Political parties in the country should maintain the spirit of dialogue, consensus-building and peaceful resolution of conflict, a top academic has said.

Ismael Buchanan, a researcher and senior lecturer at the University of Rwanda, said there is need for political leaders to continue on the path of dialogue of dialogue whenever disagreements emerge.

He was speaking to Saturday Times on the sidelines of a meeting of members of the National Consultative Forum of Political Organisations (NFPO) and different academics and researchers, in Kigali, yesterday. 

Buchanan commended parties for involving political analysts and scholars in their dialogue in order to share ideas.

He said political party leaders should continue to draw lessons from the country’s checkered history in which many politicians played a negative role.

Rwanda lost more than a million people during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the climax of decades of systematic persecution and exclusion that targeted the Tutsi.

"Dialogue is important all the time, whether there is conflict or not,” Buchanan said.

During the one-day dialogue, NFPO members shared thoughts with the academics on how to avert, analyse and resolve political conflicts.

"This is a demonstration of commitment by Rwandan political parties to learn from the past generations who didn’t want to sit together and resolve conflict, but rather chose the path of violence by inciting hate that resulted into genocide,” Buchanan said. 

He added: "The future is bright provided we continue to embrace dialogue and engagement.”

The spokesperson of the forum, Pie Nizeyimana, noted that the spirit of dialogue is critical in addressing conflicts. 

"We have parliamentary elections later this year. Sometimes in the run-up to elections conflicts emerge between candidates but we need to continue to dialoguing to avert such situations,” Nizeyimana said.

Madina Ngangiza, the deputy secretary-general of Parti Democrate Ideal (PDI), said politics is a major cause of conflicts around the world.

"People join political parties seeking power. Some want to lead their parties, others want to lead the country and so when they don’t achieve their aspirations conflicts may arise,” he said. "But we must always be ready to resolve any political differences cordially and in accordance with the law,” Ndangiza said.

The NFPO serves as a platform through which leaders of political organisations recognised in Rwanda discuss key national policies for purposes of consensus building and national cohesion. 

It also serves as a framework for capacity building for members of political organisations. 

The forum is made up of all the 11 parties recognised in Rwanda, including; Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF- Inkotanyi), Centrist Democratic Party (PDC), Rwanda Socialist Party (PSR), the Ideal Democratic Party (PDI), and the Democratic Popular Union (UPDR).

Others are Social Democratic Party (PSD), Liberal Party (PL), Party for Progressive and Concord (PPC), Prosperity and Solidarity Party (PSP), Social Party Imberakuri (PS-Imberakuri), and Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR).

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