Speaking during the Kwibuka31 International Conference on Sunday, April 6, 2025, Minister Bizimana said the cancellation of genocide memorial activities that had been scheduled in the cities of Liège and Brussels undermines the memory of the victims.
'We are now witnessing government-backed actions that obstruct remembrance of the Genocide against the Tutsi,' said Dr. Bizimana. 'This is happening in Belgium, a country that once apologized for its role in the genocide but now undermines the memory of its victims.'
The Belgian city of Liège withdrew from a previously scheduled April 12 commemoration event, citing concerns over public order due to tensions between Congolese and Rwandan communities.
According to Belgian state broadcaster RTBF, the local police advised against the event, warning it could trigger clashes due to the strained relations between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
'An analysis of the potential issue was conducted. The Liège police provided an unfavourable recommendation. The international political climate is unstable,' said police spokesperson Jadranka Lozina.
While Rwandan communities will still be allowed to hold private gatherings, Liège Mayor Willy Demeyer will not attend, and authorities have warned that any public threat could lead to a complete ban.
In Brussels, another major eventâ€"a conference organized by Ibuka Memory and Justice Association, a non-profit that advocates for genocide survivorsâ€"was abruptly canceled by Belgium's House of Representatives just one day before it was scheduled to take place on March 27.
The event, titled 'Transmitting Memory: Analyzing the Deep Origins and Unfolding of the Tutsi Genocide, 31 Years Later,' had included a planned video address by Minister Bizimana. Organizers say they were blindsided by the cancellation, which was attributed to deteriorating diplomatic relations between Belgium and Rwanda.
In his keynote speech, Dr. Bizimana took a historical perspective, arguing that the genocide ideology was imported and fueled by European colonialismâ€"specifically Belgian colonial rule. He asserted that the unity and values that once defined pre-colonial Rwandan society were systematically dismantled for colonial gain.
'A society as unified as the one the first Europeans found in Rwanda would never have committed genocideâ€"had its values not been destroyed by colonial powers,' he said.
He pointed to the writings of early missionaries like Chanoine Louis de Lacger, who documented that Rwandans were a culturally and socially cohesive people. That harmony, Dr. Bizimana said, was deliberately unraveled by Belgium through discriminatory policies and political manipulation, leading to the eventual eruption of genocide in 1994.
'If Europeans had not entered Africaâ€"and Rwanda in particularâ€"we would not be here today at a conference about a genocide that took over a million lives, simply because of who those people were,' he added.
Tensions between Rwanda and Belgium have worsened in recent weeks. On March 17, Rwanda formally severed diplomatic relations with Belgium, accusing the European nation of siding with the DRC in the ongoing regional conflict.
Ibuka-Belgium expressed deep disappointment over the Brussels cancellation, emphasizing that it had no political agenda and that the inclusion of Dr. Bizimana's speech was based on his expertise and relevance to the topic. The group called the move an 'unfortunate politicization' of a human rights cause.
'Our organization has neither a mandate nor a vocation to engage in politics,' Ibuka said in a statement. 'The cancellation of this event implicates us in a highly political dispute that we are not part of.'
No lessons learnt
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Minister Bizimana also expressed concern that the international communityâ€"including Belgiumâ€"has failed to learn from past atrocities, as evidenced by the targeted killings of Congolese Tutsis in the DRC.
'Even as we commemorate 31 years since the Genocide, some leaders in the DRC are still inciting hatred and killings, while the world looks on,' he said. 'We are witnessing a repeat of the very mistakes some governments once apologized forâ€"this time with fresh victims in Congo and renewed global indifference.'
The 31st Commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi is scheduled to start on Monday, April and continue for the next 100 days.
April 7 was designated as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi by the UN General Assembly in 2003.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
