That some African countries still harbour Genocide fugitives makes sad reading. If ever there was political will among these African countries, concerning the fate of Genocide fugitives, they would have been brought to book way back.

Fifteen years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, which claimed over a million lives, the only obstacle to proper healing are issues to do with justice. We reported earlier this week that even umbrella bodies for Genocide survivors – Ibuka and Avega, still feel shortchanged in some of the cases that were handled by the local traditional Gacaca courts.

Healing and reconciliation processes can only be augmented through justice and accountability, in order for survivors and perpetrators to co-exist, and the country to move on.

The current culture of impunity, in which authors of the 1994 Genocide are given sanctuary in African countries, that include, Kenya , Zimbabwe and a host of west African nations, has to be challenged.

It is a bad precedence not just for Rwandans who have been denied justice, but in the future dispensation of international justice, for any other country.

Masterminds of heinous crimes will just relocate to safe havens and start afresh with their lives, on fake identities.

It is simply mind-boggling that those whose hands are dripping with blood of innocent lives are even running thriving businesses in a country like Zimbabwe where the economic situation has not favoured many.

And these businesses are not only flourishing in Harare but rather across the entire continent, into Europe and North America.

One cannot help but to conclude that this ‘wealth’ fuels and sustains conflicts particularly in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where rag-tag genocidal forces with a guarantee of arms supply continue to wreck.

The African Union (AU) is therefore challenged to play a positive role, in putting pressure on these countries to extradite, the fugitives to face justice.

The shadowy elements pose a great threat to peace and stability on the continent.

Ends