Following the inaugural event in 2016, this year’s Forum brings together leading figures from Africa’s public and private sectors to discuss policies and partnerships that can drive sustainable growth and investment across the continent.
The two-day forum offers an opportunity for the private sector and other non-state actors to engage on ways to help shape the course of economic transformation in Africa.
President Kagame will join the Heads of State panel alongside President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan of Côte d’Ivoire where he will share his vision for Africa’s transformation, including the key role of foreign and domestic investment.
The two Heads of State will later be joined by Chairman and CEO of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and the Executive Vice President of Unilever, Yaw Nsarkoh in a panel discussion on the benefits of a strong partnership between the public and private sectors to enact—and maintain—a successful transformation strategy.
During a press briefing, ACET President Dr. K.Y. Amoako commended the event saying “These are exciting times. Too often African economies have missed opportunities to get ahead because they have not worked together or learned from each other. That is changing now, and this Forum is a driving force. It’s a unique event which aims to deliver practical, progressive policies that can drive our economies forward over the next decade.”
The event brings together high-level government officials, CEOs, as well as other leaders from the private sector to discuss solutions and make commitments towards accelerating job growth, boosting investment, and implementing transformation policies.
The event has been dubbed ‘Rwanda Cultural Night’ and is expected to be an opportunity to celebrate Rwanda’s unique culture and its role in transforming the country. It will be part of many cultural shows that will serve to spread and celebrate Rwanda’s culture throughout the world.
According to Kagabo Jacques, the Director of Rwanda Updates and organizer of this event, his innate desire is for Rwandans living abroad to put Rwandan cultural values at the centre of their lives and not be taken with Foreign Cultures.
Kagabo Jacques added that these shows will link Rwandans living abroad, give them an opportunity to celebrate the successes of their country, and reflect on their cultural values.
Among those who will be performing at the event, features Knowless Butera, who recently hinted that she would be performing in Mozambique and Zambia; King James, Masamba Intore, Impala Orchestre and Mr Bow, a Mozambican who will be performing at the event.
Speaking with IGIHE, Louis Baziga, a Rwandan living in Mozambique, said that the Rwandan Diaspora was impatiently awaiting for the performers and the show in general.
“Our Culture is what makes us who we are. It is of immense value and pride to have Rwandans united here in Mozambique, as it is a time to put a limelight on what glues us together, and it is none other than our culture,” he said
Baziga added that the show will be a great opportunity to uphold Rwandan Cultural values.
Beneficiaries who spoke to IGIHE hailed the RDF Citizen Outreach Programme (RDF-COP) saying that they could not have been able to afford the cost of medical operation.
Uwizeyimana Jean Baptiste, 28, from Rulindo District who suffered a broken Femur in December 2017, and had spent to the last coin of his savings on treatment was found by IGIHE Reporter in Ruhango hospital, where he was waiting with some other 100 patients to undergo a second phase operation by RDF medics.
“My Femur bone was broken to tiny pieces, and after several attempts with other doctors, I gave up. Now I can now walk, and it’s all because of RDF Doctors,” said Uwizeyimana who is now recuperating, capable of putting to use his limbs.
Ruhango Hospital’s Director, Dr Usabyineza Richard, hailed the RDF activities saying when soldiers go beyond security provision and partner with people, it helps spur the development of the country and welfare of the communities.
“These days, the number of patients we usually receive at our hospital has multiplied. It is obvious that the people have faith in RDF medical personnel. We received a number of specialists that we didn’t have at our hospital which has greatly helped the locals residents,” he said
Other RDF Outreach activities carried out in the past two months include building 206 classrooms, 1493 houses for the vulnerable and planted Irish Potatoes at a total of 407.6 hectares.
Over the past nine years, RDF Citizen Outreach Program has benefited communities by providing free health care, infrastructure development, environmental protection and building classrooms across the country.
‘Ysolde and Her Magical Shoes’ is a fairy tale that takes the reader on the journey of a little girl whose courage and big heart saves her village. At a young age, Ysolde is entrusted with a big responsibility of feeding her whole village, a task which gets harder with the absence of her mother. Things take a bad turn as a villain who lived in their village was sent away, cursing the village in her leave. Luckily, Ysolde saves the day with her magical shoes.
