President Paul Kagame has said that Rwandans will always remember what happened in Rwanda during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, as a way of keeping memories of the past, and work towards building a better future, no matter what others say.
The President was speaking at the official opening of the 18th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi, held Amahoro National stadium in Kigali city on April 7, 2012.
The president also condemned people who still have intensions of denying Rwandans peace and security, in the pretext of exercising their political problem, yet they actually played a role facilitating the Rwandan genocide.
He said that these people have continued to defend their interests and the interests of their people at the expense of lives of Rwandans and Africans in general.
“When acts of terrorism are committed against their people, the whole world is mobilized, in fact sometimes forced to join in the search of those criminals that they can be brought to justice” Kagame explained his argument.
Kagame said that Africans, especially Rwandans know better their problems and value of life, amidst some of the accusations such as- lack of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression- which are utter nonsense and Africans have had to confront for a longtime.
“What else can it be if not utter hypocrisy, injustice and a clear example of bad standards that we Africans have had to confront at all times and must continue to reject by all means”.
He said that from this ugly history, Rwandans have learnt to survive and make progress by building unity and reconciliation and economic transformation because of the courage and commitment, that they ((Rwandans) have Rwandans have always displayed.
“If we, Rwandans, had not learnt from this ugly history, to build unity and reconciliation for our people, we would still have our own affairs managed by other people. This is the face and spirit with which we have confronted the post genocide period”
He said that this has enabled Rwanda to continue making good progress because of courage and strength which Rwandans have always displayed through patriotism and struggling for unity and reconciliation and forming a government that seeks to foster interests of all citizens.
“We have achieved that with great ability and capacity than never before. We have achieved stability …and Rwandans feel better about how they are rebuilding their lives. Their participation in the social economic transformation gives us hope that we can seize many opportunities to build our country even further”
He told fellow Rwandans, that there is no doubt that the country is on course. He encouraged Rwandans to keep working together and know what they have done by using own home grown solutions, which has brought the country this far.
Kagame also said that as Rwanda commemorates genocide survivors commended for showing remarkable resilience and struggling for the right to live.
He gave an example of the country managing its own affairs and the youths of Rwanda being resilient in life amidst these difficult circumstances. Basing on such signs, the President stated he was optimistic of Rwanda’s future being bright, especially that everyone has rights and justice prevails for everyone.
President Paul Kagame also earlier on lit a torch of hope at Gisozi Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali. The torch will burn flames of hope for 100 days, and the light will be passed on to other places throughout the country.
