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NewsTranscript
00:00 I'm happy to be with you and thank you for answering our invitation so positively.
00:14 I'm now in attendance.
00:19 I welcome the new envoys who presented their credentials earlier today.
00:35 I wish to always want to thank various partners through the presentation we have here of ambassadors
01:00 and high commissioners and other representatives.
01:08 Every year we have this diplomatic community gathering.
01:24 I want to use this moment every time to say that it's not enough to say thank you.
01:38 I think what we have achieved through our partnership is a lot more than just saying thank you.
01:58 It provides us with an opportunity, this gathering, to talk more to each other
02:13 as to how we can take further dialogue and partnership in many areas of mutual interest.
02:29 Evidently for the benefit of our people and nations.
02:40 Before we continue, let me take this opportunity to express our deep condolences to Turkey
02:56 and through the ambassador who presented his credentials today
03:06 for what is happening in the country or has happened.
03:11 Enormous loss of life and destruction of property unprecedented.
03:20 So, Mr. Ambassador, just know that our country, like many other countries,
03:26 has expressed we are with your people, your country, and the leadership of your country.
03:38 Now, after thanking all of you, which I really have to do and meant from the bottom of my heart,
03:46 for the partnership that has taken Rwanda this far, and having given our condolences,
04:01 and having heard from our Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps
04:10 about many things that have happened here in Rwanda, and what continues to happen,
04:17 and what will soon happen, in fact soon, next month, we have another big gathering here,
04:34 the FIFA Congress, which in its own right is a huge event, many others.
04:46 We are happy we can have people gather here for different things,
04:53 and again, it's what we wish to see.
05:00 As I continue to want to express myself, I know also for most of you, if not all,
05:22 have many questions about what happens here in our country.
05:34 You know very well, that's why you are here.
05:37 I'm sure you follow very closely, but you may not know, maybe in detail, but I also am not naive.
05:47 You actually know that.
05:50 Between our country and other countries, I'm saying I'm not naive because I know you have,
05:59 many of you, the ambassadors here representing your countries.
06:03 You have also your colleagues representing your countries in those countries that are close to us.
06:12 So I'm sure you are well informed.
06:15 Of course, the caveat here is maybe you are informed differently.
06:21 The story about what is at the border, let's say between us and Congo,
06:30 has one version in Nkigeri and has another version in Nkishasa, depending on many things.
06:39 So I'm not going into that.
06:41 But recently we had a summit in Bujumbura, Burundi.
06:53 This was to address the challenges we have in eastern Congo, and maybe Congo as a whole,
07:02 but affecting all neighbors, I guess, but more the three neighbors of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi.
07:17 Again, of the three, probably affecting Rwanda more than the other two.
07:26 But I don't want to raise it in that way of saying one is affected more than the other.
07:34 That's not the point.
07:37 I would just wish to indulge you in a different way for obvious reasons.
07:54 So in our broad partnership, there are these things we have to deal with,
08:01 which sometimes may even threaten what we have built over many years together with your support.
08:13 Some of us have to make sure that that doesn't happen.
08:21 It doesn't happen here, neither do we want that to happen anywhere else where you have partnership with other people.
08:33 That is my starting point.
08:39 But I don't know whether you share this with me,
08:44 but I'm just bringing out as I feel and as I see it.
08:55 I think in this room we do different things, but basically around diplomacy, many people are diplomats here.
09:09 Others do politics, like some of us.
09:15 It wasn't our first choice to do politics, but we find ourselves here in any case.
09:26 What I have learned over the years,
09:30 is that politics and diplomacy are very strange things.
09:38 Very strange.
09:41 I don't know whether it is because of the world order we find ourselves in today,
10:04 or it has always been like this, or it will always be like this.
10:11 But in politics and in diplomacy,
10:22 there tends to lack, or rather people don't tend to commit to the truth, to facts, or evidence.
10:46 It is only everything in between.
10:55 Avoid the truth, avoidance of facts, or evidence.
11:13 What does that mean?
11:20 So the truth tends to be a matter of perception, or is subjective.
11:30 And that's how we go along.
11:33 And sometimes things defy logic or reason.
11:41 It's just that you hear what I'm telling you, especially when it comes to big powers.
