{President Paul Kagame has, shared Rwanda’s homegrown Innovations in dealing with numerous sector problems. }
President Kagame shared Rwanda’s Experience during an interactive session at the Africa Innovation Summit in Cape Verde. The session included also the President of Cape Verde, Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca and former Mozambican President, Joaquim Chissano.
Kagame talked about Gacaca Courts which were established in the country to prosecute Genocide perpetrators while at the same time restoring unity and Trust among Rwandans.
Although many countries in Africa are already looking for homegrown solutions in order to resolve their unique problems, Kagame said “In Rwanda, we drew from our culture and traditions for innovations in dealing with numerous sector problems: Between 2002 and 2012, Gacaca courts across Rwanda tried two million cases at the cost of less than one billion dollars. ICTR has so far tried 60 genocide cases and in the last 19 years at the cost of two billion dollars.”
He explained that this new approach and transformative justice, allowed Rwandans to heal and continue pursuing socio-economic transformation.
Commenting on different innovations that work in Rwanda, the Head of State said that Rwanda Defence Forces have worked tirelessly to get every citizen participate in national development.
“The army as a national institution has to reflect the character of the nation.” Said Kagame
RDF also provides healthcare during Army Week, which take place around the time “we celebrate the liberation of Rwanda… Rwandans have seen these innovations work and are encouraged and empowered to innovate even more.” He added
“We want Rwandans and other Africans to be equipped with education, skills, confidence and opportunities to innovate and be competitive globally. This is a serious and difficult conversation worth having, in order to attain self reliance, prosperity and dignity for our people.” Said President Kagame
He advised other participants in the summit noting that “Governments should connect with the needs and aspirations of citizens-agents of innovation and ultimately socioeconomic transformation…We have everything to gain by opening up to new ideas. In our quest to empower and enable our people fulfill their potential, we need to keep adapting and doing things differently”
{{Police is holding a commuter taxi driver for attempting to bribe a police officer with bottles of wine after the officer confiscated his documents over traffic-related offences.}}
According to the National Police website, the suspect, a 20-year old taxi driver is currently detained at Muhima Police Station.
The Police officer confiscated the suspect’s documents last Saturday in Kigali for overloading.
On January 16, the suspect’s (name withheld) driving licence was confiscated at Mulindi in Gicumbi district and fined for overloading.
It is said that the suspect did not clear the fine as is the norm, to collect his driving licence but continued to drive without it and continued committing the same traffic offence. He was again caught and fined for the same traffic offence early last week.
When he was stopped in Kigali on February 1 for overloading for the third time, the suspect tried to use the two fines receipt he had been given weeks earlier to avoid being fined for again.
The Police officer, however, confiscated the receipts and ordered the suspect to take the vehicle to Kigali Metropolitan traffic Police, which he never did but instead continued operating until February 4 when he pulled the illegal move to try to seduce the officer to give him the seized receipts.
The officer was in his office at Kigali Metropolitan traffic Police at the time the suspect tried to bribe him with bottles of wine.
Normally, if a driver is charged for committing a traffic offence and fined, they are supposed to pay the fines within three days.
The Traffic and Road Safety Spokesperson, Superintendent (SP), Jean Marie Vianney Ndushabandi commended the officer for acting professionally.
“Confiscated documents should be acquired through legal channels but not by means of bribery. Police officers know that corruption is zero tolerance in the force and the public should know that whoever tries such unlawful moves will be caught to face justice,” Supt. Ndushabandi warned.
•{{ Your Excellency President Michel Martelly,
• First Lady Mrs. Sophia Martelly,
• Distinguished Members of Cabinet and Parliament,
• Senator Jim Inhofe,
• Ladies and Gentlemen,}}
Good evening,
Tonight I am honored by Senator Inhofe’s gracious invitation, to share with this audience, the Role of Prayer and the impact it has had on our success in Rwanda.
