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, Butare, Shyira, Byumba, Kigeme, Cyangugu and Shyogwe.
Historian Alison Des Forges 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.
[1]His successor, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini 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.
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.
[2]In August 1999, The Guardian reported that, "Former Archbishop Nshamihigo is living in exile, shunned by the Anglican church and facing arrest in Rwanda.