States should honour agreements

The long standing Rwanda Burundi pension saga has dragged on for a long time. For more than ten years, Rwandans who used to work in Burundi before returning, have been trying to get their pension, but all their efforts usually hit a snag. Now, if officials are to be believed, the waiting period is over.The same could not be said for those who used to work in the former Zaire (DR Congo), which agreed in principle to pay the pensions but argues that beneficiaries will have to wait until the internal conflicts of that country are over. That is a very lame excuse.In 1978, the three countries, all members of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL), signed a memorandum of understanding putting in place mechanisms of streamlining pension benefits.That agreement was put in place to address the very questions that seem to cause unnecessary friction between the pension bodies.But this pensions issue is not the only subject that has been a victim of denegation of agreed upon positions by states. This kind of behaviour is very rampant. It is not uncommon for countries to ratify an agreement decades after the signatures were appended.Some simply go back on their words when they find a particular treaty is not in their favour and the non-adherence to agreements is, in most cases, the source of conflicts.What is the use of signing agreements if one does not intend to honour them?

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States should honour agreements