Tagged: Diaspora
Kagame: “Africa Has Taken Its Place On the Global Pedestal…”
“Africa has taken its place on the global Pedestal”, this is Rwandan president Paul Kagame’s conclusion addressing members of the Institut Francais de Relations Internationales (IFRI) in Paris, yesterday, as he continued his two-day official visit to the European country.
“I think the answer to this complex question is that Africa, the West, and other partners must recognise and accept that times have changed,” so President Kagame.
Speaking about changing global reality, Kagame says that recent developments and the progress registred in Africa over the last 20years should give the continent a place in the new world order.Plus he added that it is time for Africans to get to know what role they should play in shaping the new world order and to ensure that they are well integrated in it and the West to understand this global reality.
President Paul Kagme’s first official visit to Paris since the genocide of 1994 aimed to complete the reconciliation with France, but has raised a stir in political circles and among the French soldiers, still accused by Kigali of involvement in the massacres of Tutsis. Several former military officials have deemed “insulting” that Nicolas Sarkozy, who had recognized in 2010 in Kigali, “a form of blindness” of France for not “seen the genocidal dimension” of the Rwandan Hutu regime then, welcome Paul Kagame Kigali maintains as its “serious accusations” against the army.
“He (Nicolas Sarkozy) has said, there are people who were against this development. I do not know this policy, the policy of evil. We have passed this kind of policy, that is despicable. The people who practice it are despicable. And what is despicable is wasting time, “ so Kagame.
[…]“We know that this visit does not please some people, but President decided to turn the page of painful relations between France and Rwanda “, said Saturday it had in the entourage of Nicolas Sarkozy. For the academic André Guichaoua, “this visit comes at a time when both parties are in a weak position”: Paris, which “seeks to break its isolation in the Great Lakes region”, where the little Rwanda remains a key player and Kigali, which is seeking new international support while its traditional U.S. allies are more distant.
His visit attracted protests for example when he visited Spain the prime minister refused to receive him in respect of the voices of the people, when he visited Belgium, the EU did not give him the deserved respect as a head of state following the demonstrations from the Rwandan opposition and their Spanish friends. Probably in France, Kagame will be shielded by the fact that he is visiting on the invitation by the French President Sarkozy, but drama is also expected especially from the officials in both governments.
The Kagame regime is also criticized for “repeated violations” of human rights by NGOs, who asked the French presidency will not sacrifice the issue on the altar of reconciliation.
The Rwandan opposition also expected to be heard by holding rallies in Paris, including Tuesday morning at a meeting between the leader of Rwanda and the French employers.[…]
It will be interesting to know how President Kagame and Minister Mushikiwabo will sit at the same table with President Sarkozy and his Foreign Minister Alain Juppe after the unfriendly words they exchanged some time back!
Good articles:
– Le président rwandais Kagame a “parlé d’avenir” avec Sarkozy
– France – Rwanda : échapper à l’histoire
(Sources: umuvugizi.com, economicsnewspaper.com, allafrica.com, google.ch/images)
Kagame Meets Diaspora in Brussels….
Brussels — President Paul Kagame, on Saturday evening, met with Rwandans from several European cities at a festive gathering in Brussels, four years since his last visit to Belgium.
The President is on a working visit to Belgium and will, on Monday, attend the fifth edition of the European Development Days.
Addressing nearly 2,700 Rwandans and friends of Rwanda who had braved the unusually cold Belgian winter,and travelled many hours to meet with him, President Kagame said that each one of them were living outside Rwanda for various reasons and had come at different times and under different circumstances, but that Rwanda belonged to all of them. And, what everyone seeks is a Rwanda for Rwandans, not for Tutsis, Hutus or Twas, or even foreigners, but for Rwandans.
a member of the rwandian diaspora showing her T-Shirt
Kagame spoke of the values that guide the new Rwanda, particularly the rejection of the culture of corruption, and importance of self worth of every Rwandan.
“As Rwandans, we have to believe in our own worth, and not expect to get this as a gift from someone else. People who do not value themselves cannot achieve development; we have seen this in the past in our country and on our continent,” he said.
The President cited registered success in many sectors; including education which has seen a massive increase in the number of children in schools since 1994; agriculture where, for the first time in its history, the country achieved food security; private sector development, where Rwanda has been a top performer in business reforms; governance where decentralization has empowered citizens; aid effectiveness – where the country has earned the reputation of utilizing donor support to great impact for the benefit of Rwandans; as well as unparalleled security in the region and beyond.
On the choices that Rwandans make for themselves, President Kagame questioned those who seemed to demand a different outcome when Rwandans had come out in record numbers to the election campaigns and to vote in defiance of the lies being propagated about their country.
“For those who claim to be experts on this, what should be the correct percentage in election results? There is a reason Rwandans voted the way they did, who else has the right to speak for them except themselves? It is Rwandans that vote, not journalists, not NGOs, not human rights organizations,” he pointed out.
Correcting a representative of the Rwandan diaspora who had spoken earlier, Kagame pointed out that French had not been banned in Rwanda, rather English had been added on and both had joined Kinyarwanda as official languages. He also mentioned the significance of the addition of English in the current context of Rwanda’s pursuit of global trade and business partnerships to improve Rwandan lives, as well as the country’s membership in the East African Community and the Commonwealth.
Clarifying another misplaced concern by the same representative, on the wiring of funds from Europe to family members in Rwanda being construed as a crime, alluding to ongoing investigations into funds sent from abroad to the FDLR in the DRC, President Kagame pointed out that those sending normal remittances had nothing to worry about, but that support of terrorism anywhere in the world is punishable and that Rwanda was no exception.
On Gacaca, President Kagame said the system existed for a reason and urged those who criticized it to reflect on the reason why it was set up in the first place, and the benefits it had brought to the country.
The President added that in building a new Rwanda, there was room for debate, competition of ideas, forgiveness and compromise, but divisionism of the kind that once destroyed the country will never be allowed.
To great applause, President Kagame called on those who were ready to move back to Rwanda, to return with him, adding that those who preferred to stay and were being productive in Europe should do so, but no one should stay as a refugee or to be used as a tool by those wanting to see the country fail.
Following his address, President Kagame interacted with the gathering and responded to numerous questions and proposals on issues ranging from ideas to develop various sectors, cases of injustice, consular services in Europe as well as professional development among diaspora youth.
Source: AllAfrica.com
Amakuru 