The Catholic Church in Rwanda has apologised for its role in the 1994 genocide, saying it regrets the actions of those who participated in the massacres.
A church statement acknowledged on Sunday its members planned, aided, and executed the genocide, in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu hardliners.
"We apologise for all the wrongs the church committed. We apologise on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that church members violated [their] oath of allegiance to God's commandments," said the statement by the Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was read out in parishes across the country.
Many of the victims died at the hands of priests, clergymen and nuns, according to accounts by survivors, and the Rwandan government said many died in the churches where they had sought refuge.
Many of the victims died at the hands of priests, clergymen and nuns, according to accounts by survivors, and the Rwandan government said many died in the churches where they had sought refuge.
In the years since the genocide - which was sparked by a contentious plane crash that killed the then-president, a Hutu - the local church had resisted efforts by the government and groups of survivors to acknowledge the church's complicity in mass murder, saying those church officials who committed crimes acted individually.
The bishops' statement is seen as a positive development in Rwanda's efforts at reconciliation.
"Forgive us for the crime of hate in the country to the extent of also hating our colleagues because of their ethnicity. We didn't show that we are one family, but instead killed each other," the statement said.
Bishop Phillipe Rukamba, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Rwanda, said the statement was timed to coincide with the formal end on Sunday of the Holy Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis to encourage greater reconciliation and forgiveness in his church and in the world.
Tom Ndahiro, a Rwandan genocide researcher, said he hoped the church's statement will encourage unity among Rwandans.
"I am also happy to learn that in their statement, bishops apologise for not having been able to avert the genocide," he said.
This story from Al Jazeera was supplied to AllAfrica under an agreement with the African Media Agency.
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The Catholic church in Rwanda, a landlocked country in East Africa, apologised on Sunday for the church's role in the 1994 genocide, saying it regretted the actions of those who participated in the massacres.
"We apologise for all the wrongs the church committed. We apologise on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that church members violated [their] oath of allegiance to God's commandments," said the statement issued by the Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The statement acknowledged that members of the catholic church in Rwanda planned, aided and carried out the genocide, in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists. The church's admission is a significant development as the church repeatedly denied accusations in the years following the genocide.
A brief history of the conflict
About 85 per cent of Rwandans are Hutus but the country has always been dominated by Tutsi, a minority community. In the year 1959, Tutsi monarchy, which ruled the country, was overthrown by the majority Hutus. Tens of thousands of Tutsis went into exile in neighbouring countries, including Uganda. In exile, a group of Tutsi formed a rebel group, called as the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and invaded Rwanda in 1990. Fighting continued until a 1993 peace deal was agreed.
A plane carrying president Juvenal Habyarimana and his counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi - both Hutus - was shot down, killing everyone on board on the night of 6 April 1994. Hutu extremists in Rwanda blamed the RPF and immediately started a well-organised campaign of slaughter. The RPF said the plane had been shot down by Hutus to provide an excuse for the genocide.
In just 100 days, Hutu extremists had slaughtered over 800,000 people. Most of the dead belonged to the minority ethnic Tutsis. Moderate Hutus, who were seen by the extremists as their political opponents, were also murdered in large numbers.
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