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The Head of State said this during a meeting with African Union Youth Corps. The meeting brought together 90 young professionals from 45 AU member states including 15 Rwandan youth. The group was in Rwanda for a two-week training on volunteerism, according to the Office of the President.

President Kagame reminded the youth to focus on similarities than differences between themselves and be mindful to seize opportunities and fight away challenges.

“You find that those of you from different parts of the continent are going to discover more similarities than differences between you. For those differences there are also positives; being different is not negative. The most important thing is for you as leaders of today and tomorrow to be mindful of the fact that you need to seize opportunities and push back on challenges so that they don’t stand in your way.” Kagame says

Taking from the country’s tragic past, Kagame told that it had provided useful lessons to the nation at large.

“We are like a laboratory; everything has been tested here. But this past also comes with a silver lining in that what we drew from our past has gone a long way to make us better people than we were in history.” He said

“We don’t feel that there is anything special we have done as Rwanda. If we managed to overcome our challenges ourselves then anyone else in the world can. As young people you should never surrender to problems.” He added.

Kagame noted that there were problems specific to different parts of the continent but urged the youth to work and stand together so to be stronger in tackling those challenges.

“This is the African Union idea and should be the ideal that leads & drives you as young Africans.” Kagame said.

President also noted that Africa had everything it needed and urged the youth to be dynamic, use its own resources and think differently than how others did.

“God gave us everything to use; a rich continent and brains to produce more but why do we as a continent keep going back and ask God to help us? Africa needs the youth to think and do things differently and better than we did. Stop making Africa look like a cursed continent. God gave us more than what he gave others. Let us be proud and use these resources.” He said

“As young people you don’t have as many limitations as you perceive. You have the potential in you to be anything you want. You can contribute to make your country and continent what it deserves to be.” He says.

These changes were announced on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2018.

Brig. Gen Mutiganda was acting as Director General of the external security department at the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS). He was among the six colonels who were promoted to Brigadier General by the Head of State.

Col. Gerard Butera, who was the chief of protocol at the Office of the President was sent to RDF’s Headquarters for new duties. Lt. Col Emmanuel Rukundo who worked in NISS was also redeployed to RDF Headquarters.

Col. Joseph Karegire was promoted to Commander made Chief of the Military Police Regiment.

President Kagame promoted Lt. Col Ruki Karusisi to Colonel and was upgraded from Head of Operations in the Republican Guard (RG) to Deputy Commander, Special Operations Force (SOF).

Major Callixte Migabo, former Head of intelligence in the Republican Guard was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and appointed as the new Head of Operations RG.

The luncheon was held at Village Urugwiro, President’s Office on Thursday. The US Congress delegation was in Rwanda on a two-day visit which they started on October 2.
The visit is in line with the US Congress delegation programme to visit different countries including Germany, Botswana, Angola, Tunisia and Portugal.

The Leader of the Delegation, Robert Goodlatte chose Rwanda as one of the countries on their visiting list due to ‘the growth Rwanda has attained recently’.

The US Congressional Delegation comprises of members of the Judiciary Committee, the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the Committee on Budget, the Committee on Taxes and the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

During their visit in Rwanda, the US Congressional Delegation members met different government officials including the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRA) announced on Wednesday, October 03, 2018 that it rejected Ntuyahaga’s asylum application but he said he will appeal this decision.

Ntuyahaga was convicted by a Belgian court in 2007 for the murder of ten United Nations peacekeepers (MINUAR) who at the time, protected Prime Minister Agathe Uwiringiyimana at the start of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

He was released in 2018 and went to seek asylum in Belgium where he is held in jail in Caricole Transit Center, Steenokkerzeel in Belgium since June 1st. Ntuyahaga’s asylum application has caused fury among many Belgians because the asylum seeker was convicted of murdering their fellow Belgian soldiers.

Ntuyahaga contended that when a court in Brussels sentenced him to 20 years in prison in 2007 for the murder of members of the armed forces of Belgium in Rwanda, he lost the chance for his safety as provided by the Geneva Convention in 1951.
Belgian media published that the 66 year-old fears that “if he comes back to Rwanda his life will be in danger”.

Towards the beginning of October 2018, family members and friend of the 10 UN troops killed in Rwanda on April 10th, 1994 complained about Ntuyahaga’s asylum request in a country he killed its citizens.

