He was speaking at a regional conference entitled, “Rwanda’s Journey towards Sustainable Peace – 25 Years” that started yesterday in Kigali.
The 2 days conference is organized by Rwanda Peace Academy, in partnership with the Government of Japan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The conference seeks to evaluate the progress and identify challenges to the socio-economic and political transformation in Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and to come up with strategies to continue the drive to sustainable peace.
In his remarks during the opening ceremony, Minister Murasira said: “This conference is a reminder that unless we invest in understanding, owning and implementing peacebuilding programmes, our countries risk relapsing into violent conflict or will fail to prevent future violence. Sustainable peace is a measure of successful peacebuilding and cannot be realized without building the institutions that are capable of resolving future conflicts peacefully.”
Mr. Stephen Rodriques, the UNDP Resident Representative for Rwanda observed that Rwanda’s journey to recovery and development is a story of ownership, innovation, leadership, resilience, and vision that there is a lot to learn from this long journey.
“I really trust that this conference will open space for debate and discussion on how these and other factors contribute to peacebuilding, peace consolidation and sustainable development,” he said
The Ambassador of Japan to Rwanda, H.E. Takayuki Miyashita emphasized that peace and security are fundamental for Africa to achieve development.
About 80 participants from 9 African countries, namely; Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe are attending the conference.
The majority of participants from outside Rwanda are from peacekeeping training and research institutions that are engaged in a similar business with the Rwanda Peace Academy.
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