The nomination of ‘Ambassador’ is important in the diplomatic world as it doesn’t require the designated person to be appointed to a certain country at a given time.
According to the announcement signed by the Prime Minister, Dr. Edouard Ngirente, “Pursuant to the powers conferred upon Him by the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 2003 revised in 2015, especially in its article 111, on 25th December 2018, His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda named Mr. Desire NYARUHIRIRA, Ambassador.”
To date, Nyaruhira was an advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and cooperation in the East-African Community. Before that, he was an advisor in the Embassy of Rwanda in Burundi up to 2015.
In the past days, the Ambassador-Designate worked very closely with Louise Mushikiwabo, even when she was still a Minister, mostly during the state visits she held while she was campaigning as the Secretary-General of La Francophonie.
On December 08, when Michaëlle Jean was bidding farewell to her office before conferring her powers to the new Secretary General, Louise Mushikiwabo; Jeune Afrique wrote that Mushikiwabo had already chosen to bring two close collaborators; Désiré Nyaruhirira, who should be his special advisor and Oria Kije Vande Weghe, her Spokesperson.
These two were with her while Louise Mushikiwabo campaigned for the position of Secretary General for La Francophonie.
Kagame made the remarks in his End of the year message to Rwanda Defence And Security Forces according to a statement on the website of the Ministry of Defense of Rwanda.
“As we approach the end of 2018 and preparing to usher in the New Year 2019, I wish to commend your exemplary and outstanding service, hard work and dedication in delivering your core duty of defending the people and territory of Rwanda,” Kagame said as read in the statement.
“I wish to acknowledge the continuous successful accomplishment of your mission and would like to underscore the fact that you have continued to demonstrate capability, credibility, and professionalism in the accomplishment of the core mandates,” he added.
Kagame told all officers, men, and women of the Rwanda Defence and security forces that Rwandans recognize the job they do to ensure their physical security but also in addressing pressing issues of human security as the bedrock of sustainable peace.
“Throughout 2018, you have continued to deserve the full trust of the people of Rwanda,” He said.
As Rwanda remains the fifth among the top of countries with most peacekeepers in UN peacekeeping missions, with 6,146 peacekeepers today.
Kagame said Rwandan “peacekeepers continue to be powerful Ambassadors of Rwanda, consistently and efficiently representing the best principles and values we stand for; sharing those with our brothers and sisters across Africa and the world, in true Rwandan spirit.”
“Keep up the resolve to play your part in both regional and international security by strengthening your readiness and offering our pledge to support regional and continental peace and security,” Kagame said.
The President of the Republic, Paul Kagame urged the army to keep up their right mindset and values, constant focus and vigilance so as to continue to relentlessly play our role in the transformation of Rwanda” and in the economic and social progress of which pillar is the national security.
“To our families who lost their loved ones in 2018 due to various reasons, I send my heartfelt condolences,” Kagame further said.
“Officers, Men, and Women – The beginning of a new year is also an opportunity to renew your pledge to curb all threats to national security, a vital pillar for our economic and social progress. That way, you can continue to deserve the nation’s trust and respect you have earned over the years,” he concluded.
Nine Rwandan officials were indicted in 2006 in a politically-motivated investigation that lasted more than 20 years.
“We welcome this decision which brings to an end a brazen attempt over two decades to obstruct justice for the Genocide against the Tutsi, and prevent accountability for both the perpetrators and their wilful accomplices,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Government Spokesperson, Dr. Richard Sezibera, said.
On April 6, 1994, former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana’s private Falcon 50 jet was shot down near Kigali International Airport, leaving Habyarimana dead.
Cyprien Ntaryamira, the then President of Burundi, with everybody else on board also died in the plane crash.
The plane shooting was followed by the 100-day genocide that left more than a million Tutsis killed.
In 1997, a family member to one French citizen filed a lawsuit to a court in Paris which saw the Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière start an investigation the following year on who shot down the plane that was carrying President Habyarimana.
Judge Bruguière carried out the investigation without stepping on Rwanda’s land referring to testimonies of former Rwanda Patriotic Army members who said they had had a role in the plane shooting.
Bruguière later issued arrest warrants for nine Rwandan officials who were on the front line of the Rwanda Patriotic Army that stopped the 1994 genocide including President Paul Kagame, former Minister of Defense, Gen. James Kabarebe among other officials.
The arrest warrants saw Rwanda and France relations deteriorate to the extent that Rwanda once closed its embassy in Paris.
In 2010, Judges Nathalie Poux and Marc Trevedic came to Rwanda for investigation on Habyarimana’s plane shooting, heard testimonies of witnesses in Rwanda and Burundi.
