KIGALI: The Amani Parliamentary Forum Rwanda Chapter has designed strategies to fight Genocide ideologies in the country and the Great Lakes region.This was disclosed during a two-day national debate on the ideology of Genocide held at Parliament yesterday. Amani is a peace initiative of Parliamentarians in the Great Lakes region. It is a network of parliamentarians who are committed to peace and to the peaceful resolution of conflicts, both within their own countries and in the region.

While addressing participants, the president of Amani Rwanda chapter, Denis Polisi said that they are a voice of peace aimed at eliminating armed conflicts and promoting peace and democratic governance.

"We need to identify ways on how the ideology can be fought, right from the families in order to stop its prevalence,” Polisi said.

He added: "We effectively observed that the ideology is still common among Rwandans and those in the neighboring countries of Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo; there is need to see how this problem can be mitigated.”

The group’s strategies to fight Genocide ideologies include enacting laws that would deal specifically with the vice and any form of divisionism that is intended to cause Genocide, writing books about the dangers of Genocide and how we can prevent ways through which the ideology is disseminated in schools, work places, churches and any form of gathering.

Creating permanent institutions geared towards fighting the ideology and coordinating with other institutions like the Unity and Reconciliation Commission, so as to bring peace in the country and the region as a whole.

The Vice president of the Association of European Parliamentarians for African (Awepa), Luc Dhoore, said that it is the responsibility of MPs to design frameworks that would help in instilling peaceful co-existence among the masses.

"It’s within that structure that we assist African parliaments to foster peace and democracy in their respective governments,” Dhoore said.
The Forum has established National Chapters in the seven national parliaments of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Ends