Authored by Dominique Uwase Alonga, this fairy tale was inspired by the amazing story of Ysolde Shimwe, a talented Rwandan entrepreneur who co-founded with Kevine Kagirimpundu, UZURI K&Y Designs, a Rwandan Fashion brand making handcrafted women and men’s shoes; ‘Ysolde and Her Magical Shoes’ is a fairy tale that portrays courage, creativity and a joyful personality— all traits of the talented entrepreneur.
“It feels like having your heart exposed to the public. It’s pretty amazing having my story going out there and being read by the world. I am nervous. I hope they see the love and hard work that I put in this story and I hope that we deliver to the hype. ” Dominique Uwase Alonga told IGIHE.
Dominique Uwase Alonga who’s also the CEO of Imagine We Rwanda expressed her wishes to have the first family of Rwanda support and encourage the works of young creative minds.
“My dream is for Rwandans to see that we also can have fun stories and travel magical worlds. We also can have courageous princesses and heroines. We do not have to always read Cinderella when we can read Ysolde. I hope this book will encourage little girls in Rwanda. I hope parents will also enjoy this book and I hope Rwandans will join together and make sure this book gets read by all children in Rwanda but also beyond. Let’s take this beautiful fairytale all over the world!” Dominique gushed
Published by ‘Imagine We’ an African Publishing house producing books for children and young adults representing Rwanda and cultures from the region; ‘Ysolde and Her Magical Shoes’ is now available in bookshops around Kigali like Ikirezi Bookshop, Charisma bookshop and Uzuri K&Y.
“We believe that there’s power in stories, power to inspire young children and power to teach valuable lessons about life through fairy tales. Fairy tales teach young children about courage, hope, love and kindness which are the most important lessons to learn at such a young age. We live in a world where our children need to constantly be reminded of their self-worth and potential.” Said Malika Helene, Imagine We’s Communication & Public relations officer.
“We want to challenge the current representation of our country, and continent in general, through our stories. Our hope is to get this book in the hands of as many young girls as we can, and we would like to invite you all in this journey. Get a copy for your daughter, for your niece, your cousin, your neighbours’ daughter, or buy a copy for any young girl in your community. Help us get this book in every corner of the world.”
The attack took place in the night of Tuesday, 19th June 2018, on the premises of Nyabimata sector Offices, where they shot the executive secretary of the sector and burned her car.
Speaking to IGIHE, the district vice mayor in charge of social affairs, Kayitesi Collette, confirmed the attack adding that authorities were pursuing the culprits.
“The attack took place around 11:30 and 12 PM. Two locals were shot to death while they burnt the car of the Executive secretary who at the moment is at the hospital. They stole a computer from Sacco but did not steal any money.” She said.
The act of violence takes place a week after some criminals armed with guns attacked civilians of Ngera sector in Nyaruguru district and injured them, stealing their properties including money, Television and other items.
IGIHE reporter visited the injured at Kabutare Hospital, in Huye District; where they confirmed that they had been attacked by a gang of 30 men who were wielding machetes, knives, with one of them using a gun.
On 19 June, the Rwandan delegation led by the Air Force Chief of Staff, Maj Gen Charles Karamba was received by Lt Gen Enzo Vecciarelli, the Italian Air Force Chief of Staff at Italian Air Force Headquarters in Rome where they exchanged progress of the two defence forces cooperation.
During their five-day visit to Italy, Maj Gen Charles Karamba and his delegation will visit the Italian aviation company named LEONARDO, one of the key players in global Aerospace, Defence and Security and the Italian pilot training Centre at Italian Air Force Base at Venegono.
The Rwandan delegation visit in Italy follows the visit of Lt Gen Enzo Vecciarelli, the Italian Air Force Chief of Staff in Rwanda from 25 to 27 July 2017.
Gen Karamba is accompanied with Mr. Enrico Lalia Morra Honorary Consul of Rwanda to Italy and two RDF Pilots, Lt Col Jean Kamana and Maj Jackson Kalisa.
Jean Claude Nshimimana was arrested on Monday in Nyagatare after he attempted to bribe a police officer to release his impounded motorcycle.
Nshimimana abandoned the motorcycle recently after he was intercepted transporting illicit drugs. The motorcycle was impounded to Musheri station.
“Nshimimana later called the officer requesting to meet. On June 18, Nshimimana went to the station to meet the officer and tried to bribe him with Rwf25000, he was arrested in the act,” Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Theobard Kanamugire, the Police spokesperson for the Eastern Province, said.
The spokesperson warned against such criminal attempts. “Offering or soliciting bribes, or any sort of corruption will not be tolerated, whoever tries it will be arrested to face justice.”