As leaders you may have heard about Rwanda in varying degrees. We are mostly known for 3Gs – Gorillas, Governance and Gender. Allow me to build on this knowledge, highlight key parts of our history, and the journey we have undertaken, over the last few years.
2014 marks the 20th commemoration since the horrific Genocide Against the Tutsi. What Rwanda went through in 1994, was the culmination of over 3 decades of systematic classification, dehumanization, persecution and extermination of a targeted group of people. When all was said and done, the Genocide did not benefit a single Rwandan; neither the masterminds and perpetrators and certainly not the victims.
The net result was a complete collapse of family, church and state, as well as a society intoxicated with bitterness and mistrust. Families were torn apart; thousands of innocent people were brutally murdered, in so-called sacred places of worship; the state whose mandate it is to protect citizens, sponsored, planned and implemented the genocide.
The numbers are shocking:
• Hundreds of thousands of women were systematically raped,
• 300,000 – 400,000 people survived the genocide,
• 50,000 widows and 75,000 inconsolable orphans,
• 650,000 internally displaced persons,
• 2 million refugees fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo after the Genocide and held as hostages and used as shields, by the extremist Genocide regime, bent on finishing their work,
• 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu men, women, and children who were supposed to be part of our future and not our past, were massacred in 100 dark days.
Our faith was tested. There is a saying in Kinyarwanda that goes “Imana yirirwa ahandi, igataha mu Rwanda.” Loosely translated to mean “God spends the day elsewhere and returns home to rest in Rwanda”. In 1994, we lamented and often wondered where this God had gone.
We questioned 1 Corinthians 10:13, which teaches us that: “God does not give us more than we can bear”. What our nation endured, was an overwhelming cross to bear. We bear a responsibility is to reconcile people to God; we are called to reconcile people to each other.
What choices could we make to restore the humanity and sanity that had vanished? Would people ever trust one another?
To mend this brokenness, to restore confidence and credibility in our institutions, we had to carry out deep soul searching. The leadership often had to make tough, unpopular decisions.
We, however, understood, that it was in the best interest of our people and our country.
We swallowed the bitter pill to help us heal faster, as opposed to going for the band aid therapy.
Let me share some examples of necessary choices that were met with resistance:
• Gacaca was a value based court system, that promoted restorative rather than punitive justice, for both Genocide survivors and perpetrators;
• Restoration of property to families of genocide perpetrators, despite the urge to redistribute that property to survivors who were wronged and lost their families and property, due to the Genocide;
• 40,000 prisoners who committed genocide were released due to old age, under a compassionate plea;
• Laws were put in place to forbid revenge killings. Those who exacted revenge; knew the fate that awaited them and some took their own lives. Capital punishment was abolished, this was unusual for a nation emerging from genocide.
In my view, going beyond personal suffering prevented Rwanda from becoming a failed state. We opted instead to embark on a road to recovery.
As we began the journey towards nation building, we discovered that infrastructure could be fixed with enough resources and human capacity.
However, Ladies and Gentlemen, on the opposite end of the spectrum, healing hearts and building people’s psyche is a generational undertaking.
We quickly realized that what unites us, is far greater than what divides us. We challenged ourselves to be a voice of unity and reconciliation. We are working towards a collective consciousness of who we are as one people. We have transcended peaceful co-existence to becoming a truly integrated and cohesive community.
To foster social cohesion, last year we embarked on a national process that we called “Ndi Umunyarwanda” or “I am Rwandan”. The idea behind “Ndi Umunyarwanda” is to engage all Rwandans in a critical and truthful self-examination exercise, through open conversation. It is about understanding and strengthening the Rwandan spirit, with our dignity taking center stage. It is an important step in creating trust after what Rwandans went through. Ndi Umunyarwanda is about Rwandan’s taking responsibility for their destiny.
I am reminded of Dr. Ben Carson’s remarks during the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast. In his speech Dr. Carson mentioned that we are getting too sensitive; and it is keeping people from expressing what they truly believe.
