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afrol.com, 14 July - President Kagame, on addressing the OAU summit, urged African leaders to double their efforts in addressing the root causes of instability and insecurity in Africa as the first step towards creating prosperity and bringing about the social and economic transformation of Africa. The plea was contained in the President's address to the OAU Heads of State and Government Summit on Tuesday afternoon. "We are calling for concerted efforts in confronting the root causes of insecurity and instability. Only then can we seriously concentrate on prosperity-creation for African People. We should in resolving conflicts and building peace purposefully and timely, be guided by our desire for African social and economic transformation - the basis for our African Renaissance", President Kagame said. President Kagame noted that insecurity and instability in Africa were a direct result of bad governance and the denial of human rights. "We believe that insecurity and instability on our continent stems from bad governance and the accompanying denial of fundamental rights." President Kagame reminded the Summit of the consequences of bad governance in Rwanda. "The consequences of bad governance and the denial of fundamental human rights have had a devastating impact on our continent as demonstrated by, among others, sectarian practices, corruption, mass poverty, refugees, wars and conflicts of one type or another. In our own case in Rwanda, bad governance and the denial of fundamental human rights culminated into horrific events of the 1994 Genocide, an episode that subsequently spilled over into the broader Great Lakes Region", President Kagame said. President Kagame further regretted that Rwanda's energies were still being diverted to security preoccupations. " Six years later, after this grotesque episode, energies that should be focused on prosperity-creation and development are still drained by security preoccupations which stem from the misdeeds of yesteryear," the President said. In his address, President Kagame also thanked the OAU Panel of Eminent Personalities for their work in producing the report into the 1994 Rwanda Genocide and surrounding events.
Source: Press Office, Office of the President, Kigali
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