We are values-based people, Kagame tells diplomatic corps

President Paul Kagame firmly dismissed the thoughts of those who consider Rwandans and Africans at large, as people who need to learn values from others. He said this as he was addressing a dinner event that brought together diplomatic corps in Rwanda and other government officials on Tuesday, April 26. The Head of State took the opportunity to ensure that the diplomats understand the values around which partnerships are formed, and emphasised how Rwanda continues to focus on building peace in the region as well as continued collaboration with other countries. “We could not have made recovery and progress over the last 28 years without the resilient people of Rwanda, and equally the many friends and partners we have had accompanying us along the way,” he said. Nonetheless, I want to assure you that as a nation, we are values-based people, noted Kagame. “Even with those weaknesses in our societies, we still cherish values. It is based on that as Rwandans that we proudly want to play our part. We want to own up to our problems and even expect to hold each other accountable,” he said. “That’s why we are not offended by anyone telling us that we need to do better. We are very respectful of others, even if we may have differences, for one reason or another, we maintain being respectful and in some way we expect that back to us,” he added. Despite the fact that there are many who have a hand in the problems of Rwanda, the President emphasised that the focus is on the side of our responsibilities. “It doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make us better or stronger, it takes away a lot of effort trying to throw around blame to other people when we could be doing a lot for ourselves,” he added. ‘Emphasis on truth and facts’ According to the president, it’s hard to overcome that tragic history unless you emphasise truth and facts, and interpret all that the right way. “Sometimes it is striking to see that some people want to teach us who we are, worse still, who we should be. That’s where the problem comes in,” he said. Anybody trying to interpret our history for us and their line of interpretation becomes the one we must follow; there is a problem with that. We will always respond respectfully, he noted. “I leave no one in any doubt that who we are, where we want to go, our views and our feelings of who we want to be will prevail over these lessons that people may want to teach about us.” Kagame mentioned how surprising it is that people, who have hundreds of years of justice, democracy, human rights and so on, get it so wrong in this particular case. It’s not because they don’t know but because of who they think we are,” Kagame indicated. Their effort is about changing the victims into perpetrators, he said while confronting those who have a false narrative of what happened and refuse to designate the Genocide against the Tutsi. “No amount of intimidation can work here.”

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We are values-based people, Kagame tells diplomatic corps