There are also reports that Ntuyahaga wants to go to Denmark where his wife and children live.

In June 1998, Ntuyahaga surrendered himself to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ITCR) in Arusha, Tanzania. In September of that year, the ICTR issued an indictment charging him with: conspiracy to commit genocide; genocide or complicity in genocide; war crimes; and two counts of crimes against humanity to which he pleaded not guilty.

However, on 18 March 1999 the ICTR dropped its charges. In the face of public outcry and official outrage from the Rwandan Patriotic Front government of Rwanda, deputy prosecutor Bernard Muna explained that the ICTR counts only carried a moderate prison sentence and that they hoped Tanzania would extradite Ntuyahaga to Belgium, which could hold a trial over the murders of the peacekeepers.

However, Rwanda stated that Ntuyahaga should be extradited to the country, which would try him over the murder of the prime minister. On the same day, the ICTR dropped its charges, Tanzanian authorities arrested Ntuyahaga for entering the country illegally. The following years saw a complicated set of legal procedures, including an application by Ntuyahaga for asylum as a refugee in Tanzania and Tanzania adjusting its charges against Ntuyahaga to fall under its extradition treaty with Rwanda.

This eventually ended when Tanzania denied Rwanda’s request for extradition in favor of Belgium. In March 2004, Ntuyahaga, of his own free will, flew to Belgium, accompanied by a Belgian diplomat. There, he gave himself up and was put in prison on demand. He was charged with handing over the Belgian soldiers to the Rwandan soldiers in the Kigali military camp of which he was an officer, without taking any measures to prevent their massacre; of celebrating with the soldiers implicated in the massacres of the Kigali Tutsi civilian population, and allowing these soldiers to use his residence as its headquarters.

On 7 September 2006, the trial chamber referred the case to the Court of Assise. The trial began on 19 April 2007.

On 4 July 2007, the court came back with the verdict that Ntuyahaga was guilty in the murder of the peacekeepers and an unknown number of Rwandan civilians. He was found not guilty in the murder of the prime minister and the killing of an unknown number of civilians in Butare. The public prosecutor asked for life imprisonment, but the following day the jury sentenced Ntuyahaga to twenty years’ imprisonment.

Two weeks away from the Yerevan summit, where the position of Secretary General of the OIF will be nominated between incumbent Secretary General Michaelle Jean who seeks re-election and Rwandan Foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo; Lemoyne has approved France’s support towards the latter.

Here below are some excerpts;

{{France’s support towards Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo has been very surprising. Why this choice?
}}

{{Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne:}} You know, above all, the candidature of Louise Mushikiwabo was supported by the African Union and the African continent. And it is true that France— as the President of the Republic repeatedly said, considers Africa as the center of gravity of La Francophonie, today. So, having, as we prepare to celebrate 50 years as an organisation in 2020, an African woman at the head of the International Organization of La Francophonie, would make a lot of sense.

{{Yes, but in May 2018, it is still at the Elysee Palace that Paul Kagame and Emmanuel Macron announced the candidacy of Louise Mushikiwabo.
}}

Once again, France comes in support of a candidacy that has already declared itself. We have evolved from games that perhaps, once made the happiness of a certain relationship between France and Africa. France wants to support a vision where education of young women and languages are at the heart of the organization.

{{For 8 years, French has been replaced by English at the Rwandan public school. So concretely, what is La Francophonie going to do today in Rwanda?
}}

Precisely, the Rwandan authorities are committed to bring back the French language in public education.

{{Yes, but English will remain the main language taught in schools, right?
}}

There are many states of La Francophonie that are bilingual states. Look at Canada, as an example.

{{Four former ministers of Cooperation -Charles Josselin, Pierre-André Wiltzer, Hélène Conway-Mouret and André Vallini, said that Louise Mushikiwabo had no place at the head of the OIF, especially because Rwanda is not a good example when it comes to democracy and human rights.
}}

I will not comment on the forum as such. What I see is actions and facts. A few weeks ago, some convicts were released in Rwanda, I also note that Rwanda, is at the forefront of the fight for equality between women and men on the continent. I was also able to discuss with Louise Mushikiwabo on climate issues and I could see how much she was mobilized on these subjects. She also wants to ensure that youth issues and employment are at the heart of her mandate.