Meanwhile, another motorcyclist identified as Eric Ishimwe was also arrested in Ngororero District for attempting to bribe a traffic officer. Ishimwe had been found without a driver’s license and other traffic related documents and attempted to give the bribe to escape legal penalties.
Article 641 of the Penal Code stipulates that any person who directly or indirectly offers a gift in order to get an illegal service or refrain from carrying out their duties, shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of between five and seven years or a fine of twice to 10 times the value of what they had offered in bribes, or both.
The event took place yesterday at the new Masaka Creamery’s factory in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Gasabo District.
In the start of the year, Masaka Creamery received a Rwf234 Million grant from USAID, that it used to acquire new dairy processing equipment, cold storage equipment, and milk quality laboratory equipment.
USAID’ support to Masaka Creamery has helped the company build and equip a new processing facility in Kigali SEZ, where the firm successfully transitioned equipment and operations from a previous factory in Masaka District. The new factory has an additional processing line, new packaging equipment, a laboratory to monitor and improve product quality and food hygiene, as well as ample room to grow with the company.
The investments made by Masaka Creamery with USAID support have boosted the company’s annual domestic sales by 200 percent, supported the development of eight new products (fresh cream, sour cream, butter, ghee, mascarpone, fruit yogurt, thick yogurt, ikivuguto), and contributed to local economic development by enabling an increase of income by 20 percent for 2,000 milk farmers in the Eastern and Northern Provinces.
The new products have received the Rwanda Standards Board quality standard certification and are currently being sold to high-end hotels, restaurants and retail markets.
Masaka Creamery, which sources milk directly from small family-owned dairy farms, cooperatives, and milk collection centers also provides extension services and training to farmers. The company has established a new partnership with KOZAMGI milk cooperative located in Gicumbi District, which provides raw milk from 2,000 farmers, supplying between 6,000 – 7,000 liters per week to Masaka Creamery.
‘‘Working with Masaka Creamery is a relief to our cooperative. We can now invest in new projects, because we have a regular client who consistently pays us on a weekly basis”. Says Ntabanganyimana Rachid, the president of KOZAMGI milk cooperative
In addition to its expansion, Masaka Creamery’s operations has helped create 11 new jobs for which nine of the new hires are persons with disabilities. ‘‘We are grateful to Masaka Creamery for having particularly employed the youth regardless of their disability status. This is a perfect example of social inclusion and we hope that other businesses will draw into their footprints”. Says Jean Damascene, a representative of disabled workers at Masaka Creamery.
The partnership between South Korea and the countries of the ASEAN including Myanmar, Indonesia, and the Philippines has been developed in various fields such as economy, politics, and culture. In particular, Myanmar has been building the cooperative relationship with South Korea as the two countries share a lot in common including emphasis on tradition, courtesy, and affection (‘Ttanyosen’ in Burmese and ‘Jeong’ in Korean language).
H.E. Naing Ngun Lin, the Minister of Social Affairs of Yangon Region Government, celebrated the event through the letter. “You, the next generation, are essential to the establishment of lasting peace and security. I believe that it is the youth who get actively involved in peace-making activities today that will be future leaders of the world tomorrow. The long term sustainability of peace for Myanmar and for Korea, therefore, rests squarely on the shoulders of the next generation of leaders.”
Regarding the question about how to achieve peace, H.E. Thura Thet Oo Maung, Ambassador of Myanmar answered, “We have to understand each other to maintain the balance. And when you become the leader, you should educate your child with the peace education since they are very young. As you live in peaceful community owe to your previous generations, your parents, you must pass the peaceful world down to the next generations.”
Mr. Jin-Young Kim, a university student attending the event, said, “I think it is important to understand each other first to achieve a peaceful world without war. In that respect, through lectures on various cultural exchanges such as today’s lecture on Myanmar culture, I would like to have all the families of the world become together as one.”
In this occasion, there were a concert performance by the Korean instrument orchestra performing songs for a culture of peace and a photo exhibition introducing the culture of Myanmar as well as the peace activities of the IPYG youth around the world. The IPYG is working in cooperation with about 4.6 million young people around the world to promote a culture of peace, to implement peace education, and to establish an international law for peace.
The two were in first instance sentenced to life imprisonment in 2016 over genocide crimes and crimes against humanity that they allegedly committed in the former Kabarondo Commune (district) which they consecutively led as Bourgmestres (mayors) from 1977 to 1994. They are especially accused of giving orders to kill over 3,500 Tutsi who had sought refuge at Kabarondo Parish in Kayonza District.
