Security forces launch infrastructure projects as Rwanda marks 32nd Liberation anniversary
President Paul Kagame mentioned the importance of security and good governance as the foundation of everything the country has built over the years.
He made the remarks in a message to mark the 32nd anniversary of the country’s Liberation Day Saturday.
The Liberation Day celebrated every July 4 marks the day the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA), under Kagame captured the capital Kigali and stopped the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
Security, Kagame said, is a matter of survival, not external approval, and without it, nothing else holds together.
“That is why we remain vigilant and firm. What happened here will never happen again, for one simple reason: we will not allow it,” he said.
The president recalled that for decades, Rwanda was shaped by a deliberate system of exclusion, fear, and division.
Noting that the purpose of the liberation struggle was to restore what had been taken away, including the right of Rwandans to live in dignity, Kagame commended the liberation soldiers for their courage and sacrifice that changed the course of the country’s history.
He said while some did not live to see this day, what they fought for is visible in the transformed Rwanda.
He, however, noted that the ideas behind the genocide against Tutsi in 1994 have not disappeared completely in the region.
“They persist in different forms, and remain present across our region. We have seen, and suffered too much to ever take this threat lightly,” he said.
The countrywide celebrations featured inauguration of various infrastructure projects constructed by members of security organs for residents as well as discussions on the country’s achievements over the past 32 years since the end of the genocide.
In Bogogwe Sector, in western Rwanda’s Nyabihu District, Prime Minister Justin Nsengiyumva inaugurated 30 houses built by Rwanda National Police and the Rwanda Defense Force for vulnerable residents.
Nsengiyumva commended the Rwanda Defense Force and the Rwanda National Police for their continued commitment to improving the lives of Rwandans through the annual outreach programme, highlighting its tangible impact on communities across the country.
