President Kagame meets with UN Secretary General

President Kagame meets with UN Secretary General

President Kagame today at Urugwiro Village held talks with the visiting UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon to discuss Rwanda’s protest of the DRC mapping exercise report, which was recently leaked to the media. Rwanda has rejected the report and has instructed peacekeeping forces to be on standby for a pullout from Darfur should the UN publish the report in its current state. President Kagame discussed Rwanda’s serious concerns with the Secretary General who expressed his disappointment with the leaking of the report.

Speaking to the press after meeting, the Secretary General said,

“In my meeting with the foreign affairs minister yesterday evening and in my meeting with the President this morning, we have discussed in-depth these issues and I have listened very carefully to their serious concerns on this mapping report. We have agreed to continue our dialogue on all these issues when President Kagame visits New York later this month. This is an important part of the dialogue the United Nations has with the concerned countries and it will certainly continue.”

Rwanda’s minister of foreign affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo said Rwanda’s simple demand was that the concerns and outrage concerning the leaked draft report be heard and understood,

“We are very happy that the Secretary General of the UN thought it important to come to Kigali and sit with us. We want to make sure that our concerns are not ignored. Rwandans have rejected the leaked report, which we have found to be malicious and irresponsible, and we will not allow unfounded accusations to undermine the hard-earned peace and stability in our country and our region. We will never accept that the Rwanda Defence Forces be accused of crimes they are not guilty of, and that is the bottom line.”

Also discussed at the meeting was the Africa Consultative Forum hosted by President Kagame last weekend, which saw the participation of nine African heads of state gathered in Kigali for the Presidential Inauguration. The Secretary General said;

“I was pleased to convey my own personal congratulations to President Kagame as he was inaugurated for the second term as the President of Rwanda and I wished him continued success and leadership. We discussed Rwanda’s great strides in working towards Millennium Development Goals particularly in the area of maternal and children’s health. I highly recommended his initiative to convene the African leaders MDG consultative forum just one day before his inauguration as President of Rwanda. I wish to strongly Rwanda’s commitment to the whole UN agenda and in particular, its role in the United Nations peacekeeping operations-not least in Sudan. Rwandan forces are well trained, they are highly disciplined and they are widely respected for their great contribution for peace and security in the region. I strongly urged President Kagame to continue such noble contribution around the world particularly when we are going to see two referenda in Sudan in January next year.”

Ms Mushikiwabo said that Rwanda was committed to its role in various UN initiatives;

“President Kagame as co-chair of the MDG Advisory Group found it important to consult with other Heads of State on how best to accelerate achievement of the MDGs, from an African perspective, in order to ensure that the continent’s views on this important initiative are well represented at the upcoming MDG Summit. Rwanda takes seriously our role in global efforts of the UN because this work is in line with our own development objectives, and we firmly believe in the positive impact of international cooperation and partnership in fighting poverty and underdevelopment.”