The investigation came with a resolution that the plane had been shot down by Hutu extremists who opposed to Arusha accords that directed for the sharing of power among political parties in Rwanda including RPF with MRND, Habyarimana’s single political party that operated in Rwanda since 1973 until 1990 when the RPF launched a liberation struggle putting Habyarimana on pressure to open the political space and accept the multiparty political system in Rwanda.
In December 2017, French anti-terror judges announced they had closed an investigation into the missile attack that killed Rwandan former President Habyarimana who ruled Rwanda from 1973 up to 1994, but they did not say what was going to follow.
As he opened the 2016/17 judicial year on October 10, 2016, President Kagame said the Government of Rwanda had done all to facilitate all who wanted to do investigations on the plane crash particularly the French investigators.
Kagame then said: “We wanted to resolve this issue to have good relations. We told them ‘come and get information on what you want’. We give rights to everything people want.”
The tweet was followed by several retweets, and replies that also wished Kagame a merry Christmas and fruitful year 2019.
Some followers expressed their happiness to be following Kagame on Twitter which they consider as continuous academic learning gotten free of charge and mostly education for a sustainable lifestyle.
”We’re very blessed to following You Excellency @PaulKagame not only on Twitter but all your Addresses, Speeches, Debates, Presentations live talk show and close discussions. It’s a continuous academic learning we benefit free of charge and mostly an education for a sustainable lifestyle,” Gatabazi JMV (The Governor of the Northern Province) tweeted.
Not only Rwandan Twitter users replied to Kagame’s tweet but foreigners were as well attracted.
One Twitter user with the names, Patrick Kelvin tweeted “Papa President Paul Kagame, merry Xmas to you and the lovely people of Rwanda together with your family. We in Kenya are proud to be associated with Rwanda and Arsenal FC.”
Recently, President Paul Kagame said the year 2018 has been a good year in all aspects of lives of the nation and urged Rwandans to worker harder in order to achieve more.
Umubano Industries Ltd won the auction beating seven other bidders in an auction that took place in Kigali City Centre at the four-star hotel.
Ubumwe Grande Hotel was sold on auction in a bid to pay US$18 million loan that was owed to Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) it had failed to service.
The auction was presided over by Lawyer Joseph Ngabonziza with Umubano Industries Ltd represented by Hassan Gasana who issued a cheque of US$34,053,888.9.
Speaking to journalists after the auction, Hassan Gasana said Umubano Industries Ltd which he represented aims at offering quality hospitality services, promising better services to customers.
“We are happy the auction went well and transparent. This hotel will continue to work as usual. Not many changes will happen because we focus on Rwandan culture to offer good hospitality services to people. I urge the current staff and employees of the Hotel to keep working with utmost commitment because their jobs are secure,” Gasana said.
On rebranding the hotel, Gasana said this will be looked at later.
KCB Bank Rwanda had recently announced that the former owners of Ubumwe Grande Hotel owed it a loan worth US$18 million, about Rwf15 billion.
Formerly, Ubumwe Grande Hotel went by the name of Zinc Hotel valued at about $40 million and was co-owned by CG Corp Global (owners of Zinc Hotel brand), and the Mukwano Group, who owned a combined 80 per cent stake; and Rwandan Robert Bapfakurera, current Chairman of Private Sector Federation, who owned a 20 per cent stake.
The facility, which has 153 rooms, 134 guest rooms and 19 apartments opened in September 2016.
President Kagame made the remarks on Saturday, at Intare Conference Arena where he chaired the Political Bureau Meeting bringing together about 2500 party delegates.
RPF Political Bureau has attracted delegates including those from Diaspora and representatives of party structures right from the grassroots.
This meeting aims at discussing how the development of the country can be based on Rwandan citizens by building the capacity of Rwandans in various areas to enable them to contribute to national development.
“We have two neighbors who don’t wish us well and two with whom we have no problems. But we will find a way to remedy that situation. Our priority is good relations but it does not prevent us from being ready if things do not turn out as we hope,” said President Kagame and RPF Chairman.
He said that 2018 has done well in all sectors because the country had ‘good production of all kinds’.
He further stated that the RPF Inkotanyi played an important role in maintaining good relations between Rwanda and other countries, although it was not easy, especially due to the history of the country.
He said that currently, Rwanda has two neighbors who are not friendly enough but will continue to look for ways to normalize its relations with them.
“Some issues calmed down giving us time to work, but we are still far, there are still a lot of things to do. It seems like they are alternating. Those who are far away used to cause problems, while we lived at peace with our neighbors. Now we are friends with them (those from far) […] so, we are going to find a remedy for that too,” he said.
“Living with a neighbor who wants to set fire at your things is not good. We have two neighbors in the region who do not wish us good, but we live at peace with two other people,” he said.
