Clergy tasked to champion repentance in their flock

Nyabihu- The President of National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC), Bishop John Rucyahana, has challenged the clergy to lead their flock to true repentance which he said will make their hearts free from guilt. He was speaking at an event to accord decent burial to remains of 358 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that were recently retrieved from several parts of the district and buried at the newly constructed Nyabihu Memorial Site. The event, which was attended by thousands of residents, also saw the reburial of remains of over 1,500 victims who were transferred from de-gazetted memorial sites to the new one. Genocide survivors in Bigogwe revealed that at least 360 victims had not been discovered despite the fact that some residents know where the bodies were thrown. “Religious leaders failed to play their role, before and during the Genocide, now is the time to help people free their conscience because there is no guilty mind that will get to God. Anyone who knows where the bodies were dumped and has kept silent is a prisoner in the heart,’’ said Rucyahana, who recently retired as the Anglican Bishop of Shyogwe Diocese. The transferred remains were from Jenda, Mukamira, Karago sectors in the district as part of the government programme to have fewer that can be well looked after. Gerald Rutari, a survivor, revealed that Genocide was first tried out in Bigogwe, when the Tutsi who were living close to the home area of top members of the Akazu, including former President Juvenal Habyarimana, were wiped out in the early 1990s The new memorial site in Mukamira sector, Nyabihu district, is equipped with facilities to preserve both the bodies and the documentation of the genocide and is expected to cost Rwf133m, once fully completed. Ends