M7 To Attend RPF Fete

President Yoweri Museveni will this week fly to Kigali to attend the silver jubilee of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) celebrations slated for December 20^th at Amahoro Stadium, according to Kigali State House.

President Museveni has already confirmed to the Rwandan government that he will be among the other regional African heads of state expected at the Wednesday event in which the country will be celebrating the achievements of RPF, the political party which has ruled Rwanda since 1994.

RPF, established in 1987 seized power in 1994 after a four-year guerrilla war ending genocide against ethnic Tutsis by Juvenile Habyarimana’s Hutu led government in which close to a million people lost their lives.

Despite working closely in the struggle against Habyarmana’s regime, Museveni and Kagame later fell out and relations between Uganda and Rwanda soured

The Kisangani clashes between the two countries’ respective armies in eastern DR Congo in the late 1990s were the highlight of their soured ties.

However lately, the two leaders have been on good terms and working closely to find a lasting home grown solution to the humanitarian and security crisis in DRC.

Kagame’s RPF has been credited for turning around the country wounded by the 1994 genocide, which left over one million people dead, with strong institutions that have fostered development in areas like infrastructure, health, judiciary, security and education.

President Paul Kagame denies accusations of human rights abuse and denying opposition politicians space to challenge his government.

In fact Kagame bragged about his good record over the weekend while closing National Dialogue which took two days in Kigali. He claimed that the dialogue meetings like the one he was closing are the proof in themselves that his government puts in place platforms for all Rwandans, including political parties, to criticize him and express their grievances without fear.

Kagame also spoke about the problem of denying that genocide ever took place in Rwanda which he said causes great pain to those who suffered and lost dear ones in the genocide.

He said genuine reconciliation and healing can only occur when everyone admits that something went wrong in 1994 and vowing to ensure it never happens again. He added that because of continued denials by some of the suspected perpetrators of the genocide, Rwanda has lost 17bn francs in the genocide-related judicial processes in the last 17 years.

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