President Paul Kagame has lauded Wole Soyinka’s moral clarity and firm solidarity with Rwanda at the height of the1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Kagame was in Accra, Ghana, yesterday, where he launched a book titled, Crucible of the Ages: Essays in honour of Wole Soyinka at 80. Ghanaian President John Mahama attended the event, while former Commonwealth secretary-general, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, chaired proceedings. “At the height of the Genocide in 1994, he (Soyinka) wrote, and I quote: “All notions of sovereignty with respect to Rwanda should be completely forgotten and we should just go in and stop the killing,” Kagame said. “Truer words were never spoken. The only debate within the international community was about how quickly the peacekeepers could be removed.” He recognised the Nigerian playwright–Africa’s first Nobel Laureate–as a “tireless fighter” who ruffled many feathers and sometimes paid a steep price for his outspokenness. “I would like to single out his lifelong advocacy for unity, both within nations and across Africa as a whole, and his rejection of the politics of division in all its forms. For this ideal, in part, he spent nearly two years imprisoned in solitary confinement,” Kagame said. “This conviction is especially significant for us Rwandans, and it goes a long way toward explaining why Prof. Soyinka is well-positioned to appreciate not only the root causes of Rwanda’s collapse, but more importantly, the choices we made in rebuilding our nation on a new foundation.” Reviving Africa’s liberation He also acknowledged Soyinka’s message in reviving Africa’s liberation struggle and fostering unity among African states. “At independence, Africa held so much promise. But over and over again, the aspirations of our people were thwarted by a failure to manage the diversity within our countries,” Kagame said. “Soyinka’s life spans the entire course of Africa’s liberation struggle, from the absurd indignities of the colonial era, to the tragic failures of the early years of independence. And so, talking about him inevitably leads to a conversation about Africa’s journey, which he has so passionately chronicled.” Kagame thanked Ghana for maintaining its peacekeepers in Rwanda during the Genocide despite calls by the UN to withdraw the troops. “One force alone ignored the order to withdraw: the 456 Ghanaian soldiers under the command of Maj-Gen Henry Kwami Anyidoho. They remained with us, technically illegally, through the darkest moments of our history, and helped save many thousands of lives,” Kagame said.
