President Paul Kagame on Saturday, July 4 launched a series of transformational projects worth billions of francs in the Eastern Province as Rwanda marked the 26th liberation anniversary.

Kagame inaugurated Gishuro Model Village, home to 64 families, an early childhood development centre, a school with smart classrooms, and a health centre. 

The projects, which were unveiled in Tabagwe Sector in Nyagatare District, were built by the Ministry of Defence and the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF).

According to Lt Col Innocent Munyengango, the Ministry of Defense Spokesperson, RDF undertakes both routine and annual Citizen Outreach Program activities that collectively contribute to national economic transformation.

2019-2020 saw the construction of 14 model villages which benefitted 318 families, and 286 housing units for Genocide survivors which benefitted 561 families. 

The RDF also built 20 bridges across 8 districts, 400 kilometres of roads across 15 districts, 11 medical facilities. 

This is in addition to agriculture and livestock activities that were carried out across all districts in the country.

The 14 model villages built between 2019-2020 house 832 families across all 5 provinces.

Kagame also witnessed the launch of Groupe Scolaire Tabagwe, which features 22 rehabilitated primary school classrooms for 1,418 students and 25 rehabilitated secondary school classrooms for 903 students. 

The school is equipped with 2 smart classrooms featuring 50 computers with internet access in each one. 

There are 3 rehabilitated classrooms designated for laboratories and a rehabilitated library with 30 computers. 

Liberation trail

The liberation history tourism trail projected to cost Rwf4 billion was officially launched as a new tourism heritage product. 

The project began in 2018 in collaboration with the RDF and the Ministry of Defence, according to Belize Kariza, the chief tourism officer at the Rwanda Development Board.

"The preservation of the liberation tourism heritage sites is a priority, not only for both domestic and international tourism but also as income-generating activities," Kariza noted.

A mobile application was launched, featuring liberation sites and liberation history content, as well as a virtual reality experience for Gikoba underground open-air museum.

The 120-kilometre tourism trail comprises 33 tourism sites across the country including battlefields, assembly or command points of the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) during the 4-year war that began on October 1, 1990, and culminated into the halting of the Genocide against the Tutsi on July 4, 1994.

The RPA was a military wing of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) which rescued the nation from the verge of extinction by the genocidal government.