanda was against the Islamic dogma and we are regretful it happened in a country which has many Christians and Muslims, this should have been prevented, had all Rwandans abided to Islamic teachings and that of Christians as well,” said Ali Saleh from Zanzibar.

Sheikh Ismail Maniriho, head of Islamic predication at Rwanda Muslims Community (RMC) said helping the youth understand that genocide and its ideology is a tool to fight against so that it never happens anywhere else in the world.

"The Rwandan history that led to Genocide is something which should be told to all people around the world to help prevent it happening again, we hope the youth have learnt from what happened and will help prevent happening again not only in Africa but also worldwide,” said Maniriho.

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