URUGWIRO VILLAGE - President Paul Kagame yesterday held discussions with a delegation of visiting British Conservative Party. 

The members of the party touted to win the next elections had paid a courtesy call on the President to discuss the activities and progress of Project Umubano, the party’s social action project in Rwanda.

The meeting discussed the altercations Rwanda has had with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the existence of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Addressing the press shortly after the meeting, Member of Parliament and Conservatives shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, said that the leading UK opposition party understands and acknowledges Rwanda’s reasons for banning BBC Kinyarwanda programmes as well as the problem of FDLR to the country’s security.

"We had discussions on what happens now in Congo because there is great concern in Britain about the humanitarian situation there but also an increasing understanding that the problem there is the FDLR.

It is the FDLR that has to be dealt with and that’s now much easier because of the relationship between Rwanda and DRC” Mitchell said.

"We indeed had discussions about the recent altercations with the BBC and about the reality of what those altercations are actually about as well as the development of political space in Rwanda.

All of us feel very strongly about what Rwanda has achieved in the last 15 years. It has made extraordinary progress in building stability and the economy” Mitchell said.

BBC was let back on air after it agreed in writing to revisit its editorial line regarding Rwanda.

Project Umubano started in 2007 and has over 100 volunteers including MP’s who come on an annual 2-week long volunteer programme which involves English teaching, supporting private sector projects, tourism, education, health, justice, sports and working with the Ministry of Finance on improving Public-Private Partnerships.

The group which arrived on July 18th will also work on partnerships with the government on population stabilisation and the policy of promoting family planning, in order to support economic growth.

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