It was an evening of merry making, laughter and beer on Wednesday evening this week, when the German Ambassador, Peter Fahrenholtz, hosted a cross section of diplomats and other dignitaries to mark the 25th anniversary of German unity. 

Visibly, the entire European community in Kigali was present, joined by friends from Rwanda, Asia and USA. It was a symbolic scene devoid of walls as people mingled freely in the sprawling gardens of the Ambassador’s residence.

On October 3, 1990, exactly 25 years ago, the Capitalist West Germany reunited with the Communist East Germany to form the current nation of Germany.

Ten months earlier, the Berlin wall, which had separated the two sides for almost thirty years, was demolished in November 1989 to give way for the reunification process.

Dr Papias Malimba Musafiri, the Minister of Education who represented the government at the function, compared Germany’s history with that of Rwanda and proposed a toast to the major milestones registered by both countries in the last over two decades.

Musafiri noted that, like in Rwanda’s case, Germany had been torn apart by communist and capitalist ideologies that were fueled by external forces as Cold War tensions intensified between the so called East and Western worlds.

According to historical accounts, East Germans, dissatisfied with life under the communist system, saw West Berlin as a gateway to the democratic side. And between 1949 and 1961, at least 2.5 million East Germans had fled to West Germany.

By August 1961, an average of 2,000 East Germans were crossing into the West every day.  Most of the escapees were skilled laborers, professionals, and intellectuals and this was having a devastating effect on the East German economy.

To halt the exodus to the West, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev recommended to East Germany leaders that they block access between East and West Berlin and that’s how the Berlin wall came to be; 106 kilometres long and was 3.60 metres high and was impossible to climb, by design.

Ambassador Fahrenholtz said on Wednesday,” We are grateful to the brave people who brought down the wall and the iron curtain of the Cold War with their desire for freedom and their civic courage.”

The iron curtain that the Ambassador referred to had fallen over Germany after it lost the Second World War in 1945; the country was then divided between the two global blocs; the Soviet led east representing communism and US led west for capitalism.

Shared history

"As the people of Germany achieved unity and freedom in October 1990, the struggle had just begun in Rwanda, after four years of struggle, the unity and freedom of a nation was recovered,” Dr Musafiri recollected.

He added that freedom and other liberties come at a cost which both countries paid heavily to obtain what they have today.

"The histories of our two countries share that common element, we stood up and made the right choices for unity and freedom,” said the Minister. 

On October 1, 1990, (two days before Germany reunion) the Rwanda Patriotic Army fired the first shot at Mirama Hills on the Uganda–Rwanda northern border, to set wheels of Rwanda’s liberation in motion.

Rwanda’s liberation war was also aimed at ending a dangerous ideology based on ethnicity. It would climax into the deadly Genocide of 1994 during which over a million Tutsis were killed.

Victor Visathan, a historian and veteran Rwandan journalist, reminisces that decades before October 1, 1990, hundreds of thousands of Rwandans had fled their country to neighbouring African states, in order to escape the persecution from ‘ethno-centric administrative ideology.’

"The most important aspect of October 1 is that it was chosen as the D-Day for the invasion of Rwanda, in order for all Rwandans to return home,” Visathan wrote recently.

Rwanda and Germany have, today, both been able to rebuild and conquer their dark histories to become respected members of the international community.

25 years after reunion, Germany has returned to the helm of Europe after effectively ending its isolation as punishment for its role in causing the Second World War. It’s now a major global economic power on which the European economy is anchored.

In Rwanda’s case, after only 21 years since liberation, the country is regarded as a model for Sub-Saharan Africa and regularly cited as an example of countries that have successfully emerged out of conflict to build strong economies and deal with poverty.

It’s to all these remarkable achievements by two countries with extra-ordinary histories that guests toasted to on Wednesday.

Strong bilateral ties

As Rwanda’s nation rebuilding continues, Germany is one of its strongest development partners. In February this year, the German Foreign Affairs Minister visited Kigali with a large delegation of 80 persons and discussed trade and investment opportunities.

In November last year, Germany committed about €70 million in development over the next three years and last month, a large conference in Berlin was held aimed at promoting TVET in Rwanda. 

Ambassador Fahrenholtz noted that although Rwanda had made great strides in reducing extreme poverty from 24 percent in 2010 to 16 in 2014, the country still needed support from development partners to create the targeted 200,000 jobs a year.

"Germany, with its development organizations GIZ, KfW and ZFD will remain a reliable partner striving to enhance development efficiency. We will also continue to assist the government, civil society and the business community to reach the ambitious goals set out in Vision 2020, EDPRS II and the SDGs,” he pledged.

Since 2014, cultural exchange between Rwanda and Germany has thrived, through the German Cultural Centre which has been offering German language courses; these, the Ambassador noted, had aroused tremendous interest among Rwandans.

Challenges

Both countries still face serious challenges that need urgent solutions. In Rwanda’s case, to attract foreign direct investment, it must solve its energy problems to fuel the economy and help generate the required jobs for its largely young and energetic population.

As for Germany, the country registered, for the first time in many years, a budget surplus of €21 billion, its unemployment rate decreased to less than 6 percent and the country’s economy is ranked the 4th most competitive in the world.

Germany however still faces a huge challenge of the recent influx of close to a million refugees and migrants; a situation that the Ambassador said represents a heavy burden but he noted that the German government and people were committed to offer their support.

Germany’s economy is also largely anchored to its hugely successful auto industry but Volkswagen, one of the country’s largest multinational automotive manufacturing companies is facing a major pollution scandal whose effects could dent the German economy.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw