Genocide justice still elusive as Africa urged to confront denial and impunity

Panelists responds to questions during the Symposium on the Genocide Prevention with the theme: ''From Ashes to Ambition:Rwanda's Journey of Renewal and the Quest for a United Africa'' at the University of Nairobi(UoN) April 22, 2026 [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

There are renewed calls to bring more perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda to justice, amid concerns that delayed or failed action enabled the mass killings that claimed over 800,000 lives in just 100 days.

Speaking during a genocide prevention symposium at the University of Nairobi, former UN Special Adviser Alice Wairimu Nderitu said many suspects escaped accountability, with some fleeing to countries such as Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

She noted that many of those who fled to eastern DRC later formed armed groups such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, contributing to continued instability in the region.

“For those of you who were born after the genocide, you may not know that after Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) ended it, so many perpetrators escaped and those with money moved to Cameroun after looting the coffers of Rwanda and are now living large," said Alice Wairimu, former UN special adviser.

Wairimu criticised limited global awareness of the conflict in eastern DRC, saying media coverage often focuses narrowly on the March 23 Movement, ignoring over 120 other armed groups operating in the region.

She further raised concern over genocide suspects indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda who remain unaccounted for, with some reportedly living freely across different countries.

"...some came here to Kenya, others to Tanzania, Burundi but millions  of them went Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) and formed  this armed group called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR)."

The symposium, themed From Ashes to Ambition: Rwanda’s Journey of Renewal and the Quest for a United Africa, also highlighted the dangers of delayed international response. Genocide survivor Father Elisee Rutagambwa said inaction and slow response by the international community enabled the planning, execution, and prolonging of the genocide.

“Many of you have heard that it is one party state, no opposition in Rwanda among others. We have been made to believe that countries will only progress if we embrace democracy or competitive politics, which are usually characterised by adversarial politics and a lot of violence during and after elections which takes a lot of time to recover from,” he said.

Participants also raised alarm over growing genocide denial, with journalist Charles Onyango-Obbo calling for stronger digital campaigns to counter misinformation, particularly on social media platforms.

Rwanda High Commission to Kenya, Ernest Rwamucyo emphasised that genocide is never spontaneous but a result of  deliberate planning, urging consistent global accountability and vigilance against denial and revisionism.

“The international community must do more than simply acknowledging past failures, it must actively confront denial, impunity and revisionism wherever they arise. Silence, indifference or selective engagement only embolden those who seek to rewrite history or repeat it. Accountability must be consistent, principled and universal. Justice denied or delayed implies that some lives are less worth of protection than others,” said Rwamucyo.  

Delivering a keynote address, Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba praised Rwanda’s recovery, urging Africa to transform historical pain into institutional strength and unity.

“This lecture, therefore, is not simply about catastrophe. It is also about recovery. It is not simply about memory. It is also about responsibility. It is not simply about Rwanda. It is about the larger African question: whether this continent, so often wounded by history and betrayed by leadership, can yet build states that are orderly, purposeful, just and humane; whether Africa can transform memory into wisdom, suffering into institutional resolve and national recovery into continental instruction,” he said.

Political scientist Frederick Golooba-Mutebi noted that Rwanda adopted a non-adversarial political model post-1994 to stabilise and rebuild the country.

“We remember not so that the past may dominate the future, but so that the future may be wiser than the past. We remember because there are events whose meaning must never be surrendered to forgetfulness, revisionism or convenient amnesia,” he said.

Speakers also called for the integration of genocide education into school curricula across Africa to ensure younger generations understand its causes and consequences.

The discussion comes amid continued concerns over regional conflicts, including violence linked to armed groups in eastern DRC, and reflections on Kenya’s own history, including the 2007–2008 Kenyan post-election violence.