By James Copnall BBC Sport in Bizerte

Rwanda's Olivier Karekezi is using football to forget the genocide

Olivier Karekezi's family was struck by unimaginable tragedy during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Although still deeply affected, the Rwanda winger says he has used football to drag himself through his nightmare.

"My mother and father were killed in the genocide," Karekezi told BBC Sport in an exclusive interview.

"My two elder brothers were killed too.

"But that's all in the past now, and I want to forget all about it."

Karekezi has used his love of football as one of his ways of blanking the past.

"Football has been so important to me," he said.

"When I go on to a football pitch, I am able to forget everything that has happened.

"It is a very good thing, football."

Karekezi has shone for his country at Tunisia 2004.

He has also shown some impressive form for his club side APR, helping them get to the semi-finals of the 2003 African Cup Winners' Cup.

Karekezi and his national team have been used as a way of showing the world that Rwanda is now free of ethnic stigmatisation.

"All that is finished," Karekezi claimed.

"There is no such thing as Hutu or Tutsi now - we are all together."

The winger-cum-striker is a keen fan of Manchester United forward Ruud Van Nistelrooy, and dreams of playing for a big European club.