The President made the remark in an interview with a French newspaper, Liberation on Sunday, November 11, 2018, when he was in Paris on the sidelines of Peace Forum which coincided with the 100th anniversary of the World War II.
President Kagame was among the four African heads of state invited to attend.
In the interview, President Kagame also talked about the issue of the current global leadership, the arrest of Diane Rwigara and Ingabire Victoire as well as Rwanda’s relations with France.
{{No one should look at their own interests only
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On world leadership today, President Kagame said that the idea is a good one, but today’s world remains divided between those who have too much power and impose the rules and those who suffer them and must apply them.
“These are part of the world I come from: the world of Africa and, more generally, underdeveloped countries. But now, even states that have too much power are divided! It is the philosophy of the “me first” that dominates openly. Nobody even pretends to speak in the name of good and evil. And this self-evident predominance of selfish interests is echoing in developing countries, becoming a competitive terrain, contributing to the global instability of the planet,” he said.
He said that Africa should also look at its weaknesses and invest more efforts in making reforms, if it wishes to achieve more.
“If Africa wants to weigh on the world stage, it must renounce in the same way the temptation of “me first”, strengthen its integration. But first and foremost, it must work to really take into account the needs of peoples. You have to be yourself, without systematically depending on the help of the West,” he said.
He noted that in Rwanda, when government set up medical insurance coverage for all, with varying contributions in accordance with incomes, some donors offered to finance those of the poorest but Rwanda refused, because “we consider that even the poorest have to take ownership of this system and pay, if only a very modest minimum.”
He added that Africa must go beyond the logic of charity.
“Desperate situations exist, with urgent needs. But we must also offer citizens the means to emancipate themselves, find enough hope for them to stay at home,” he said.
He added that Africa would have to learn about it without having to rely on the West.
President Kagame was also asked about the problem of immigrants in the European Union, saying that he found African countries willing to set up plans to deal with the problem in as a short period of time as possible.
He also said that on the subject of immigration, it is especially the impression that Westerners improvise strategies in the very short term while the problem is not demographics, but mismanagement of demographics, or more precisely bad governance.
“Before being a challenge, demography is an asset for Africa. I, rather, feel that it is this booming youth that will help change Africa. It is clear that it challenges certain practices, upsets the order of things. I remain hopeful that future generations will be better than our own and those who have contributed to the waste of this continent,” he said.
{{Rwanda’s development is very fast
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President Kagame emphasized that Rwanda is an ever-developing country, saying that changes are taking place very quickly and faster.
“It is now a country in peace, reconciled. Development is the cement without which all the other great principles are in vain. We can preach reconciliation, forgiveness, guarantee justice. But these are vain words if people are hungry or untreated. I’m not saying we have to neglect others, but should act with dynamism,” he said.
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