On Saturday, April 12, 2025, during its Imvo n’Imvano program, BBC Gahuza aired a story about a Rwandan named Joseph Semafara, a survivor of the Genocide against the Tutsi. Semafara has since overcome that traumatic history and now runs a successful company, Solvit Africa, valued at $10 million.

However, instead of stating that Semafara survived the Genocide against the Tutsi, the BBC’s Kinyarwanda and Kirundi service referred to him as having survived “the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994”—a phrase the broadcaster has often used and which is widely criticized for distorting the facts about the genocide.

Among those who condemned the phrasing was Minister Nduhungirehe.

Taking to his official X account, the minister wrote: "I wish to remind @bbcgahuza that Semafara didn’t survive ’the genocide committed in Rwanda in 1994’, but survived the 1994 Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda."

He went on to denounce what he described as the UK’s long-standing failure to bring genocide fugitives to justice, and criticized the BBC for continuing to distort the narrative of a crime recognized by both the UN General Assembly and an international tribunal.

"For over 31 years, the UK has refused to extradite or prosecute even a single genocide suspect living on its territory," he said.

"And the BBC remains the only major international broadcaster that continues to downplay a genocide confirmed by a UN court. At the very least, they should remain silent during these 100 days of commemoration."

Minister Nduhungirehe’s remarks come at a time when Rwanda is observing the annual 100-day period of mourning and remembrance for the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The BBC has faced repeated criticism in the past for using language perceived as minimizing or denying the Genocide against the Tutsi, which claimed a million lives.

Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, has criticized the BBC for once again using language that downplays the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in its reporting.