This archive report was first published on 6 June 2020.
On June 6, 2020, the Church of England reinstated Bishop Jonathan Ruhumuliza, a 64-year-old cleric accused of complicity in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
The decision has been met with criticism from Ibuka, a Rwanda genocide survivors lobby group, which claims the Church of England disregarded evidence against Bishop Ruhumuliza.
According to Ibuka's executive secretary, Ahishakiye Naphtali, Bishop Ruhumuliza was sympathetic to the former genocidal regime and publicly supported it, even during the mass murder of Tutsis in Rwanda.
“It is a pity the Church of England disregarded the truth of what he did and instead reinstated him to work for it. They chose to exercise negative solidarity in a case like this. Sad,” said Ahishakiye Naphtali.
The Church of England initially placed Bishop Ruhumuliza on special leave in 2014, pending investigations, following an article in the Observer that accused him of being a public apologist for the genocidal government and being complicit in the killings.
However, the Church reinstated him last month, citing rulings by the immigration tribunal and court of appeal confirming his right to stay in the UK, and support he got from the current archbishop in Rwanda.
Among the accusations levelled against Bishop Ruhumuliza is that in May 1994, he wrote to the secretary general of the All Africa Council of Churches, Jose Chipenda, defending the extremist government and blaming the mass killings on the RPF.
London-based African Rights also claimed in 1998 that Bishop Ruhumuliza “arranged for Tutsis to be excluded from refuge” and alleged the priest was “directly involved in the killings” by making requests for weapons.