{{The release of the 2,000 prisoners, including the opponent Victoire Ingabire, is this an effect from La Francophonie ?
}}

It’s not for me to comment on how this is done. What I know is that these releases were made and that it’s a good sign. La Francophonie is not an international organization that built itself from giving others lessons. I think it has a lot do with mediation and diplomacy, where President Abdou Diouf made some progress, during his mandate.

RGS publishes findings on the state of governance in Rwanda. It also serves as a practical tool that drives policy reform in the domain of governance through the identification of areas of improvement and actionable recommendations.

Among eight pillars of the survey, safety and security scored highest at 94.97 % up from 92.62 % in 2016.

Pillar for rule of law scored 83.68 % up from 79.68 % last year while the right and freedom of citizens is at 83.83% up from 81.83%.

Participation and inclusiveness of citizens in government policies scored 76.79 % down from 77.01 % in 2016 while investing in human and social development is rated at 75.55 % up from 74.88% in 2016. Findings rank control of corruption, transparency and accountability at 83.72% down from 86.56%.

Quality of service delivery is at 74.25% up from72.93%, while economic and corporate governance is at 78.04% up from 76.82 %.

Rule of Law pillar is the most improved pillar with an increase of 4%, while the least performing pillar is the quality of service delivery with 74.25%.

RGB announced that what made control of corruption, transparency and accountability pillar to slow down are the low scores of how citizens are satisfied by the way corruption is controlled in local government institutions which is at 60.95% down from 83.5% in 2016. Citizens have also shown that they face corruption when they seek services, among others.

Minister for Justice Johnston Busingye said that before Rwanda embarked on its own governance survey, no one knew where things were done badly or well. He compared it to living without the hope to wake up alive the next day.

He said that it was done by foreigners for their own purposes while the government of Rwanda would take a lot of time explaining itself.

“We were defending ourselves for the research you did not contribute to, and it happened a lot like every three or six months in different institutions.” he said.

However, Busingye noted that since it was introduced, Rwanda Governance Scorecard has been very useful because it enables the country to know what goes wrong or well earlier.

“We have now found our own mirror. It is difficult to look at oneself in other people’s mirror every time. When you have the mirror in your own house, you are able to know the shape of your hair, you get to know everything,” he said.

Indicators of governance in Rwanda are based on information given by Rwandans from all walks of life including citizens, government institutions, non-governmental organizations, researchers and private entities.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Emre Alper and Laure Redifer, visited Kigali from September 20 to October 2 to conduct discussions on the tenth and final review of Rwanda’s Policy Support Instrument (PSI) -supported program.

The PSI is an instrument of the IMF designed for countries that do not need balance of payments financial support.

Laure Redifer who led the IMF visiting team said that while Rwanda’s economy grew by 8.6 % in the first half of 2018, there is hope for Rwanda to achieve its projected 7.2 year growth.

“After rising to 6.1 percent in 2017, real GDP growth averaged 8.6 percent in the first half of 2018, consistent with the projected end-year growth rate of 7.2 percent in 2018. Robust growth in 2018 reflects strong industrial activity, notably construction. Inflation remains low, in part reflecting favorable food price developments, and is projected to average around 2.8 percent in 2018,” he said.

Redifer explained that inflation is expected to remain close to the medium-term inflation target because the Central Bank of Rwanda kept the monetary policy stance unchanged in September, maintaining the policy rate at 5.5 percent through 2018.

Redifer said “Rwanda’s external buffers remain strong. The authorities have undertaken policies to improve Rwanda’s competitiveness, diversify production, promote exports, and contain imports.”

“With export growth of 17.9% in the year to August 2018, and import growth of 7.4%, the trade balance has continued to improve,” he said.

Laure Redifer said Rwanda met targets of PSI.

“Implementation of Rwanda’s PSI-supported macroeconomic program has been strong. All quantitative targets for the tenth and last review were met, and structural benchmarks are expected to be completed. The PSI-supported program has been successful in supporting Rwanda’s overarching objective of sustaining inclusive growth and poverty reduction,” Redifer revealed.

Rwanda’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana said that according to the economic growth projections Rwanda had in the past five years, Rwanda’s GDP will keep growing.

Anna has served as Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate since January 2013, the first woman to hold this office.

Maria Luise Anna Malu Dreyer is also the Deputy leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a position she was elected to in 2017.

