President Paul Kagame called on African Heads of State and Government to have unity and cooperation while seeking to improve the lives and livelihoods of their citizens and continent at large. The President made the remarks on Sunday at a dinner hosted for over 30 Heads of State who were in the country for the 27th Africa Union Summit. Kagame said the unity among African countries and the political will should be translated into tangible results for the development of the continent. Noting that the unity and cooperation over the past years had greatly served the development agenda, he said, going forward, it was important to work better. “By affirming what has been done and using every success to set our sights even higher to make sure that political will displayed is turned into tangible results. This is the dignity that we have struggled to reclaim as Africans and in Rwanda we call it Agaciro,” Kagame said. The President reiterated that there was strength in unity of countries and that national interests should never precede continental and shared priorities. “We have often come together as Africans to face injustices, the dividend of liberation should be great improvement in the wellbeing of all Africans and not the pursuit of national interests to the exclusion of others. Whatever any country can do alone, can be attained faster, better and more safely by working together,” he said. He also called on African leaders to tackle cynicism, which continues to cloud conversations about the continent. “We must also take responsibility for the corrosive cynicism that affects discussions about Africa even among our own young people. For centuries, the minds of Africans were worked into the most effective instruments of our own oppression, which is more punishing than any whip,” Kagame said. “No institution can long withstand the scorn of the very people it is meant to serve. But for us today, history is no excuse for refusing to see all that is good about Africa and ourselves.” Cooperation, he said, was possible and easy given the similarities among Africans irrespective of the distances and time between them. “We have never had to be taught to feel like African, it has been effortless and natural, the common note in our respective histories allow us to understand each other’s experience and despite barrier of time and distance,” he said. Even without understanding a word of what is said, the President said, Africans have and feel a bond with each other. “Unity should be prerequisite for prosperity as much it is for peace,” he said. Kagame also expressed gratitude to the African Union leadership and African leaders for their confidence in Rwanda’s ability to host the 27th African Union summit, which concluded yesterday. We could not be any happier to have you in Kigali to celebrate our friendship and our activities today, he said. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
