Masha Allah, many Rwandans have turned to Islam following the genocide in '94.
"Since the genocide, Rwandans have converted to Islam in huge numbers. Muslims now make up 14 percent of the 8.2 million people here in Africa's most Catholic nation, twice as many as before the killings began." Washington Post reported in 2002.
================================================== =======
Charlotte Kyakwera
Kigali
The Mufti of Rwanda, Sheikh Swaleh Habimana, has urged Rwandans to confess and forgive each other for genocide crimes in order to fully foster unity and reconciliation.
Shiekh Habimana who was recently addressing people who turned up for a memorial ceremony in remembrance of American Embassy staff who died during the genocide, said this would rid the society of the deadly genocide ideology that is still harboured by some Rwandans.
"The genocide ideology still exists because people have not learnt to bury the bodies; we need to confess and ask for forgiveness, we need to forgive. If we don't ask for forgiveness and forgive then God will never forgive us and so we shall not learn how to bury and the genocide ideology will always prevail," Habimana said at American Club in Kiyovu.
The Mufti, who denounced the genocide, however urged the survivors to be tolerant and to forgive and unite with the confessed tormentors.
"Together we must ensure that 'Never Again' to genocide is realised. Survivors should not languish in pain and trauma, let them unite with other Rwandans to emphasize 'Never Again'; this is the time when Rwandans should come together to fight the consequences of the 1994 genocide," the Mufti said.
Catholic Priest Oreste Abbe Incimatata described what happened in 1994 as genocide against God.
"The murderers not only killed people but also God the Creator. I say so because they killed His creation; they killed the people He made in His own image. A human being stands in God's image, therefore when you kill a person, you have killed God."
The sombre function was attended by, among others, the American Ambassador Michael Arrieti, the USAID Director Kevin Mullary, Evariste Kalisa, MP, and Charles Mugabo, the President of the American Embassy Employees Association.
source