“We will also find ways to appease those two neighbors who do not wish us well. That’s on one side, you find ways to appease people and live with them peacefully, but when you do so, you cannot also forget to build the capacity to say what if it does not work out ? ” he added.
President Kagame talked about people who, with the help of neighboring countries, have been trying to disrupt Rwanda’s security by changing their names and disguising themselves as Christians but with other intentions.
President Kagame said that what needs to be done is building capacity for the people themselves because ‘when they do not doubt about you, they maintain security, others may come later or not’.
The last RPF Political Bureau meeting was held in July this year when the final list of candidates that ran as members of parliament was approved for elections that took place in September 2018.
In the elections, FPR Inkotanyi and its affiliated parties came on the top, won 40 out of 53 seats.
Col. Simba was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for 25 years after finding him guilty of leading different Interahamwe raids which targeted and killed the Tutsis in former prefectures of Butare and Gikongoro, as well as crimes against humanity.
The International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda convicted Simba of genocide and the crime against humanity of extermination, and it sentenced him to 25 years imprisonment.
In 2016, he wrote to the court asking for release because he had completed his 2/3 sentence and Judge Theodor Meron President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) expressed his desire to release him.
He should serve his entire prison term
The statement by the Government of Rwanda on Friday, states that at a meeting between Valentine Rugwabiza, the Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations and Judge Meron, on 14 December 2018, Rwanda knew that the latter had the desire to release Simba.
This unilateral action by Judge Meron comes over the objections of the Government of Rwanda and despite the dire consequences of Simba’s release for the survivors of his crimes, his lack of remorse, and his failure to cooperate with authorities.
In the midst of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Aloys Simba converted what should have been places of refuge into human slaughterhouses.
At Kaduha Parish, Simba put traditional weapons, guns, and grenades into the hands of mass murderers and ordered them to “get rid of this filth.”
Simba likewise handed out weapons to militias surrounding the Murambi Technical School and instructed them to massacre the thousands of Tutsi civilians seeking shelter there.
According to the statement, one might legitimately question whether the deliberate massacre of more than 1,000 innocent civilians is adequately punished by a term of 25 years imprisonment – in other words, whether imprisonment for three months or less for each helpless victim adequately reflects the severity of the crime.
But Judge Meron somehow believes that greater leniency is due and has decided to set Simba free eight years before the end of his sentence.
Under these dire circumstances, inasmuch as Judge Meron is ordering Simba’s release subject to conditions, such as a prohibition on genocide denial, the Mechanism should release him to Rwanda to help ensure compliance with these conditions and to help advance his demobilization and integration, as has been the case for countless individuals in Rwanda.
Under Judge Meron’s presidency, Rwanda and the world have watched as he reversed convictions, reduced sentences, and released criminals long before they served their duly imposed prison terms.
Rwanda also observes that his plan to release Simba is not the result of a statutory requirement or the facts.
Rather, Judge Meron alone has created an arbitrary and automatic rule, not required by statute and unburdened by individualized considerations and assessments, to release any prisoner after service of two-thirds of the sentence. That is not justice.
As a matter of international law, the Mechanism must take into account the gravity of the offense, the interests of the victim survivors, the prisoner’s demonstration of repentance and rehabilitation, and his cooperation with the prosecution.
Simba orchestrated the brutal massacre of his victims in order to advance the genocidal destruction of an entire group.
In its submission to the Mechanism, Rwanda provided a detailed opinion from an expert in the trauma of genocide victims, who personally interviewed some survivors and reviewed statements from others.
She described how Simba’s release would cause untold trauma for survivors of Kaduha Parish and the Murambi Technical School, where children saw their parents murdered, and parents saw their children murdered.
In the face of this devastation, Simba has shown no remorse and has not cooperated, in any way, with investigators and prosecutors.
“We urge the next President to take more seriously the law and the facts when reviewing applications for early release,” the statement further reads.
It says that with due consideration to appropriate and established legal and factual considerations, the Mechanism can review and act upon an application for release prior to completion of the sentence.
But, it says, such decisions must be viewed as the exception, reserved for special cases and backed by compelling justifications.
International law does not confer unfettered discretion to the Mechanism or its President.
He is not at liberty to undermine what was found and upheld by courts of law, following multi-year investigations and months-long prosecutions, where the sentence captured the fullness of the events and considered all relevant arguments.
In the end, the statement says that going forward, the United Nations, member states, and those who have agreed to these processes must understand that Judge Meron’s approach threatens to undermine the international criminal justice system.
Statistics by the Ministry of Health indicate that the Rwandan Government annually spends $100 million for antiretroviral drugs to people with HIV/AIDS and $50 million for treatments done to regularly check how their health statuses stand.
The Ministry of Health says that only 83% of people with HIV infections take antiretroviral drugs as of June this year.
