UGANDA – RWANDA: Rwanda’s Resilience Should be a Lesson for Everyone - Minister .

Uganda’s Defense Minister Vincent Bamulangaki Sempijja says that the determination and resilience shown by the Rwandan people after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi should be emulated by the rest of the world if meaningful development is to be achieved. By Oswald T. Brown

Uganda’s Defense Minister Vincent Bamulangaki Sempijja speaks at the event of the 29^th Commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi at Lambu Memorial Site in Masaka district. (Courtesy photo)

Sempijja shared the message while speaking at the Lambu Memorial Site in Masaka district on Friday, as the Rwandan community in Uganda and friends of Rwanda commemorated the 29^th commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

Every year in the month of April, the Rwandan community in Uganda and friends of Rwanda visit one of the three Memorial Sites along Lake Victoria in Uganda where several victims’ bodies were thrown into rivers in a genocide that claimed a million innocent lives lost within just 100 days.

“I commend the people of Rwanda for the spirit of reconciliation and nation building exhibited in the aftermath of the genocide, and take this opportunity to ask the rest of the world to learn from Rwanda. Uganda will forever remain committed to the spirit of brotherhood with Rwanda in this and other areas of mutual concern,” the Minister said, mentioning the recently held Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) in Kigali as a major step taken aimed at building a solid bilateral relationship between the two countries.

I want to assure you that all the ministries concerned are working very fast to make sure that all we agreed in Kigali is put into practice,” he said.

The event was attended by Mohammed Sulieman Ahmed, who is the Dean of the Diplomatic Corp in Uganda, and Eritrea’s Ambassador to Uganda, as well as several heads of Diplomatic missions accredited to Uganda, and a big delegation of students from different Universities in Uganda.

Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda Col. Joseph Rutabana said the government of Rwanda is committed to raising awareness and advocate for U.N. member countries to arrest and prosecute identified and confirmed genocide fugitives residing or hiding in foreign countries.