Ndi Umunyarwanda is such a platform where political correctness and sensitivities are secondary to speaking the truth, value-sharing, and understanding our history. Without social harmony, a nation cannot progress towards socio-economic transformation. This is what we are fighting for and we are determined to win. Rwandan unity is a source of energy for our development.
Last month, at the Rwanda Leaders Fellowship Prayer Breakfast, where the country’s leaders gather periodically to pray for the nation, President Kagame encouraged leaders ‘not to waste the tragedy’.
His statement was in reference to the Genocide against Tutsi. Although, we cannot erase our tragic past, Ndi Umunyarwanda is about turning this tragedy into triumph based on 4 pillars: history, testimony, truth and trust and healing through forgiveness.
In just 20 short years, Rwanda has done well on several fronts, such as:
• Gender parity with 64% female representation in parliament;
• Ease of doing business, with a ranking of 3rd easiest economy to do business in Sub-Saharan Africa. It takes 6 hours to register a business in Rwanda;
• Globally, Rwanda is ranked 6th for having the best prison rehabilitation programs. We respect of the rule of law, even behind bars.
This incredible rise from the ashes did not just happen by mistake. All credit goes to our citizens, who have engaged their hearts, heads and hands to work for and own the process of progress.
Our success comes from the vision of an informed leadership, and certainly the hand of God.
Distinguished audience,
As I end my remarks tonight, I ask that we join hands in human solidarity. “May God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference”. This prayer, originally authored by an American Theologian, (Reinhold Neibuhr) speaks to God’s hand in Rwanda’s rebirth.
We stand by the belief that God granted us the serenity, the courage and the wisdom to lift ourselves from the depths of evil, to the optimism of a new dawn.
{The trial this week of a Rwandan genocide suspect in a Paris courtroom is a well-earned victory for the French human rights groups who lobbied so hard and so long for justice. The milestone trial signals the end of France as a safe haven for genocidaries. But more than this, the trial is likely to see intense public scrutiny of one of the great scandals of the past century — the role of France in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi of Rwanda, which journalists and activists have tried so hard to expose for 20 years.}
Pascal Simbikangwa, the defendant in Paris, is said to have been a member of an inner circle of power in Rwanda that devised genocide as a planned political campaign. Developed by Hutu ideologues, it was intended to prevent a power-sharing system of government that was to include the minority Tutsi. The genocide claimed up to a million lives.
A captain in the Rwandan gendarmerie until 1986, when he was paralysed in a car accident, Simbikangwa — a fanatic who hoped to create what was known as “a pure Hutu state” — worked for the security services in the capital Kigali. He was eventually found hiding out in the French department of Mayotte, an island group in the Indian Ocean, with 3,000 forged identity papers — more than enough for the hundreds of Rwandan fugitives still at large. He denies all the charges, and his lawyer says he is a scapegoat.
Until now there has been a complete absence of will in Paris to bring to justice any of the estimated 27 Rwandan genocide fugitives who live on French soil. The country was a staunch ally of the Rwandan government which planned and perpetrated the genocide. The trial may well show the French electorate just how appalling its secret policy towards the central African state really was.
The policy was devised in secret, with no accountability from press or parliament and largely determined within the confines of a special office in the president’s Elysee Palace known as the Africa Unit. It operated through a network of military officers, politicians, diplomats, businessmen and senior intelligence operatives. At its heart was President Francois Mitterrand, who had operated through senior army officers: General Christian Quesnot, Admiral Jacques Lanxade and General Jean-Pierre Huchon.
The prosecution testimony in the trial will be unprecedented in the detail it will provide about the genocide. The evidence combines the results of investigations into the Simbikangwa case at the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and details from investigations carried by Rwandan authorities. Never before, not even in the courtrooms of the ICTR, has such an impressive array of witnesses assembled. It is hoped that their combined testimony will put paid to a campaign of denial waged by defence lawyers at the ICTR who claimed the killing in Rwanda was not the result of a conspiracy but was somehow “spontaneous”.
