Harare(ZimEye)Under the care of President Robert Mugabe, the Rwandan community in Zimbabwe has refused to take part in commemoration to mark the 1994 genocide that saw close to one million people being massacred in cold blood. Rwandans who have secured permanent protection and refuge in Zimbabwe are from the Hutu ethnic group, who sought asylum after the 1994 genocide.

Rwandans from the majority Hutu ethnic group are blamed for orchestrating the killings of those from the minority Tutsi ethnic group and politically moderate Hutus. The killings ended after a Tutsi dominated rebel group, led by Paul Kagame, now president of Rwanda, stormed into Kigali and over-ran the Hutu army. Each year from April 3 until the next 100 days Rwanda and the international community commemorates the genocide which saw untold numbers of skeletons from the victims(pictured) buried in mass graves.

Commemorations this year are still being held in Rwanda and east African countries, United States, Canada and in Western Europe. Rwandans in South Africa also commemorated the genocide. But those living up the Limpopo say they do not have anything to do with the commemorations. Zimbabwe’s commissioner of refugees Isaac Mukaro, declined to comment. Officials from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Harare referred inquiries to leaders of the Rwandan community in Zimbabwe. Karim Muhizi believes the commemorations are meant to cover up for the massacres committed by President Kagame and his rebel soldiers on their way to conquer Kigali. He said hundreds of thousands of Hutus were killed by the Tutsi rebels between 1993 and 1994 but nothing was being said about it.

“The genocide should be put into its right perspective,” Muhizi said. “We want the world to acknowledge that Kagame and his rebel soldiers massacred Hutus. It’s not only the Tutsis who were killed but Hutus also.”

Other refugees said they were angry with the behaviour of the Rwandan government and the international community, especially the Western World, for continuously failing to recognize that Hutus were also killed by the Tutsis. They also complained why only Hutus were being targeted for arrests for their alleged role in the genocide when Tutsis known to have also killed were being spared. Several thousand of Hutus are languishing in prisons in Rwanda while high profile individuals have been slapped with life jail terms for allegedly spearheading the massacres.

This week a high profile Rwandan of Hutu origin was arrested for his alleged role in financing the genocide. Charles Bandora briefly stayed in Zimbabwe, after escaping from Malawi where he had been arrested by authorities there for genocide related crimes.

It was not immediately clear how he left Zimbabwe. But reports this week suggested he was arrested at Zaventem International Airport as he tried to enter Belgium.

More than 800 000 Rwandans were killed in massacres carried out within less than 100 days in 1994 leading to an international outcry. Accused for crimes for humanity, many Hutus have now secured easy refuge in Zimbabwe and recently Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame described Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe as a ‘another Rwanda’(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

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