There is an old Rwandan saying, “God spends the day elsewhere, but sleeps in Rwanda”. On July 4, 2020, India and the freedom loving world joined over 12 million Rwandans to commemorate “Kwibohora26” or the 26th Anniversary of Rwanda’s Liberation Day. In his televised message to Rwandans and citizens of the world, President Paul Kagame stressed that values that characterized the liberation were still important today, as they were 26 years ago. “We should all strive for our common good and not only for individual benefit. Those in public service, should understand that they serve all Rwandans and are accountable to them,” he said. The highpoint of the celebrations in India was the “virtual celebration” of the event, held on July 14, 2020, in New Delhi, which was hosted by Jacqueline Mukangira, the Rwandan High Commissioner to India. I am an indefatigable friend and supporter of Rwanda. The warm and wonderful country and its dynamic people have held a high place in my thoughts and I have followed with deep and abiding interest the truly momentous changes and developments that have taken place there. I have been enthralled by the pulsating rhythms of the “Ingoma” drums and the vibrant “Intore” dances. I have over the years met many Rwandans, including the most distinguished Oxford educated former Chief Justice of Rwanda Samuel “Sam” Rugege whose erudition, simplicity, humility and friendliness deeply touched the innermost chords of my heart. I have a fair knowledge of Rwanda’s chequered background and history. I am simply amazed by the fact that 61.3% of Rwanda’s Parliament comprises members of the fairer sex who have proudly captured the very essence of the age old adage “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World”. I am irresistibly bewitched by Rwanda’s amazing wildlife and awesome flora and fauna. And I know that Rwanda abounds in rare and exotic bird species and that it is a haven for Gorillas “beringei beringei” or Mountain Gorillas (described by the internationally acclaimed naturalist Diane Fossey as the “Gorillas in the Mist” and instantly evocative of the mystic, mythical Indian “Son of the Wind” Lord Hanuman!) and dark coated antelopes with distinctive humps called “Topis” literally locking their horns together. The former Rwandan High Commissioners to India Williams Nkurunziza (I used to affectionately call him “Williams the Conqueror”!) and Ernest Rwamucyo (presently the Rwandan Ambassador to Japan who never fails to reveal in his own sublime manner the “Importance of Being Earnest”!) are very special friends. I recall with a sense of helpless nostalgia the intellectually stimulating discussions I used to have with Ernest on law, music and art, not to mention Rwandan tea (I have savoured the bright golden variety from the evergreen slopes of the Nyungwe Forest!), the infant Rwandan cricket team comprising the Indian origin player Subhasis Samal, and the truly imposing Gahanga International Cricket Stadium in Kigali, an architectural marvel that virtually replicates the parabolic geometry of a bouncing ball and conjures up the magical topography of Rwanda. On 4th July, 2012, I was honoured with a prestigious award for my “Solidarity and Enduring Partnership” with Rwanda by Williams on the eve of Rwanda’s Golden Jubilee of Independence in New Delhi. I had the privilege of delivering the keynote address on the solemn occasion of the 20th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in New Delhi on 7th April,2014, which was an important event attended by leading members of the Diplomatic Corps in Delhi, bureaucrats, human rights activists and others. I am taking the liberty of sharing with readers the cyber link to my speech which betrays an indelible imprint of Lord Hartley William Shawcross, the internationally reputed British barrister and politician and the lead British prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om_ckdI6tgg (see from 20’02’’ onward) I am one of the very first members of the Indo Rwanda Friendship Association, a most brilliant brain child of Ernest, which was formally set in motion on 22nd October 2018 in New Delhi. All that and more makes me an integral, intrinsic and inseparable part of Rwanda! Everything in Rwanda must be seen through the prism of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi. During the hundred apocalyptic days starting from 7th April, 1994 to mid-July,1994, nearly a million innocent men, women, children and babies (including Rwanda’s first and only female Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana), were systematically wiped out and no family was left unscathed in one of the most spine chilling and nightmarish genocides the world has ever witnessed. It is not given to us to gaze into the mysteries of the future. But with President Paul Kagame and our Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm of affairs in their respective countries, I avow my hope and faith, sure and inalienable, that in the days to come Indian and Rwandan people will, for their own sake and to ensure “peace on earth and good will to all men” forge an effective and long-lasting “unwritten alliance”. I am supremely optimistic that Indo-Rwandan relations would be further consolidated and strengthened now that Modi has visited Rwanda on a two day whirlwind mission (he was the first Indian Prime Minister to have set foot on Rwandan soil!) in July 2018, and President Kagame has visited India no less than four times. Significantly, Modi’s visit encompassed a solemn visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Gisozi and active participation in the “Girinka” (one cow per family) event in the Rweru Model village outside Kigali where he gifted 200 cows to poor Rwandan families. And what can unite India and Rwanda better than “Imigongo” or “Gobar” or cow dung art that pervades Rwandan and Indian villages! I am highly emboldened to conclude with the felicitous observation of Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Soyinka, the redoubtable Nigerian writer, playwright and poet who was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, “Given the scale of trauma caused by the genocide, Rwanda has indicated that however thin the hope of a community can be, a hero always emerges. Although no one can dare claim that it is now a perfect state, and that no more work is needed, Rwanda has risen from the ashes as a model of truth and reconciliation.” Happy 26th Liberation to all BANYARWANDA! The author is an internationally reputed senior lawyer practicing in the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts and Tribunals in India. He is also a friend of Rwanda
