In Rwanda, the authorities have closed more than 4,000 places of worship in recent weeks in a wide-ranging operation: churches and mosques, which were in breach of safety standards and new administrative rules, according to the government body in charge of the dossier.
Among the places of worship closed by Rwanda’s national governance office were a majority of small Pentecostal churches and several mosques.
In all, 4,223 establishments have closed their doors. The reason for this was a failure to comply with a number of regulations: first and foremost, the safety of sites without fire extinguishers and fire alarms, for example, or those set up illegally in cellars or too close to watercourses.
Other criteria put forward by the authorities to explain these closures include: failure to comply with soundproofing requirements to prevent nuisance to neighbors during prayers, and the qualifications of those in charge: parish church leaders must hold a university degree in theology.
New rules, the result of a law passed in 2018 to control the proliferation of places of worship, deemed at the time too numerous by President Paul Kagame. More than 700 establishments were closed when the legislation was passed. The others were given five years to bring themselves up to standard, and several thousand were unsuccessful.