Rwandans will rise to the challenge – once again

On Wednesday, James Putzel, a professor at the London School of Economics, who co-authored a new report ‘Meeting the Challenges of Crisis States’, questioned the decision of some donor countries to partially freeze aid to Rwanda amid accusations that it’s military was supporting the Congolese rebel group, M23.Britain, which had frozen £16m of general budget support to the country in July, unblocked half that amount last month after acknowledging that Rwanda was “constructively” engaging in efforts to resolve the crisis.Through the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Rwanda is actively playing a part in efforts to find a lasting solution to DR Congo’s recurrent crises, which can only be genuinely tackled by addressing the underlying causes.Is it because Rwanda refuses to bend to international pressure to be blamed for what is happening in the Congo? Listening to President Paul Kagame’s address in Parliament, yesterday, it is obvious that Rwanda is unfairly blamed by not only members of the international community for the very real problems in the Congo, but it is being made a scapegoat by the Congolese themselves.Rwandans feel a sense of injustice and fairly so. However, we must not feel sorry for ourselves but rather, we should feel proud that we are still standing, still developing and still fighting for our own self-worth and agaciro. We’ve been challenged and we must face this challenge without fear.

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Rwandans will rise to the challenge – once again