Simbikangwa’s prosecutors are concentrating on his role during the killing, when he allegedly encouraged the murder of Tutsi by Interahamwe militia on roadblocks and provided them with weapons. The roadblocks and the Interahamwe were an integral part of the planned killing mechanism and ensured the speed and scale of the slaughter.
But the impact of the Simbikangwa trial will be felt far beyond the courtroom. It is hoped that for the French public the nature of the genocide will be laid bare, and that at long last a debate about France and Rwanda will begin. Twenty years too late, a true reckoning may at last be possible.
{The main opposition political party in Tanzania, CHADEMA, has asked Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Member of Parliament for Monduli led (CCM ), Edward Lowassa to form a subcommittee to investigate the relationship between Tanzania and Rwanda.}
The party has given that advice after some media in Rwanda reported that leaders of the Resistance party Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and FDLR rebels have held talks with President Jakaya Kikwete in Dar es Salaam.
Meanwhile, Tanzania Embassy in Rwanda has said that referring to the dates of meetings mentioned by News of Rwanda in its article, about two weeks ago, President Kikwete was not there.
According to the Tanzanian Newspaper Mwananchi reported that the Director of Foreign Affairs of the party, Ezekiel Wenje said the committee is required to investigate such information as they may hamper efforts to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.
“In addition to requesting Lowassa Committee to examine the issue, we also appeal to the relevant authorities to investigate the process of issuance of passports of Tanzania to ensure the name is not used improperly, ” said Wenje .He said that there is need for the Government to explain its position because the RDI-Rwanda Nziza of Faustin Twagiramungu has shown that its intention is to stamp out incumbent administration of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
Two weeks ago, News of Rwanda released an article titled “Ex-PM Twagiramungu is special guest of Tanzanian President Kikwete”. The same source of information mentioned that Twagiramungu arrived in Tanzania on Sunday 19th January and has been hosted at secret locations under the direct protection of President Kikwete’s official detail; News of Rwanda got the news from the sources based in Dodoma.
Four days after the publication of the first article, News of Rwanda again learnt that Twagiramungu himself has confirmed the reports that he went to Tanzania, however, he added, he had no obligation to reveal the exact motives of his week-long Tanzania trip.
In this regard Tanzania’s opposition political Party, CHADEMA, has decided to ask MPs to investigate about recent development to clearly come up with the exact position of Tanzania on that matter that can harm the relationship between the two countries.
{{Following a landmark trial in France of Pascal Simbikangwa accused of complicity in the genocide against ethnic Tutsi’s that claimed over a million lives in 1994, calls are being made to resume invesitigations into a case of another suspect.}}
Since 1995 after his arrest by Interpol, Rwandan genocide suspect Dr. Sosthenes Munyemana has been under investigation for his role in the Genocide.
Four Rwandans complained against him and he was indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Simbikangwa’s open trial gives hope to the association Cauri , whose president , Mukantabana Adelaide had complained against Dr. Munyemana.
Since 2006, Dr.Munyemana has been serving as an emergency Doctor at the hospital in Villeneuve -sur- Lot, France. In Rwanda, he was convicted twice in absentia. Arrived in France, the state refused to give him an asylum but preferred his extradition. However, He was placed under judicial control.
Dr. Munyemana’s lawyer says that the investigation is now in “normal way.”
The last investigation was conducted almost a year ago and it was a confrontation by video conference between the accused and a Rwandan who called into question. But since then no other notice is on the agenda.
{{The Suspects}}
Many of the suspects are elites who held influential positions in the genocidal government of former President Juvenal Habyarimana.
They include Laurent Bucyibaruta, former prefect of the former Gikongoro prefecture, and Father Wenceslas Muyeshyaka, a former Catholic priest at St Famille parish in Kigali.
