1 May 2001
Kigali, Rwanda — The Catholic Church in Kibuye, western Rwanda was last Sunday exorcised of the spirits of more than 11,000 Tutsis who were massacred inside its premises during the 1994 genocide, church sources claimed Tuesday.
Ceremonies to reopen the church to mass celebration seven years after the genocide were led by Bishop Alexis Habiyambere of Nyundo Diocese, and Kibuye Governor Deo Nkusi the sources said.
The church had been closed for more than seven years because of the horrible killings that took place there.
During the genocide many churches in Rwanda became slaughterhouses in which thousands of Tutsis were brutally massacred by Hutu militiamen and forces of the "genocidal" government.
The church in Kibuye was second, after the Church of Nyundo, to be exorcised according to the Catholic rituals.
Many of the churches in which people were slaughtered have remained closed as government and genocide survivors request that they be reserved as genocide memorials.
This was the case of Nyamata Church, south of the capital Kigali, where more about 20,000 Tutsis were killed, and Ntarama in the same area, where another 7,000 were butchered.
But tension remains high between the Gikongoro Diocese, in southern Rwanda, and genocide survivors concerning the church of Kibeho.
In this area, the Hutu militias burned to death more than 20,000 Tutsis who had run for safety into the church and locked themselves up.
The local bishop, Augustin Misago, who is also accused of involvement in the massacres of Kibeho, was arrested but later acquitted by the Kigali criminal court.
However, his case is pending, as an appeal was filed against the verdict.
"Misago wants the church rebuilt, but the survivors remain adamant, and won't let construction go on but rather, they propose that the edifice be left to symbolise a genocide memorial," one local official in Gikongoro told PANA.
The survivors reportedly accuse Misago of trying to remove all evidence of the atrocities perpetrated with his presumed complicity.
More than one million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during 1994 genocide.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2001 Panafrican News Agency. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
