Rwandan reconciliation commission making progress, says official

Aloysea Inyumba, executive secretary of Rwanda’s National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC), told AP on Tuesday that the organisation was making progress in its efforts to restore normality to the country following the 1994 genocide in which Hutu extremists killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In the two years since the NURC was established, it has managed to speed up the process of justice, help find new homes for 300,000 orphans from the genocide and run programmes to bring Rwanda’s Hutu and Tutsi communities together, AP reported. “Managing the aftermath of a genocide is extremely challenging. The question is: how do we promote a culture of justice and reconciliation while also discouraging a culture of impunity?” AP quoted Inyumba as saying. Inyumba and other NURC members are currently visiting Europe to seek additional funding. NURC has an annual budget of US $300,000, donated in part by the US and the European Union. Inyumba is also meeting with Rwandan exiles, AP reported.