Others are Dr Sosthene Munyemana and Eugene Rwamucyo, former lecturers at the National University of Rwanda (NUR); Lt. Col. Marcel Bivugabagabo, former director of operations in the former prefectures of Ruhengeri and Gisenyi; and Felicien Barigira, who headed the communal development fund.
The list also includes Claver Kamana, a former businessman and president of the then ruling party National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND) in the former Gitarama prefecture; Pierre Tegera, who worked with the National Programme for Potato Improvement (PNAP) in Kinigi and served as an honorary president of the Interahamwe genocide militia in Kibilira commune; Alphonse Ntilivamunda, formerly a director in the Ministry of Public Service; and Enoch Kanyondo alias Pheneas Gakumba, who was a football referee and an active member of MRND.
They also include Callixte Mbarushimana, a former employee of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kigali, who currently serves as the Secretary General of the Congo-based Forces for Liberation of Rwanda(FDLR) militia; Stanislas Mbonampeka, a lawyer; and Isaac Kamali, who was the director in the Ministry of Public Service in charge of Kigali City.
{{The United Nations has appointed a Rwandan, Commissioner of Police, Vianney Nshimiyimana as its Police Commissioner for the United Nations Operation in Ivory Coast (UNOCI).}}
CP Nshimiyimana, who has been the Commandant for the National Police College (NPC), left for the West African nation yesterday, to take up his new assignment.
The father of four (two sons and two daughters), was appointed due to his professionalism and immense experience in peacekeeping.
He will be heading the police component for one year, but renewable.
“This shows the pride of Rwanda on the international scene and the trust they have in our country, which I will strive to protect,” CP Nshimiyimana said.
He thanked Rwanda and the National Police in particular which helped him to be a competitive officer to bring about peace in other countries.
Among his plans during the mission spell, he said, is bring positive reforms in the security sector, civilian protection, oversee the disarmament process and to develop the capacity of the Ivorian Police force.
{{Mission Experience}}
The former Political Commissar, who was part of the third battalion that was deployed at the parliamentary building to protect VIPs during the liberation struggle, holds much peacekeeping experience and various academic and professional courses to his name.
In 2012, he headed a Rwanda Contingent (Correctional, Individual and FPU officers) under the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
He was also the contingent Commander of the Rwandan Police Peacekeepers under the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in 2008.
Rwandan peacekeepers have been recognised on the international scene for their professionalism and commitment in executing their duties.
Rwanda maintains about 600 police officers in eight missions, including Haiti, Sudan, South Sudan, Liberia, Mali and Ivory Coast.
The Rwandan contingent in Mali has been vital in protecting VIPs. Between February 1st and 3rd, the Rwandan contingent in Mali was tasked to protect diplomats and members of the UN security council during their visit to Mali between February 1st and 3rd and security Mopti airport.
{{Academic courses}}
CP Nshimiyimana holds a Masters Degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Transformation (Centre for Conflict Management-NUR), which he attained last year, when he was awarded as the overall best student.
In 2000, he was also awarded among the best students at the College of Arts and Social Sciences, formerly the National University of Rwanda (NUR), where he graduated with bachelors degree in law.
{{Professional Studies include}}
International Commanders Programme at Bramsfil Police College – UK
Senior Mission Leaders Course – Kenya
Level Seven Certificate – Chartered Management Institutee (UK)
Passed Staff College – NPC
{{Previous positions held at RNP}}
CP Nshyimiyimana held various positions in Rwanda National Police following its establishment in June 2000.
He served as the Commissioner for General Services, Deputy Commandant NPA (now NPC), Director of the Financial Investigation Unit and Commanding Officer of traffic.
He was also the director of administration and personnel, director of legal affairs and coordinator of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) under the Ministry of Internal Security.
{{The Rwanda-Tanzania border at Rusumo will start operating 24 hours a day after the completion of a joint customs building.}}
Speaking after inspecting construction work at the site, Tanzania’s deputy minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Adam Malima, said the building was scheduled to be completed in November, 2014.
