Rebuilding a shattered community

On 6 April 1994, 100 days of killing began in Rwanda in which time up to one million people were murdered. Father Nicky Hennity from Kilkeel, County Down, arrived in Rwanda six months after the genocide.

In this final report for BBC News Online, Julian Fowler speaks to the priest about his efforts to rebuild a shattered community.

Standing in the quiet courtyard of his church, Father Hennity looks out across the peaceful countryside of his parish.

Father Hennity has been in Rwanda for almost 10 years

But if you look closely, you can still see bullet holes in the metal posts which support the roof of the former priest's house, a clue to the massacre that took place here 10 years ago.

"Many of the people from the hills and all around started coming in here for security - they were afraid of their lives," said Father Hennity.

"Unfortunately, on the 21 April, the militia came in and all the armed groups and they started massacring the people who were here within the compound.

"And many of the local people joined in with their machetes killing people.

"So in this compound something in the region of 6,000 people were killed, were massacred within one day which is something unbelievable but this is what happened."

After carrying out the killings in this parish, the militias moved on to the next parish, and then the next, leaving thousands of bodies lying in the countryside.

He was a Tutsi priest who decided to stay with his people and unfortunately paid the price of it with his life Father Nicky Hennity

Father Hennity points to a small white cross in an area covered with blue, white and pink wild flowers - it marks the spot of one of the three mass graves near the church which contain up to 5,000 bodies.

"This grave here is where we found the body of the parish priest who was here, Joseph Niyomugabo, who made a decision.

"He was a Tutsi priest who decided to stay with his people and unfortunately paid the price of it with his life.

"He's buried here with the people whom he tried to save, so he's obviously one of the great heroes of the genocide, people who didn't join in the killing but stood by the people and try to save them and do as much for them as possible.

"It's very difficult to understand why it happened - we can understand how it happened, but the why of it is a very difficult question to understand.

"And the big question we have is can it happen again?"

The NI priest said people in Rwanda were still bitter and angry

Over the last 10 years, Father Hennity has been encouraging people to tell their stories, to begin the healing process, and to give them some hope for the future.

"I've heard stories from both sides, from people who were actually involved in the killings themselves, people who killed 10, 20 50 people, and other people then who barely survived," he said.

"Of course listening to those stories takes its toll.

"It questions your own faith and you have to look at, for me certainly, the whole question of faith and humanity.

"What human beings can do to one another, have done to one another.

Being someone from Northern Ireland myself we know the process of reconciliation is not an easy one, so it's going to take a long, long time Father Hennity

"People who are supposed to be responsible as leaders in church or in government, in society - some of them were the leaders, the planners, and the executors of genocide.

"That is very, very frightening.

"So our whole process has been trying to bring together the community again, the whole process of reconciliation.

"There's a lot of pain, a lot of anger, a lot of hatred, bitterness, and the hatred and bitterness doesn't disappear overnight.

"Being someone from Northern Ireland myself we know the process of reconciliation is not an easy one, so it's going to take a long, long time."

Ten years on, Father Hennity's work in many ways has only just begun, but the hope is that the events of 1994 will never be repeated.