The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has marked the most significant, singular global disruption with enduring health, economic, political and security implications that will ripple for years to come, Maj Gen Albert Murasira, the Minister of Defence, on Wednesday, May 12, told participants at the just started National Security Symposium, in Musanze District.

Building resilient healthcare systems in Africa to effectively respond to future pandemics, given the lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, was high on the agenda of discussions on day one, Wednesday.

"Since we last held the NSS (National Security Symposium) in 2019, the world is not the same again. The shared challenges have multiplied and are likely to  manifest more frequently and intensely in almost every region and country. These challenges will produce widespread strains on states and societies as well as shocks that could be tragic," the Minister said.

Murasira noted that the fusion and cascading effects of the current challenges "will throw at us more demanding situations."

"National security will not only require to defend against traditional and nontraditional threats but will also be summoned to withstand and adapt to these emerging challenges."

Addressing the prevailing transnational challenges will be difficult, the Minister said, compounded in part by increasing fragmentation within communities, states and the international system. He requested participants to be more imaginative and creative in finding solutions for existing challenges.

The  event, the eighth of its kind, is organised by the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Command and Staff College Nyakinama from Wednesday May 12 to 14, at Classic Hotel, in Musanze District.

The primary purpose of the event is to deliberate on matters of national, regional and continental security interest. The latest symposium is themed: "Contemporary security challenges: the African perspective."

While reiterating what Rwanda did to ensure continued service provision during the pandemic period, Dr Daniel Ngamije, the Minister of Health, also acknowledged that weak national health systems can be a national security risk.

Echoing the Minister, Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that: "Pandemics are a serious economic threat and also a serious national security threat."

Failure to plan for pandemics, Dr Nkengasong stressed, is planning for failure.

He, similar to President Paul Kagame, believes that it will be very important for African countries to be self-sufficient in, among others, manufacturing vaccines and basic diagnostics.

Statistics from the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, indicate that so far, the country has registered 25, 773 total cases, with 24, 333 recoveries while more than 350, 000 people have been vaccinated. Rwanda has registered 340 Covid-19 related deaths.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are now more than 4.6 million confirmed Covid-19 cases on the African continent, with more than 4.1 million recoveries and 124,000 deaths cumulatively.