Editor,Please allow me to congratulate President Paul Kagame, the Government and the entire population of Rwanda on the country’s 50 years of independence and 18th liberation anniversary.I thank the ordinary people of Rwanda for standing by their President and Government to pull the country from the brink in a record short period. Rwanda has come a long, long way. While some African nations were lucky to have focused leaders during the immediate post-independence era, Rwanda’s experience was tragic to say the least. The country’s independence was hijacked by a clique of Hutu extremists who abused power, launched a wave of violence against the Tutsi, and entrenched the ethnic divide.Millions of Rwandans were condemned to a life in exile, while millions others back home were oppressed and deprived of their fundamental rights. This eventually led to the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, which killed more than a million people.However, the then RPA rebels under the visionary leadership of Paul Kagame marched across the country, and against all odds, singlehandedly stopped the Genocide. They went on to form an-all inclusive government of national unity. The government immediately embarked on reconciliation, justice and development.Today, the results speak for themselves.Rwanda has virtually risen from the dead and is now enjoying legitimacy it has never known before.I have no doubt that the nation firmly remains on course to achieving far better things in the future.Peter KalimbaNyamata