{"id":2000124881,"date":"2026-09-05T09:04:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T07:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000124881"},"modified":"2026-09-05T12:51:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T10:51:17","slug":"president-kagame-meets-some-of-21st-kwita-izina-gorilla-namers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/president-kagame-meets-some-of-21st-kwita-izina-gorilla-namers\/","title":{"rendered":"President Kagame meets some of 21st Kwita Izina gorilla namers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The personalities who met with President Kagame at Urugwiro Village on on Friday include Dominic Barton, Chairman of Rio Tinto and LeapFrog Investments; Shaikha Al Nuwais, Secretary-General of UN Tourism; Paul Danforth, President of CAA Sports; and Patrice Evra, former captain of Manchester United and the France national team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barton named a male baby gorilla from the Izuba family Umukondo. The gorilla was born on June 20, 2025, to mother Muhabura. Barton said the name represents a starting point or source, reflecting the role of mountain gorillas in sustaining the wider ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barton is a Canadian business executive who serves as Chairman of Rio Tinto and LeapFrog Investments. He previously served as Global Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company and as Canada’s Ambassador to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaikha Al Nuwais, who named a female baby gorilla Ishakwe, is the Secretary-General of UN Tourism and the first woman to lead the organisation in its 50-year history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ishakwe, which means \u201cdetermination,\u201d was born to mother Turiho of the Muhoza family. The name also refers to a small drum used to set the rhythm for others, symbolising the ability to make an impact regardless of one’s size or position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Danforth, President of CAA Sports, named a male baby gorilla Shikama, meaning \u201cstand strong.\u201d The gorilla was born on July 3, 2025, to mother Turimaso of the historic Susa family. Danforth is a global sports executive who previously served as Senior Vice President of Sales for the New York Mets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Manchester United and France captain Patrice Evra named a male baby gorilla Muganura, a name inspired by Umuganura, Rwanda’s traditional harvest and thanksgiving celebration. The gorilla, from the Izuba family, was born on March 20, 2026, to mother Mafubo and is her first infant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evra is a former French international who won five Premier League titles and the UEFA Champions League with Manchester United. He earned 81 caps for France and captained both Manchester United and the French national team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four personalities were among 22 namers drawn from the worlds of conservation, tourism, business, sport, entertainment, philanthropy and public service. Other namers included Olympic high-jump champion Mutaz Essa Barshim, Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid CEO Miguel \u00c1ngel Gil Mar\u00edn, UCI President David Lappartient, Rwandan gospel singer Israel Mbonyi, filmmaker Marie-Cl\u00e9mentine Dusabejambo and former French international Mamadou Sakho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kinigi ceremony brought together communities, conservationists, government officials, international partners and visitors to celebrate Rwanda’s mountain gorillas and the country’s conservation achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Dr. Justin Nsengiyumva attended as Guest of Honour, alongside former leaders including Botswana’s former President Mokgweetsi Masisi and former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event was held at the foothills of Volcanoes National Park, where Rwanda has developed a broader conservation and community-development programme around the protection of the mountain gorilla habitat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 1,060 mountain gorillas now live in the wild across the Virunga Massif and Bwindi ecosystem, making mountain gorillas the only great ape species whose population is continuing to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kwita Izina also highlights the link between conservation, tourism and the wellbeing of communities living around protected areas. Through Rwanda’s Tourism Revenue Sharing Programme, 10 per cent of national park tourism revenues is reinvested in surrounding communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than Rwf 23 billion has so far supported nearly 1,300 community projects, including schools, health centres, water infrastructure and livelihood initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s Kwita Izina activities also included the groundbreaking of the Smart Green Village in Kinigi as part of the wider Volcanoes Community Resilience Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda’s long-term plans include expanding Volcanoes National Park by about 3,740 hectares and establishing approximately 6,620 hectares of buffer zones, with the broader programme expected to improve livelihoods for more than 17,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kwita Izina, which means \u201cto give a name\u201d in Kinyarwanda, is inspired by the centuries-old Rwandan tradition of naming newborn children in the presence of family and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It became an official annual event in 2005 and has since developed into an international platform for celebrating mountain gorilla conservation and recognising the role of communities and partners in protecting their habitat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the 22 gorillas named during Friday’s ceremony, the number of mountain gorillas named through Kwita Izina since 2005 reached 460.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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President Kagame meets Dominic Barton, Chairman of Rio Tinto and LeapFrog Investments, who named baby gorilla Mukondo during the 21st Kwita Izina ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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President Kagame also met with former Manchester United and France captain Patrice Evra. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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President Kagame meets Paul Danforth, President of CAA Sports, who named baby gorilla Shikama<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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President Kagame met with Shaikha Al Nuwais, Secretary-General of UN Tourism. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Paul Kagame has met with several of the distinguished personalities who named baby mountain gorillas during the 21st Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming Ceremony held in Kinigi, Musanze District on September 4, where 22 baby mountain gorillas were given names under the theme \u201cConservation is Life: Sustaining the Future.\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000124883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000124881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-40","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":2000122455,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-11.50.01-AM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 11.50.01 AM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":2000122455,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-11.50.01-AM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 11.50.01 AM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":{"id":2000124883,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/he_shali-ad558.jpg","alt":"","caption":"President Kagame met with Shaikha Al Nuwais, Secretary-General of UN Tourism. ","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":680,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/he_shali-ad558.jpg","width":680,"height":600},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/he_shali-ad558.jpg","width":680,"height":600},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/he_shali-ad558.jpg","width":680,"height":600},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/he_shali-ad558.jpg","width":680,"height":600},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/he_shali-ad558.jpg","width":680,"height":600}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000124881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000124881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000124881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000124890,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000124881\/revisions\/2000124890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000124883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000124881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000124881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000124881"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000124881"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000124881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}