Augustin Nshamihigo was the first

Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda, now called

Anglican Church of Rwanda The Anglican Church of Rwanda (French: ''Église anglicane du Rwanda'') is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 11 dioceses in Rwanda. The primate of the province is Laurent Mbanda, consecrated on 10 June 2018. Official names The Provinc ...

. Nshamihigo was a military chaplain when he was elected by the synod of Kigali Diocese to be the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Shyira located in the northern part of Rwanda. He was consecrated on January 14, 1984. Eight years later, he was elected by the House of Bishops of the Province of Episcopal Church of Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire (Today's Democratic Republic of Congo) to be the first Archbishop of the new Episcopal Church of Rwanda, then with seven dioceses,

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

Butare Butare (), also known as Huye, is a city (population: 50,220 as of 2012) in the Southern Province of Rwanda and the capital of Huye district. It is the fourth largest town in Rwanda by population. History The Belgian colonial rulers establishe ...

, Shyira, Byumba, Kigeme, Cyangugu and Shyogwe. He was consecrated on June 7, 1992, at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali.

Role in the 1994 Genocide

Historian

Alison Des Forges Alison Des Forges (née Liebhafsky; August 20, 1942 – February 12, 2009) was an American historian and human rights activist who specialized in the African Great Lakes region, particularly the 1994 Rwandan genocide. At the time of her death, s ...

describes Archbishop Nshamihigo's defense of the ongoing genocide during 1994:

Far from condemning the attempt to exterminate the Tutsi, Archbishop Augustin Nshamihigo and Bishop Jonathan Ruhumuliza of the Anglican Church acted as spokesmen for the genocidal government at a press conference in Nairobi. Like many who tried to explain away the slaughter, they placed the blame for the genocide on the RPF because it had attacked Rwanda. Foreign journalists were so disgusted at this presentation that they left the conference.

His successor, Archbishop

Emmanuel Kolini Emmanuel Mbona Kolini (born Belgian Congo, 1945) is a Congolese-Rwandan Anglican bishop. He was the second Primate of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda, named Anglican Church of Rwanda in 2007, from 1998 to 2011. He is married and a father of eight ...

said of Nshamihigo's role:

A number of Christian leaders during the 1980s and 1990s had previously been military chaplains, giving them close connection to the army. When the 1994 genocide started, many of them cooperated with the army. Even Anglican Archbishop Augustine (sic) Nshamihigo was implicated and is still on the run. The church piscopal Church of Rwandaaccused him and two other bishops of being errand boys for the government. They made a special tour in 1994 to speak to the media in Nairobi, Canada, England, and the United States, denying during the genocide that there were any killings. The Rwandan Church was corrupt.

Life in exile

In August 1999, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' reported that, "Former Archbishop Nshamihigo is living in exile, shunned by the Anglican church and facing arrest in Rwanda. He was last seen in Kenya." According to Douglas LeBlanc, former

archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

George Carey George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton (born 13 November 1935) is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells. During his time as archbishop the Ch ...

told the exiled Nshamihigo to resign:

Carey recalls meeting in May 1995 with Archbishop Augustin Nshamihigo, who was complicit in the ethnic genocide in Rwanda in the early 1990s. Carey said he told the Rwandan archbishop that he must return from Kenya, where he had fled during the genocide, to his people in Rwanda. That would lead to his certain death, Nshamihigo said. Saying that a shepherd functioning apart from the flock is nonsensical, Carey urged Nshamihigo to resign. Nshamihigo resigned within a few weeks.

References

External links

Bishop's trial puts church in dock for Rwanda massacre, August 23, 1999
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nshamihigo, Augustin Living people Rwandan Anglicans 20th-century Anglican bishops in Africa 20th-century Anglican archbishops Year of birth missing (living people) Rwandan bishops Anglican archbishops of Rwanda Anglican bishops of Shyira Anglican bishops of Kigali