The Ideal Democratic Party (PDI) has backed the initiative by a group of young Rwandans that requested members of the Hutu ethnic group to apologise for the role atrocities committed by Genocide perpetrators in the name of their ethnic identity, which led to the massacre of over a million Tutsis.

In a statement dated July 21, the party’s political bureau outlined six recommendations to the Rwandan community on this matter.

"PDI supports the youth that took the initiative to apologise, because ideal reconciliation redeems people from shame that is associated with what happened in the country, the Genocide that was committed in the name of the Hutus,” reads part of the statement that was signed by the party’s chairman, Sheikh Musa Fazil Harelimana. 

The party appealed to all those that committed the Genocide to clear their conscience by coming forth and apologise for the crime they committed against the Tutsi.

It is the party’s belief that this will strengthen commitment to the fight against genocide ideology, it said.

PDI also urged government to ensure those Rwandans that are ready to seek forgiveness are given an appropriate forum to express themselves.

But the party also says the decision to apologise should be voluntary.

The genesis

During the closure of the first phase of countrywide sessions dubbed Youth Connect Dialogue, hundreds of youth drawn from different parts of the country resolved to work towards sustainable peace, but agreed that they could not do this without building trust amongst themselves.

In a statement dubbed ‘the promise of a generation,’ the youth agreed to step out of the shadows of their parents, especially those that committed the Genocide, to build a prosperous nation.

"...all we need to do is show the (Genocide) survivors that we the youth do not support what was done in our name and this is what we are doing,” Edouard Bamporiki, one of the organisers of the forum told  The New Times this week.

Bamporiki says if people sat and told their story and got to know each other better, it would be easier to achieve a common goal, which, in this case, is a better future for Rwanda.