The HIV National Strategic Adviser at Rwanda Biomedical Center, RBC, Semakula Mohammed says that, “it would be a pleasure for us if all the infected took antiretroviral drugs because these drugs lengthen lives of the infected with HIV/AIDS.”
The HIV/AIDS and STIs Diseases Division at RBC indicates that life expectancy for people living with HIV on antiretroviral drugs is more than 60 years, one year less than those who are HIV negative.
It says that ”a person living with HIV/AIDS on Antiretroviral Therapy medications lower the viral load, fight infections, and improve the quality of life. They can lower your chances of transmitting the HIV to others.”
According to Demographic Health Survey ,DHS, 2015, AIDS related deaths reduced by 82% while the viral load among people with HIV on ART reduced by 91%.
{{HIV prevalence in Rwanda.
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In Rwanda, HIV prevalence has been stable since 2005 and remains at 3% in general. The DHS 2015 indicates that HIV prevalence is 6.3% in Kigali City being 2.6% in Southern Province, being 2.4% in Eastern and Western Provinces while it is 2.3% in the North.
Prevalence among sex workers is at 45.8%, being it is 4% in male sex workers while all people living with HIV count between 250,000 and 300,000 people in Rwanda.
With Regard to the Insurance sector, the licensing regulation introduced in 2009 set the minimum capital for both Life and General Insurers at a minimum capital of Rwf1 Billion.
Since then, the banking and insurance sectors have evolved significantly with regards to size, risks and complexity. Sufficient Capital is critical to enable financial institutions deal with the above developments as well as for the safety and soundness of the financial sector and sustainable financing of the economy.
On this basis, the Board of the National Bank of Rwanda has reviewed the existing licensing regulations mainly with regard to the minimum required paid-up capital as well as categories of banks and insurers.
The revised Regulations establish new categories of Banks which are Cooperative Banks and Mortgage Banks while for Insurers, these are Re-insurers and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). Microfinance Banks will shift from the Banking Regulatory framework to the Microfinance one to ensure proportionality in regulation and supervision.
The new paid-up capital for Commercial Banks is Rwf20 Billion and Rwf50 Billion for Development Banks. The Paid-up Capital for the new categories of cooperative and Mortgage Banks is set at Rwf10 Billion.
The new minimum paid-up capital for commercial banks is Rwf3 Billion and Rwf2 Billion for Life Insurance. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) shall have a minimum paid-up capital of Rwf500 Million while Re-insurers shall have a minimum paid-up capital of Rwf5 Billion
Banks have a 5 year transition period to build up the capital with a target to reach Rwf15 Billion in 3 years and the full Rwf20 Billion by year 5. General Insurers have 3 years and Life Insurers, 2 years to meet the required paid-up capital. The transition period will start running after the publication of the regulations in the Official Gazette of the Republic Of Rwanda.
The new entrants will be required to comply with the new paid-up capital requirements at the onset.
Loosely translated as ‘The National Order of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, the honorary title was created in 1960 to reward personal merit and outstanding service to the Nation. This is the highest in the country.
This follows their official visit to Côte d’Ivoire on 19 and 20 December 2018, aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.
President Kagame thanked his Ivorian counterpart Alassane Ouatara, and the people of Côte d’Ivoire, for the great honor they have bestowed on them.
“We dedicate this distinction to the people of Rwanda, with whom we share the journey to build a united, prosperous country,” he said.
President Kagame also said that Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire may be at opposite ends of the African continent, but they share more than their African heritage.
“Like Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire has lived through extremely difficult circumstances. But we also have in common the drive to break with the past, and create a brighter future for our people,” Kagame noted.
He congratulated his Ivorian counterpart, and the people of Côte d’Ivoire, for overcoming many obstacles and the ongoing work to restore Côte d’Ivoire as an economic powerhouse in the region.
President Kagame said that they want to build on the friendship and solidarity, between Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire, for the benefit of their two peoples.
Meanwhile, the two countries some agreements earlier yesterday, following which, RwandAir will be executing flights from Kigali to Abidjan.
Kagame said they look forward to an even more productive partnership.
“The regular RwandAir flights from Kigali to Abidjan, are a good starting point. Rwandans and Ivorians should visit each other more,” said Kagame.
President Kagame also thanked Ouattara for his support of the new Secretary General of the Francophonie, Louise Mushikiwabo.
“The success of her candidacy is proof that nothing is impossible when Africa comes together,” he noted.
President Kagame pledged that Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire will continue to work together for a stronger and more united continent, particularly through the ongoing reform of the African Union.
President of Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara was last in Rwanda in April 2018 for a three-day visit.
He too also took part in the presentation of Mo Ibrahim Prize that was given to the former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
President Paul Kagame was last in Ivory Coast in November 2017 when he attended the 5th African Union-European Union (AU-EU) summit.
