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Di spatches|responses
investment in agriculture and telecommunications.
We are seeking even more investors
as we move towards fulfillment of
our Vision 2020. Rwanda has joined larger
economic groupings, including the East
African Community, the Common Market
for Eastern and Southern Africa and most
recently the Commonwealth of Nations.
Rwandans prefer to develop homegrown
solutions to problems. Fully 96
percent of us, for example, have access to
affordable and available health care.
On Rwanda’s relations with the Democratic
Republic of Congo, we have seen a
steady improvement since the two countries
resumed diplomatic relations a few
years ago. In 2009, the two governments
initiated a joint operation aimed at uprooting
the genocidal forces that are still at
large in the jungles of the Eastern DRC.
Having been victims of its hate, Rwandans
know how destructive having a group like
the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of
Rwanda in one’s territory can be.
Despite abandonment by the international
community during the 1994 genocide,
Rwanda has been at the forefront of
numerous peacekeeping missions in recent
years. We were among the first countries
to respond to the call to deploy our troops
in the troubled Darfur region. Since then,
we have seen our deployments expand to
Haiti, Liberia and Chad.
These endeavours and others are
what make Rwanda unique. Seventeen
years ago, nobody would have imagined
Rwanda as a leader in gender parity in the
world. Currently 56 percent of the seats in
Parliament are held by women, making
Rwanda the world leader in female democratic
representation.
This progress, coupled with our president’s
strict accountability, is what has
made individuals such as writer Wolfgang
Depner get it wrong. Mr. Depner’s assertion
that President Kagame outlawed major
political parties except his own ruling
party to ensure re-election is simply wrong.
Mr. Kagame stood against three strong and
seasoned politicians in a race of four political
parties.
Rwandans generally seem more than satisfied
with where our nation is headed. We
won’t allow ourselves to be distracted by
bickering. Development is our lifeline and
we won’t accept anything less. I would
encourage anybody who wishes to observe
where Rwanda stands to visit the country.
You will return inspired by its progress.
Edda Mukabagwiza is Rwanda’s high
commissioner to Canada.
56
Embassy OF Zimbabwe
‘Robert Mugabe is
revered as a hero’
By Florence Chideya
Your unfair criticism of President
Robert Mugabe as a worst dictator
is based on disrespect for democratic
choices made by Zimbabweans
and Africans, and ignorance of the political
situation on the ground. President
Mugabe enjoys a majority of total support
from Zimbabweans as the 2008 elections
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
show, and this victory is the basis for
other political parties in Zimbabwe accepting
to form a coalition government.
A continent-wide survey by New African
magazine rated President Mugabe as one
of the most influential people in Africa, in
a list that also included Nelson Mandela
and Kwame Nkrumah. In Africa, he is
revered as a hero, a fact also acknowledged
by the European Union in New
African magazine’s winter edition for his
role in the liberation struggle and his
fight against neocolonialism and neoimperialism.
It is his stand against these two evil
pursuits that have earned him demonization
from those who seek to protect
vested minority economic interests while
pretending to protect the interests of the
majority of Zimbabweans.
Zimbabweans are not disengaged
from the political process as suggested.
On the contrary, the majority, regardless
of class, are the vanguard of the struggle
in defending the national interest, with
President Mugabe providing unwavering
support to this cause.
President Robert Mugabe’s struggles
align with those of Zimbabweans against
neocolonialism, indigenous economic empowerment,
and fighting the illegal economic
sanctions that are causing deaths
and unprecedented suffering to ordinary
Zimbabweans. President Mugabe cannot
be fearful of any North African-like revolution
alluded to in your article because
his cause promotes the national interest.
The same cannot be said of Western interests
in that region.
The native-led land reform program
vigorously pursued by President Mugabe
despite the demonization from the West,
has recorded strong growth of 19 percent,
coming second after mining in an economy
expected to grow by 9 percent this
year. Further growth and foreign investment
is expected within the context of balancing
investment and national interests.
It is preposterous to think that Robert
Mugabe, the individual, cares about being
restricted from travelling to Western countries,
other than that it undermines Robert
Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, from
fulfilling his international governance
responsibilities as mandated by Zimbabweans.
Florence Chideya is Zimbabwe’s ambassador
to Canada.
FALL 2011 | OCT-NOV-DEC