11:51 That's why I talked about the world order.
11:56 The world order is not shaped by meat, it is shaped by other people, other factors,
12:01 for us we have to follow.
12:10 Let me pick one example I wanted to say.
12:14 For what is happening between us and Congo, and within Congo, and all the...
12:24 And I'm raising this because every time, wherever I go, many people I meet, same questions keep coming up.
12:45 I'm just talking about my personal experience, others may be experiencing different things.
12:55 I'm asking the same questions, I try to give the answers, but because I'm asked so many times,
13:05 I try to give answers, same answers but in a different way, to see if the one asking,
13:12 maybe who did not understand last time we met, by way of reframing or rephrasing what I'm answering,
13:21 they may understand, but it keeps coming, coming the same way.
13:33 So what does this mean?
13:37 I want to build on that to give you an example.
13:45 The problems between us, Rwanda and Congo, and happening in eastern Congo,
13:51 even if it involves other people.
13:58 Now we are into it more than 20 years, between 20 and 25 years.
14:10 And things keep happening of this kind we have today, almost in cycles, every five years.
14:21 There is something similar to this, five years we have something, five years we have something.
14:30 Like the current situation we have was there 10 years ago, 2012.
14:44 2012 we had a similar situation, 100 different things, but we had a similar thing 10 years ago.
14:58 So my question here is, look at what has happened, we have had a UN peacekeeping mission in Congo,
15:11 around that, for over 20 years.
15:20 So it covers 10 years before that, and then the 10 years I have just said, that marked last year 2022.
15:36 So my question is, if diplomats and politics have no problem as I was suspecting, or as I said,
15:51 why would you have tens of thousands of peacekeepers in a place for over 20 years,
16:09 costing tens of billions of dollars, and it keeps going, going, going, going, nobody even says wait.
16:19 Because I think, I suspected, if it is politics, if it is business, if it is diplomacy,
16:26 normally what I would suspect would happen is people after time, they take stock.
16:38 They say wait a minute, five years we are running a mission, what are we achieving?
16:47 What are we achieving? What are we getting for our money?
16:54 What are we getting for the lives of our peacekeepers?
17:01 Normally stock would be taken, and there you can recalibrate or do things differently the way you want.
17:13 But things just keep growing and growing and growing irrespective of what is happening.
17:22 But I thought the mission had been created to try and address some of the issues in that country,
17:32 for the benefit of the country, but also for the benefit of the neighbors who are affected.
17:39 But that doesn't happen. As I have told you, what happened in 2012 happens in 2022.
17:52 And still we are going.
17:58 So what problem are we addressing in actual fact as the international community,
18:09 which Rwanda is only a very tiny part of?
18:17 What do we want to achieve?
18:20 Of course there are things I cannot blame those who want to help even if they end up helping the wrong way.
18:31 And I think that's our political culture here. We don't start by blaming others.
18:42 I think we start by blaming ourselves.
18:46 That has helped us in a way. We look at ourselves before we talk about others.
18:53 So if we find mistakes, if things can't be corrected, then we can go ahead and make corrections.
19:01 So I don't want to blame everything on the outside.
19:11 Because in the end, the outsiders, whether it is in Rwanda or in DRC or anywhere,
19:21 they can do only so much.
19:26 Even if sometimes there is a pretense that they can actually address our problems.
19:33 No. I think there are two parts to it.
19:38 There are those they can help, those parts they can help address, the problems they can help fix.
19:47 There are others only the people of that country can fix.
19:54 I mean, that's a fact.
19:57 You cannot govern my country, you cannot govern Congo, you cannot govern any other country on their behalf, on our behalf.
20:04 No. It would be a big mistake, which I hope maybe over the years I thought we could have learned something.
20:17 So I wouldn't blame anybody for what is my problem that I need to fix,
20:26 and blame somebody else for not being the one to fix it.
20:32 That's for us a guiding principle.
20:37 That's what we believe in. There are things for us to fix.
20:41 There are things we can fix with the help of others,
20:46 like I started with thanking the partnership we have with many of you.
20:56 So really the question here, Begde, is today it doesn't matter.