She is accompanied by a delegation of 31, including Doris Ahnen, the Minister of Finance of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate; four Members of the State Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate including the Vice President of the State Parliament as well as staff from the State Government.

{{Rwanda- Rhineland Palatinate partnership.
}}

Over the last 36 years, nearly 2000 projects valued at €100 million have been implemented in Rwanda in the fields of education (school construction and provision of scholastic materials, students and teachers exchanges, vocational training collaboration through IPRC); health (construction of health centers and health posts as well as provision of medical equipment), youth, and museums (cultural exchange).

This year partnerships were extended to the fields of governance, business promotion and local economic development through the exchange of experience and knowledge.

This fiscal year partnership agreements were signed between five districts in Rwanda and five German municipalities; Ngoma District with the municipality of Landkreis, Gisagara District and the municipality of Hachenburg, Karongi District and the municipality of Bad Kreuznach, Nyamagabe District and the municipality of Birkenfeld, and Ruhango District with the City of Landau.

As he officially opened Westerwelle Startup Haus Kigali, a German NGO that aims at supporting local entrepreneurs to improve their business and promoting SMEs for job creation, on October 1, Rwanda’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon. Vincent Munyeshyaka described the Rwanda-Rhineland-Palatinate partnership as a win-win relationship.

“I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate the partnership we have between Rwanda and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a very long-lasting one for now 36 years. What I like from it: it is a people to people partnership but also business to business partnership,” he said.

A statement released by Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the company, Ultimate Developers Ltd (UDL) that is in charge of the project development, says that this opportunity is for public servants.

The statement further says as a prerequisite, beneficiaries and their spouses should not have owned another house before. They will be allowed to purchase apartments with two, three or four rooms at reduced prices.

A two-room apartment will be sold at Rwf63,000,000 down from the market price of Rwf108 million while a three-room apartment will be sold at Rwf94 million down from Rwf163 million. A four-room apartment will be sold at Rwf108 from Rwf187 million.

Those who need loans will be charged 11% and the loan will be repaid in a period of 20 years. According to the statement, those who wish to buy the houses will have to submit their application letters between 16th -31st October 2018. Selection of eligible bidders will be done between 1st -21st October 2018.

The CEO of the Bank of Kigali which accepted to give loans to potential buyers, Dr Diane Karusisi said this is the beginning of BK’s long-term program to help Rwandans of all statuses to own a house. We are calling this program a new way of giving loans on houses,” she said.

In the aftermath of 1994 against the Tutsi, over 50% of the teachers were non-professional as many had been killed; others had fled into exile while many were being held for participating in the genocide.

The government, however, has retooled teachers the Government entities rebuilt themselves, the education sector also rebuilt itself that today 98% of the 63,000 teaching practitioners in primary and secondary studies have teaching certificates.

Most of them have got the teaching certificates from the Government’s programme known as ‘Iyakure’ which was initiated in 1998 while others acquired government sponsored scholarships to pursue bachelor degrees in education.

Speaking exclusively to IGIHE, Ndayambaje said that plans are underway to have 100%of primary and secondary teachers equipped with pedagogical skills.

“When assessing the quality of education, you first assess those who provide it, the teachers. REB will therefore expend immense efforts and resources to improve the professionalism of teachers,” Dr. Ndayambaje said.

In a bid to give more value to the teaching profession in Rwanda so as to adhere to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) standards and the special statutes governing teachers in Rwanda, Dr. Ndayambaje said that improving teachers’ skills will be given more emphasis.

“Whatever intelligence he or she may have, if someone is teaching while he never studied education, he has to sit for a pegodagical programme that enables him get a teaching certificate. Our government put in place a pedagogical programmed that was pursued by teaching practitioners and they now have got a post graduate certificate in education. Others got bachelor degrees in education from the former Kigali Institute of Education (KIE), now College of Education,” Ndayambaje added.

“There are others who got their bachelor degrees in education from the private universities,” Dr. Ndayambaje noted.

According to REB Director General, Rwandan rural areas have the largest number of the non professional teachers in primary and secondary education. This is due to the fact professional teachers apply for the teaching jobs mostly in urban areas.

Dr Ndayambaje said, “When there is a vacant teaching job in the urban area, about 500 to 1000 people will apply for only 10 positions, for example, meaning that there are professional teachers in urban areas.”