Currently, according to the minister, the post operates for only 16 hours.
He said the government of Japan had joined Rwanda and Tanzania to co-sponsor the project undertaken by a Japanese construction firm, Daiho.
Japan, according to the minister, has injected Yen 1.8 billion in both projects which will be complete by 68 per cent at the end of this week.
“When the customs building is completed in November, it will be open for services 24 hours a day,” he said.
Rusumo International Bridge, under construction across Kagera River will replace the old one which was built 40 years ago to link Rwanda and Tanzania.
The project is expected to have a positive impact on the economic development of both nations, by enhancing regional integration and cross-border trade.
The project, funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency, would cover construction of the new dual carriage bridge, a two-kilometre road connecting two customs offices as well as equipping both sites with necessary tools and suitable parking space.
The minister said besides the custom services, residents of Rusumo would also benefit from water and power services from a hydroelectric power plant at Rusumo Falls.
{{It’s now 20 years after the occurrence of the Rwandan genocide; however the first trial in France against genocide suspect Pascal Simbikangwa opened yesterday at the Paris criminal court.}}
Pascal Simbikangwa is accused of complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. He faced the jury trial for allegedly having supplied weapons and other materials to officers who were guarding the roadblocks and giving them instructions that led to the massacre of numerous Tutsis.
“We welcome this long-awaited trial that should shed the light on important events that occurred during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda,” said Sheila Muwanga, FIDH Vice-President.
With this trial, France is finally living up to its legal obligations to deliver justice for the victims of the Rwandan genocide.
Hopefully it will be the first of other trials against Rwandan genocide suspects currently living in France », declared Patrick Baudouin, FIDH honorary president and coordinator of the FIDH Litigation Action Group.
While being investigated in France for the forging of administrative documents, Pascal Simbikangwa was arrested on the French territory and investigated for his alleged responsibility in crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide committed in 1994 while in Rwanda, after a complaint was filed against him in February 2009.
{While the Embassy of Rwanda in Kinshasa organized an event to launch the initiative of Kwibuka20 in this neighboring country of Rwanda, Ambassador of Rwanda in DRC, Amandin Rugira, did not hesitate to remind the international community that, despite 20 years after the genocide against the Tutsis, some even threaten to reoffend and apply to transmit genocide ideology to their children, adding that the case of the FDLR speaks for itself.}
The event which happened Tuesday 4th February at the Grand Hotel in Kinshasa was attended by many Diplomatic corps accredited to Kinshasa, members of DRC government and Martin Kobler, a German politician who was appointed special Representative for the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, (MONUSCO), which is mandated to neutralize and disarm all rebel groups based in Eastern Congo one of them being FDLR rebel Group whose leaders are accused by Rwanda to have committed atrocities during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda.
Ambassador Rugira has urged the International community to develop appropriate prevention and repression, against any attempt of genocide or its denial
“Memory and Memorial are essential; they oppose the radical destruction of all traces of existence marking the uniqueness of genocide….. That is why the fact of erecting memorials embodies a form of resistance to the extermination ideology”
{{Urumuri Rutazima and Genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda}}
During the memorial event, many diplomatic corps accredited to Kinshasa took their time and light the flame of remembrance to show that they are united with Rwanda in the activities of the 20th commemoration of the Genocide committed against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.
In his address, Ambassador Rugira explained that the flame “Urumuri Rutazima” symbolizes hope and prospects for a better future of the Rwandan people out of darkness adding that the flame also symbolizes the duty to maintain the memory of the past without being trapped in.
“In this time of launching the initiative Kwibuka20, I appeal to everyone to join Rwanda. I also appeal to all Representatives of countries and International Institutions to join Rwanda during this period of Kwibuka20 to help repair the past for the future, and contribute to building a more just and sustainable world ”
The event was also attended by representatives of Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Zambia, Ghana, UK, Togo and Cameroon among others.
