President Paul Kagame has said Africa continues to bear the consequences of a global system shaped by other countries, warning that ongoing global disruptions could deepen inequalities and instability across the continent.

He made the remarks on Friday, April 24, during a dinner debate at the World Policy Conference 2026 in Chantilly, France, where he was in conversation with its founder, Thierry de Montbrial.

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The President said the continent need to reject the assumption the solutions can come from elsewhere.

"Like, in my country, which was literally destroyed and we have had to build and are making some progress. We are not where we want to be at all, yet.
But we looked within and found the efforts to rebuild our country," Kagame said at the event that brought together political leaders, academics, and business figures from around the world to discuss global challenges.

"Even if we had to be partners with different people, and we got a lot of support, but we had to start with ourselves. And I think the continent needs to do that. The continent needs to look at what it has -- almost everything the people, the other resources, and the good to cultures that can be drawn from, a lot of knowledge and practices that make people proud of who they&039;re. So, we don't do that.

"We tend to look somewhere else, and then we find these powers who want to impress upon us that we really don't have much, we don't mean much, we can only survive because of them. This notion has to be challenged and has to be challenged by all of us. In fact, including even from the north, the very people that this originates from. "

In his remarks, Kagame said Africa needs to be more self-reliance to be able to withstand global shocks and contribute to global stability.

"What these external shocks reveal is the risk of dependency. Many blame the era of colonialism and structural adjustment for this mindset. While true in a sense, the habit of making excuses only traps us in a cycle where we see ourselves as victims with no power to change our circumstances and that is completely false.

"In Rwanda, in the aftermath of 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, we learned that the best solutions are home-grown. Those that come from within and respond directly to our local context yield the highest returns," he said.

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"This is why in the past few years there have been more efforts within Africa to mobilize domestic resources, localize production, strengthen our supply chains and integrate our economies. A more self-reliant Africa with its own fertilizer plants, oil refineries and pharmaceutical farms will contribute more positively to global stability."

He said Africa needs to "take care of ourselves and work productively and respectfully with others"

"With the fragmentation we are seeing around the world, more isolation is not the solution. It will bring rivalry and breed division," he said.

"Viewing development as a positive sum game rather than a competition can bring the predictability and coherence that our global system desperately needs. The question is not whether we can build a perfectly balanced world. It&039;s whether we can coexist even with our differences and still prosper together."

He said that with more cooperation and more respect for each other and not assuming that one side decides what is wrong and what is right, the world can find a more stable global environment.

Kagame argued that even in more stable situations, Africa has historically remained disadvantaged under an international system where major powers dictate outcomes.

"There have always been inequalities,” he said, noting that relations between the global North and South have long been shaped by dependency. He added that smaller and middle powers are often expected to "toe the line,” while stronger nations act primarily in defence of their own interests, with little accountability.

"Problems cannot be addressed overnight”

Turning to regional security, Kagame said efforts to resolve the conflict in eastern DR Congo must go beyond short-term fixes and address root causes.

"Problems cannot be addressed overnight,” he said. "There is a need to look at the root causes of everything and give time to dialogue for people to find a win-win kind of solution.”

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He cautioned that some ongoing initiatives risk being driven more by competing interests than by the realities affecting people on the ground.

"The situation is very bad. It can get worse”

Kagame also warned that escalating tensions in the Middle East could worsen global economic pressures, with ripple effects felt strongly in Africa.

"The situation is very bad. It can get worse,” he said, pointing to rising oil, fertiliser and food prices.

He noted that disruptions in supply chains originating from conflict zones affect hundreds of millions of people, adding that Africa has little influence over such crises despite bearing significant consequences.

"A small country like mine, or Africa itself, doesn’t have much say other than having to pay a very huge price,” he said.

On the broader global order, Kagame criticised what he described as a long-standing assumption in Western powers that they can define rules for others.

"The West has taken things for granted,” he said, arguing that internal contradictions within those societies are now surfacing and shaping political outcomes.

For Africa, he emphasised the need to shift away from dependency and build from within. He called for a more balanced and inclusive global system based on mutual respect and shared responsibility, where all countries have a voice.

"There is a lot of work to do for all of us. Everyone should have space to contribute what is good for the rest of the world,” Kagame said.