21:06 It's as if we get lost in he said, he did, the other one said, he did, he said,
21:12 and it goes on and on and on except fixing the actual problem.
21:21 That's how sometimes you find people find the easy way.
21:34 The easy way to fix it is put it on somebody's back and say, "Oh, the problem is this one."
21:50 In this case, the song I have heard repeated by the leaders of Congo
21:58 and sometimes others become even sympathetic and accompany that thinking by making pronouncements
22:12 that it is Rwanda.
22:16 This is why I am saying I think in the order we have today, in diplomacy and politics,
22:28 the facts, the reasoning, the logic, the evidence doesn't matter.
22:37 It's dead.
22:43 But here let me tell you something.
22:47 Even for those who think they are doing that because they must protect,
22:51 they must do what, their interests, you are dead wrong.
23:00 You are mistaken.
23:01 Because one, by continuing to do that, you encourage somebody to be unreasonable
23:20 and not actually fix the problem they were supposed to fix.
23:26 If you go to Kinshasa and blame Rwanda, like Kinshasa is saying,
23:33 all you are doing is you are actually telling Kinshasa, "You don't have to do anything.
23:41 The problem is on the other side.
23:44 We are going to fix that problem for you.
23:50 We are going to raise that issue with those people whom you keep blaming
23:58 and we are here to accompany you."
24:01 That is the first mistake.
24:04 The second mistake is when you say you are pursuing your interests,
24:14 a way of making sure you are on good terms with this one so that you fix your interests,
24:23 and they are catered for.
24:27 The big mistake you are making is this person has dishonoured dozens of agreements
24:43 he has made with people and you think he is going to honour anything about you?
24:55 If ever, including even last time, this last time we were in Ibu Jumbura,
25:02 we discussed, he was the president, the leader was there and his entourage,
25:09 we discussed things, it was in the open, he participated, we wrote a communique
25:18 giving people a sense of what we discussed and the way forward.
25:25 The communique is read, but the next day the opposite communique is read in Kinshasa.
25:38 Now, can you tell me that so many of us and others far away are so deaf and blind to these facts?
26:06 So, how do you expect to address such a problem?
26:14 We have told people publicly, openly, including those leaders,
26:21 that look, it is not enough, it has never worked anywhere,
26:32 that you have problems, instead of fixing those problems,
26:43 or needing help to fix them and you tell whoever is your friend to come and help to fix it,
26:54 you run away from those problems and you just decide somebody somewhere else is the one
27:04 to be held accountable for that, and the whole world gets fooled about it.
27:14 Sometimes to deliver that, they make pronouncements that are not helpful.
27:28 They say Rwanda has presence and activities in Eastern Congo.
27:40 The answer to that has always been and continues to be,
27:46 why would you think Rwanda has to be in Eastern Congo?
27:55 Why?
27:59 If you understand why, the way to get through and out of this equation is by addressing that problem.
28:18 We have heard the Efu Dera story, the remnants of genocide perpetrators,
28:29 for the last more or less a generation, close to 30 years.
28:37 It is not fiction.
28:42 It is not a myth, it is not anything created. It is a fact.
28:52 So I tell people, before you even get an answer from me as to what activities we are in Congo or about or not,
29:02 you have to answer me why this problem is there.
29:11 Why anybody would fire artillery across our border and kill our people?
29:18 Why Efu Dera in 2019 in November would cross the border and kill our people in Kenegi and elsewhere?
29:30 You have to answer me why.
29:35 I'm not even asking you to come and help me fix that problem.
29:39 When they get across the border, we fix it.
29:44 But why don't we fix that problem from the source?
29:51 Why? Why are people ambiguous?
29:58 It's like when the issue of Efu Dera comes up, when these questions are asked to me,
30:05 and when Masa Ingai raises issues of Efu Dera, it's like they want to escape.
30:15 There is a story behind that that maybe some of us don't understand.
30:23 Does anyone in this world want to keep this Efu Dera story going forever?
30:31 Maybe there are people who want to keep it going forever.
30:35 Maybe there are people who don't even care.
30:38 It's their right. I have no quarrel with those.
30:43 But boy, you are joking if you think some of us Rwandans who know the story about them will ever agree with you.
