President Kagame pays tribute to Andrew Young

President Paul Kagame yesterday arrived in Washington, DC for the two-day US Africa Summit alongside over forty African leaders. The President began his DC trip with a dinner hosted last night by Pan African leaders in honor of Ambassador Andrew Young, an American civil rights activist who is also known for his work as a lobbyist for African interests. “Andrew Young, alongside those with whom he fought the struggle for freedom and civil rights, here in the United States, is testament that one generation can, indeed, bring about transformational change,” he said. Young, who is also a former mayor of the City of Atlanta in Georgia, has been to Rwanda several times. “We thank Ambassador Young for his lifelong commitment to peace, freedom, and civil rights, his passionate commitment to securing Africa’s place in the global economy, and for his unshakable confidence in the future of Rwanda and its people,” he said of the former US ambassador to the United Nations. Other notable personalities who paid tribute to Young included former US President Bill Clinton and Strive Masiyiwa, founder and chairman of Econet Wireless, a global telecommunication group. President Kagame had earlier received Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations. Meanwhile, later today, President Kagame will attend the US-Africa Business Forum where he will be speaking on the topic, Game Plan: Shaping The Future Of A Fast-Growing Continent. Other panelists for the forum are Presidents Macky Sall of Senegal, Jacob Zuma od South Africa, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Tunisian President Moncef Marzoui. The US Africa Business Forum is hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies and will focus on trade and investment opportunities on the continent. Other speakers at the Forum include US Secretary of State John Kerry, Dr. Jim Young Kim of the World Bank and Ambassador Susan Rice, the US President’s National Security Advisor.