The appeal trial running in the Paris Assize Court from May 2nd to July 6th is expected to receive 100 witnesses including those invoked by the defendants and the plaintiff.
In a tele-press conference organised by Pax Press on the 25th day of the hearing last Friday, Emmanuel Ruvugiro Sehene told the journalists in Kigali that the Paris Assize Court is working tirelessly from 9:00am to 10:00pm every day in order to bring about the final verdict on the appeal by July 6th.
Sehene is in Paris from last month to follow all the hearings in appeal of Ngenzi and Barahira.
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Sehene said that filing their appeal, defendants had claimed to have not received enough time in the first instance to defend themselves but they have now received ample time though witnesses on the plaintiff side still outnumber those on the defence.
“Something new has happened today since the beginning of the appeal trial as anonymous witnesses have appeared for the first time, citing their security concerns. Defendants had tried to avoid those witnesses, saying that they cannot exchange words with the people they are not seeing but the jury took an hour apart and came back with the decision that defendants’ claims were baseless and allowed anonymous witnesses to testify. The first one is done and the second is starting now,” Sehene said on Friday afternoon.
The jury president Xavière Simeoni said the law allows for the protection of witnesses’ identity and both sides in trial can freely ask them their questions.
The male witness named ‘X’ who had a Tutsi wife said that Ngenzi led Interahamwe militia to his home where his sister-in-law was hiding whom Ngenzi ordered the witness to kill in order to spare his wife. The witness who said was convicted with that crime of killing his sister-in-law said Ngenzi who was carrying a pistol forced him to commit that crime.
It was expected for defendants to do investigations in Rwanda but time did not allow. The witnesses including relatives of the suspects are coming from many areas mainly Rwanda and France.
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The court’s jury consists of three judges flanked by nine people who are ready to replace a member of the jury anytime.
The general public and media’s attendance has been very poor since the beginning of the appeal hearings and Sehene says that he has heard that people better attended the first instance and think there is nothing new in the appeal hearings. He said he is always the only reporter in the media area while the audience often consists of three to five people. Witnesses are also often accompanied by three to four people.
Witnesses are insisting on Ngenzi’s incitement of people for killing the Tutsi with some saying they saw him in the killings while others say they never saw him on the killing scenes. Ngenzi and Barahira have consistently denied the charges.
Citing example of testimonies about babies who sacked their dead mothers in the Genocide against the Tutsi, Sehene said that, earlier in other hearings, some witnesses caught trauma as they recount their ordeal during the genocide and testimonies shocked even the defendants and others in the court room that all looked solemn.
Cyasa Habimana Emmanuel, who is serving life sentence over genocide crimes, testified how the genocide was planned in former Kibungo prefecture, currently in Eastern Province.
Cyasa who admitted his role in the killings said that he attended many meetings involving Ngenzi and Barahira among other local leaders that were planning to exterminate the Tutsi.
“I am not testifying to get my penalties reduced but I later recovered my conscious to realize how much we did bad and tarnished our own and country’s image. I feel responsible for witnessing about what I know,” he said.
Referring to the death of President Juvenal Habyaraimana, Cyasa cited a meeting of April 1, 1994 which convened leaders from the sector level to prefecture in which the Tutsi were excluded and Hutu told that they had to revenge after the death of a high profile member of then ruling party MRND.
The National Coordinator of Pax Press, Albert Baudouin Twizeyimana who also attended some hearings last week, said there were important testimonies in the trial which can help Rwandans understand their history and urged media to intensify efforts in reporting justice matters especially those related to the Genocide against the Tutsi.
He said that Pax Press, in partnership with RCN Justice et Démocratie, Haguruka and AMI, will attend and report other genocide trials wherever they will take place in the world in the next five years through the project dubbed “Justice et Memoire.”
Ngenzi and Barahira’s life sentence was the stiffest ever handed out to genocidaires by a French court. In 2014, former army captain Pascal Simbikangwa got 25 years in solitary confinement for genocide and crimes against humanity. Ngenzi and Barahira were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by Rwandan people’s courts, known as “gacaca”, in 2009.
Ngenzi was captured in the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, off the east coast of Africa, where he had been living under a false name. Barahira was arrested in 2013 in the south-western French city of Toulouse where he was living.
