Remarks by His Excellency Paul KAGAME,

President of the Republic of Rwanda

At the German Council for Foreign Relations

 “Stability, peace and Development in the Great Lakes: Rwandan perspective”

Wednesday 23 April 2008

Let me first express my sincere gratitude to the German Council for Foreign Relations for the invitation to share with you our perspectives on stability, peace and development in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

I appreciate your interest in Africa, the Great Lakes Region and our country, Rwanda. As the leading think tank in Germany, your insights, advice, and thoughts on our development processes are valuable.
Generally, Africa’s challenge today is to I begin by observing that Africa as a whole has in recent years experienced remarkable stability, peace, economic growth and development – more than at any time in our post-independence period. Transition to democratic dispensation has been a key feature of these recent developments.

consolidate these positive transitions into a sustainable footing – as processes in some countries remain fragile. The Great Lakes Region is no exception. This region, defined here to include Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, has made great strides in transforming itself from a war-torn and conflict-ridden area.

Some challenges remain – but solutions with national, regional and international dimensions are available, as I will outline shortly.

The present day Great Lakes Region is a far cry from the situation of the 1990s, or even earlier in this decade. We have turned the corner, and there is ample evidence that this region is no longer a theatre for conflict, but a place in search of investment and development opportunities.
Beyond the noticeable sharp reduction in outright conflict, there is now a common understanding in the region on both the causes and solutions.

We can begin from, for example, the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement of 1999 – which has been observed, together with subsequent developments including inter-Congolese Dialogue that led to the new political dispensation, as well as the withdrawal of foreign forces from the DRC.

What still remains to be done in this respect is the disarmament, demobilization, repatriation and resettlement of what is generally known as negative  forces comprising various groupings. These include the remnants of the Rwandan genocidal government and associated militias.

We can also recall the Pretoria Agreement of 2002 between Rwanda and DRC, and the Tripartite Plus Agreement of 2004 between DRC, Burundi and ourselves. Most elements of these agreements have been achieved, with the exception of disarmament of the negative forces.

I should also highlight the 2006 Pact on Peace, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region.
As you might be aware, this Pact contains Protocols on Mutual Defense and Non-Aggression that include among other things, combating genocide and its ideology, preventing sexual violence against women and vulnerable social categories, as well as halting the depletion of natural resources.

Equally important is the fact that this Pact provides a legal framework for cooperation among Great Lake countries not only in the security sector, but in economic development, regional integration, democracy, good governance as well as in social and humanitarian spheres.

What difference have these instruments made for the people of the Great Lakes Region? Let me illustrate their impact with two regional examples.

With our Congolese and Burundian neighbors, we are in the process of reviving the Economic Community of Countries of the Great Lakes. I should point out that even during the period when this regional institution lay dormant, our peoples continued to exercise their own free movement across the Great Lakes borders for economic transactions.

Associated agencies such as the Institute for Agricultural Research, as well as the regional energy collaboration program continued to function. In other words, the revived Economic Community of Countries of the Great Lakes has a good basis from which to begin.

The other example of productive developments in our region is the East African Community.
Burundi and Rwanda have now joined Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in this economic bloc. We envisage a common market by the year 2010, and a monetary union by 2012, which will bring together over 120 million consumers to drive economic and social development.

Our integration agenda includes policy harmonization in various sectors – with an emphasis on common investment in key regional infrastructures, including the major regional trunk roads, oil pipelines and rail transport.

This is the context in which, for example, we are exploring the building of a railway line from Kigali to an existing line in Tanzania that will take our goods to the Dar Es Salaam Seaport – and to world markets.

The proposed railway line will be a significant breakthrough for Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region because, as you are no doubt aware, doing business in our country and the region is rendered costly due to reliance on road transportation for international and regional trade.

There can be no doubt that significant achievements have been realized, in changing the Great Lakes Region from conflict to development. There are, however, some lingering challenges with regional and international dimensions – namely the unfinished business of successfully dealing with the negative forces still operating in our region.

The regional challenge is to pursue the consensus agenda of disarming the militias and other would-be aggressors. The reason for this non-implementation of agreements may have to do with lack of political commitment or unwillingness to disarm these hostile forces – notwithstanding the considerable investment in military power by the United Nations in the Region, initiated to achieve this very goal.
The international dimension of this problem is illustrated very strongly by the hesitation of governments around the world to the ringleaders responsible for the genocide, who continue to perpetuate hatred in the region and around the world.

We welcome the recent United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1804 against these negative forces – some fourteen years after the genocide in Rwanda.

The entire international community should become part of the solution by implementing this resolution thereby contributing to sustainable stability, peace and development in the Great Lakes region.
We call upon our European partners, especially Germany, to take the lead.

Let me end by noting that Africa on the whole is moving in the right direction.
We in Rwanda strongly believe that our country can only achieve its vision of a more prosperous, democratic and united nation in a regional and continental context. The fate of Africa is the fate of Rwanda.

As we confront our development challenges, we need partners in the developed world. This includes Germany, a country with which we have a relationship that has lasted over one hundred years.

The visit by President Horst Koehler to Rwanda earlier this year was an important milestone in our relations. Our current visit and discussions with German leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel marks an even higher level of our cooperation and friendship.

German investors are also beginning to play a significant part in these relations by investing in Rwanda. This is the kind of meaningful and mutually beneficial engagement between our two countries that we seek to increase and enhance.

Charity and pity is not what Rwanda or Africa needs – development aid is a temporary bridge to real economies based on investment, trade, skills and talents.

I call upon more of you to join us in our quest for stability, peace and development, in Rwanda, the Great Lakes Region and Africa.
I thank you for your kind attention.