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Boniface Hakizimana kneels down and seeks apology for having killed a big number during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Jean d'Amour Mbonyinshuti
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Clerics, genocide survivors and the entire congregation prayed for the genocide convicts who reprented and apologised for their role in genocide.Jean d'Amour Mbonyinshuti
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Father Janvier Gahonzire from Butare Diocese passes a candle to Boniface Hakizimana and others after they reconciled with the survivors whose members they killed. Jean d'Amour Mbonyinshuti
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Gaspard Ntakavuro one of genocide convicts hugging a genocide survivor who forgave himfor his role in killing her family members.jean d'Amour Mbonyinshuti
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A female genocide survivor smiles as she hugs one of genocide convicts after she pardonned her. Jean d'Amour Mbonyinshuti
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The church was fully packed during the mass where at least 60 genocide survivors granted pardon to 18 genocide convicts . Jean d'Amour mbonyinshuti
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Fidele Ndayisaba, the executive secretary of national unity and reconciliation commission during the mass at Rugango parish. Jean d'Amour Mbonyinshuti
He
kneels besides the alter inside Rugango Catholic Parish, not for the
ordinary penitence before a priest, but to apologise for the crimes he
committed inside that very church during the 1994 Genocide against the
Tutsi.
Twenty-four years ago, Boniface Hakizimana, together with other
militia members, attacked those who ...had sought refuge in the church,
killing hundreds with machetes and other traditional weapons.
Standing next to Hakizimana are two women; Beatrice Mukangamije and
Speciose Mukamugema, who lost seven and five family members,
respectively, at the hands of Hakizimana.
They are all close neighbours and residents of Mbazi Sector in Huye District
Hakizimana admits he personally killed all of them. Even though he
served a ten-year prison sentence, he says his life in the community
after release was always difficult because of the stigma.
He said that he was always nervous to meet people he wronged or talk to them.
“When the Genocide started, we had been mobilised to kill all Tutsi
to protect our ethnic group, I personally killed Mukangamije’s seven
family members, including her mother and siblings. I also killed five
members of Mukamugema’s family and several others, I can’t remember the
number,” he revealed.
Hakizimana was on Monday addressing hundreds of people who flocked
to Rugango parish where 18 people apologised for their roles in the
Genocide.
For many years, Mukangamije and Mukamugema never knew Hakizimana
was the one who killed their loved ones until late last year when a
healing process, which involves former convicts apologising to survivors
to be granted forgiveness, started.
The programme is an initiative of Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga and seeks
to foster healing of wounds of Genocide survivors and the guilt of
perpetrators as part of efforts to promote unity and reconciliation.
At the Rugango parish, the programme started in September last year
after both sides agreed to a facilitated joint healing process.
Feeling relieved
It is through this programme that Hakizimana made up his mind and
decided it was time for him to approach the two survivors to seek their
forgiveness, a journey he says was not easy.
“Having been released from the prison was not enough and I felt I
was still a prisoner in my heart. I never felt relieved, when I
approached Beatrice and Veneranda to apologise, I found it difficult to
tell them what happened and my role,” he says
During the mass, that marked the end of the two groups’ healing
journey, Genocide convicts who had served their sentences knelt down in
the church with survivors holding on their shoulders as clerics prayed
for complete healing.
“I now feel relieved than I ever thought I could be. I live in
harmony with the families that forgave me and I support them in any way I
can. I always visit Veneranda and Beatrice and we share meals and
drinks, though we can’t bring back the lives of the people we killed,
there is hope for unity and reconciliation, thus a better future,” he
says
Survivors speak out
Mukamugema said that, for many years, she could not imagine
speaking to anyone who had killed her family let alone forgiving them.
It was not until she was approached by facilitators who took her
through the healing process, along with those who killed her loved ones
and realised it was in her interest to listen to the perpetrators,
forgive them as it would help heal her and those who wronged her.
“I wondered how Boniface could be my church mate and read the Bible
for us. I walked far from him and I could rarely talk to him, but as we
continued to pray together I started thinking he might have changed,
one day he came to my home and asked for forgiveness, he told me he had
killed my family members, he burst into tears and I went back to my room
and cried,” she says.
“Boniface was not among the people I could suspect to have killed
my people until he opened up. I forgave him as I realised he had
changed, thanks to the healing process we underwent together. I forgave
him and felt relieved,” she added.
Unity and reconciliation as a journey
Fidel Ndayisaba, the executive secretary of the National Unity and
Reconciliation Commission (NURC), hailed the Catholic Church’s efforts,
especially Rugango parish, in promoting unity and reconciliation.
He said the timing was good for Christians who believe in Easter
and just as the country is about to embark on commemoration of Genocide.
He urged both parties to always look forward to better relations and to foster unity.
The healing process, that ended on Monday, was started by 27 people
but only 18 of them graduated. At least 60 Genocide survivors have
undergone the process and forgiven those who killed their people.
Started in 2005, the programme has so far seen over 300 Genocide
convicts pardoned and reconciled with Genocide survivors in various
parishes including Mushaka (Rusizi District), Ntendezi (Nyamasheke
District),Nyamata (Bugesera District), Kibirizi (Southern Province) and
Rugango in Huye District, according to officials.
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