30:58 Anyone thinking like that is just absolutely mistaken.
31:06 It's about us, it's about our lives, it's about our story, it's about our history,
31:12 it's about our identity, it's about our existence.
31:16 And nobody in this world is the one responsible for us.
31:26 No, we are responsible for ourselves.
31:31 There's no question about it.
31:33 I keep repeating it, I say it again, because that's what it is.
31:39 That's a fact.
31:42 If you want to change the fact through diplomacy or through politics or through interests or through whatever,
31:50 well, I can only do so much, but within my means, I will do everything that can be done to make sure
32:07 that that story of Efu Dera and genocide and with which people play around with doesn't visit us again.
32:16 [Applause]
32:26 The rest, we can keep massaging the problem and playing around with it, and I don't know what to do about it.
32:42 You know, there are these reports you hear about, reports about something called a group of experts.
32:57 They make reports.
33:03 Those who task them, one day add something else they should look at, what I have just said.
33:14 Can't the experts find out for us why this story of Efu Dera keeps going on?
33:24 Why it has to wait until it even results in true hate speech and killings and persecution that is going on currently?
33:37 Can't they tell us the story?
33:41 Who is behind the hate speech?
33:45 Who is behind the killings?
33:50 Who?
33:53 What is the story of the continued existence of Efu Dera?
33:57 Some experts need to tell us if they are worth being called the nail.
34:06 I know they are actually worth it.
34:10 They have the capacity, but again, it's the politics, it's the diplomacy.
34:19 So, somebody with full expertise and knowledge and skill is just, you know, as kids,
34:36 I was taught by some, when you were young, at school, by Indian children who were going to school together in high school,
34:49 how to fly kites.
34:53 Kites, you know.
34:56 So, these experts are flown like kites.
35:00 Just, I mean, sometimes the experts need to be experts and not be flown like kites.
35:16 I'm saying all this running into the risk of boring you, but when it is my time, it is my time.
35:36 I try to use it.
35:41 After all, I'm taking your time after we have shared a meal, so I don't think you are hungry.
35:50 You can ask for a drink if you want.
35:55 So, the moment is to--I don't want to go back home with something left in my heart and then say, "Why did I not say this?"
36:07 Even when I'm taking a moment and pausing, I'm trying to remember something I could have forgotten to bring it out,
36:17 so that I go out of this room lighter than I came.
36:26 But, so, those people who--yeah, but the blame should go where it should go.
36:38 There's no--yes, and I think we have had these moments to tell the same leaders I'm talking about,
36:49 "This truth I'm telling you."
36:54 Yes, this one I will tell anybody.
37:00 We had a few moments not so long ago to say this to the one that needed to be told directly.
37:10 Nobody needs to keep crying about the problems they are causing and continuing to carry forward
37:22 and only blame it on other people.
37:31 And I hope recently those who were in the earshot of Pope Francis heard what he said.
37:48 I really hope so, except if it is only to hear the message and then turn it into something else,
37:57 like the communique is turned into something else.
38:00 But I think he was very clear.
38:03 And I'm not talking the other part which some people liked about foreign exploitation.
38:09 That's also a tired story.
38:13 But he said something else, as I heard.
38:18 He talked about governance, talked about hate speech and so on and so forth,
38:28 and the suffering of the people.
38:32 I think that message should have rang something in people's ears,
38:45 if they are worth being leaders of people.
38:53 And that's what is at stake.
38:57 So, please, you always bear with us.
39:08 We always want to tell you things as we feel, as we think, as we see them.
39:18 And step away a little bit from politics and diplomacy,
39:29 and maybe wait later on to fight the battles that we have to fight, but for peace.
39:40 I think everyone needs peace.
39:45 And you could do us a favor by being mindful of what needs to be addressed,
39:59 rather than taking the easy route to addressing serious and complex issues as they are.
40:15 Finally, I wish you a very happy 2023.
40:25 And hopefully, as you go into the middle of it,
40:31 we might see peace and prosperity that we so urgently need in this region.
40:46 All the best to you.
40:48 [applause]
40:52 So, will you please join me to a toast?
41:02 And to the good health and prosperity of all our peoples and countries in this new year.
41:13 Cheers.
41:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]