U.S. Embassy Kigali Celebrates the 4th of July

{{The U.S. Embassy staff and Rwandans gathered at the U.S. Embassy on July 3 in Kigali to celebrate the 237th anniversary of the Independence of the United States.
The service began at 6:30 pm and was held at the U.S. Embassy compound. }}

This important U.S. holiday is marked annually on July 4, but the U.S. Embassy has always celebrated it a day earlier in Rwanda because it coincides with Rwanda’s Liberation Day.

The event was hosted by U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda Donald W. Koran and his wife, Ms. Cynthia Goodson, and the guest of honor was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Rwanda, the Honorable Louise Mushikiwabo.

The diverse guest list included Rwandan government officials, members of the business, education and arts communities, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and other friends of the United States from all over Rwanda.

Ambassador Koran and Minister Mushikiwabo delivered remarks and the Embassy’s U.S. Marine Security Guards presented the U.S. flag during the ceremony.

In his remarks to the guests, Ambassador Koran said: “This celebration is particularly meaningful here in Rwanda, as this week holds special significance not only for [the United States], but for our Rwandan hosts, who commemorate their independence and liberation from the horrors of genocide this week.”

Noting that this year also marks the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous march on Washington for civil rights, he added that “just as we have seen momentous changes in the last 150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, and in the last 50 years since Dr. King’s march on Washington, my country will continue to grow and welcome people of all races, faiths, national origin, and sexual orientation as full, equal members of the community. ”

In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption and signing of the Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain on July 4, 1776.