As Rwanda remembers genocide against the Tutsi 28 years ago, mass murderers roam free. Why the indifference?

On April 7, Rwandans will mark the 28th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. It is time dedicated to the memory of the more than one million Tutsi murdered in just a hundred days in 1994.

Nearly three decades later, there is still inaction by some members of the international community towards responding to the indictments of genocide fugitives who are roaming freely in various countries.

There are two things Rwandans have never been able to understand. Things that still pull them back to feeling the horrendous experience of their past. The first one is how their loved ones were killed daily in the full glare, and without the intervention, of the international community. The second is how countries still fail to heed to the simplest call to bring to book those who perpetrated the Genocide.

The Rwandan Prosecutor General has sent to over 30 countries a list of fugitives. It is fully backed with indictments showing the atrocities they committed.  But only a handful have been apprehended.

Rwanda has given countries harbouring the fugitives two options; to extradite them to Rwanda or try them in their courts.

The fact that most countries were indifferent to such atrocities is a sad reality Rwandans have learnt to live with. But how majority of those countries chose impunity over justice to the genocide fugitives who enjoy freedom and welfare packages in their countries is beyond imagination.

It is a contradiction from the messages of solidarity and sympathy expressed by the same international community in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The numbers are worrying.

Looking at the number of genocidaires still at large - most of whom were granted asylum in Western countries often with some social benefits - the question that comes to mind is; how hypocritical is the world we live in?

The survivors of the genocide even wonder if those who spend their time preaching about justice really mean it or are, instead, in total pretense depending on where they stand on issues.

All over the world – ironically including in Africa – there are countries that consciously host genocide fugitives and opted to gift them freedom over bringing them to court or repatriating them to Rwanda.

Something is definitely off beam and perplexing. African countries have the biggest number of these fugitives.

The total number of indictments is 1146. Of these, 408 are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 277 are in Uganda, France has 47 fugitives including former First Lady, Agathe Kanziga, wife to former President Juvenal Habyarimana. Malawi hosts 63 fugitives, Belgium 40, Tanzania 52 and Kenya 35.

The USA has 23, Canada 14 and The Netherlands 18. Norway has seven fugitives still at large and Sweden seven. All of them are enjoying freedom and other social welfare packages. The list is long.

While each of the countries that host these fugitives might try to come up with a valid argument, one thing is certain.

These host countries have shown total indifference to the pain and suffering of survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi.

As Rwandans commemorate they only hope that close to 30 years later, the international community understands its obligation to help bring to justice all genocide fugitives still at large.

Justice delayed is justice denied.