Rwandan Ambassador to
South Africa, Vincent Karega says Africa is the future of the world. His
country is one of the first to lift visa requirements for Africans, after Ghana, Mauritius,
Namibia, Rwanda and Seychelles.
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| AMBASSADOR VINCENT KAREGA |
On the
sidelines of the lifting of visa requirements for all Africans, the diplomat
adds that the move seeks to boost the inflow of skills to Rwanda.
The Ambassador encourages migrants to always
meet with professionals, business men wherever they are, to enable them rapidly
integrate.
He boasts about Rwanda’s growth rate of 8% yearly for 16 years now and
discloses that his country is attracting investors in energy,
infrastructure, real estate, agribusiness, telecom, ICT, banking logistics and
other sectors. He also touches on the thorny
issues of resentment and xenophobia in Africa and claims of right violations and
dictatorship by Kigali….
Read on for full exclusive
interview
Rwanda is one of the first African Countries to open
its boarders through the visa free policy. What is the intention and interests?
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| RWANDAN PRESIDENT, PAUL KAGAME |
First of all we believe
that no stand-alone country will make Africa competitive if we don’t pull our brains,
capital and markets together. The opening of borders to Africans contribute to
tourism revenue, easy inflow of needed skills and capital from the continent,
limit illegal immigrants as it is easy to be legal than illegal.
Beyond
opening our borders we are engaged in customs union in East Africa and Comesa. We
have common markets and joint rail, electricity, pipeline and optical fiber
projects. We believe in a common currency in the future in EAC and more
countries on board. The interests are domestic and pan Africanists as
well. Open sky-scraping of roaming charges are also underway with neighbouring
countries with hope to expand to the whole continent.
By implication Africans can now get visa on
arrival in Rwanda?
Exactly.
Besides this appreciated
diplomatic move could you briefly present your diplomatic representation here
in South Africa?
Rwanda has been in
cooperation with SA since early 1992. But then in 1994 the genocide occurred
and the previous regime was thrown out. Since 1994 the Rwandan Patriotic
Front, RFP led government has been collaborating and cooperating with South
Africa through the ANC and through the government. So far out of that
cooperation, a lot has happened in domains of education, security and defense,
public service capacity building and also investment in telecommunications,
mining industry and so on.
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| RWANDAN EMBASSY, PRETORIA,SA |
How many Rwandans can be
estimated to be living in SA and what do they do ?
We have about 1000
Rwandans in SA. 200 of them are students who are here on temporary bases and
every year those who complete their studies go home. It has been on record that
99% of Rwandans who come for studies or development of skills always return
home when they have completed.
It’s something we are proud of. Rwanda
according to the World Bank Doing Business Index is number three (3) on the
continent where you can do business with ease. It means that
foreigners or locals can easily register companies and can easily identify the
business they want to do and with very minimum red tapes or bureaucracy. Rwanda is the least corrupt country on the
continent. It’s such a beautiful country.
Back to your question
about Rwandans in SA, we also have about 200 professionals who are established. Some
are permanent residents others are naturalized. We also have dissidents who
oppose the government of Rwanda. They are very few. There are Rwandan
refugees here due to what happened in 1994. They have built social ties in SA.
They still have hesitations to return home because they don’t know how Rwanda
has changed.
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| RWANDAN CULTURAL DISPLAY |
They probably rely on internet news, sometimes generated by the
dissidents or those who have created the chaos for them to run away. So while
we have a very progressive Rwandan diaspora in SA we also have part of it that
is quite negative.
But as an embassy and
as a mission, we continue to help whoever wants to return home and advice
whoever wants to settle so that they do so according to the rules and laws of
SA ,in a dignifying way. We would continue to mobilize them to return home
because we also have an economy that is growing since more than 16 years at an
average of 8% annually.
We have opportunities in Rwanda in ICT and many things.
Rwanda is well integrated in the East African Region where so many
opportunities exist. It is good to be all over in the world. It is good that
Rwandans are in SA and South Africans are in Rwanda. In the end what’s
important is to be where one is more productive and effective and live legally.
Has it been easy for
Rwandans to integrate themselves?
Most of them who have
integrated are not complaining at all. We are a society where probably due to
our bad history the migration of Rwandans started early 1959. Many Rwandans
have kind of developed a thick skin in learning and knowing how to live abroad
without disturbing the society they find themselves. They easily integrate.
Some have married. Others remain totally Rwandans but respect the culture and
rules and focus onto their activities.
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| RWANDAN YOUTHS |
We know in SA we talk about development but also crime and xenophobia? How did you live
the ‘xenophobic’ moments in SA as an embassy?
What happened here
happens in Africa in many places today. As economies continue to grow in the
world there is still a bunch of people who are not benefiting. So the poor in
many places in the world today are much more eager to quickly gain access to
wealth.In that competition for resources and wealth sometimes misinformed
people look at foreigners and think they are the problem for their lack of
advancement. It has happened here in SA.
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| RWANDA's FAST GROWING AIRLINE |
It has happened in Congo Brazzaville
with people of DRC being chased. It has happened between Nigerians and
Ghanaians, with Cameroonians and Nigerians. It has happened in Gabon where at
one time they did not want people from Mali... Cote D’Ivoire with Burkina and
Europeans with Africans, Arabs with blacks. Reflects from people not always
being friendly or interactive are issues of society.
It is important for South
Africa and other countries to continue broaden the African agenda to ensure
that what we fear in the others is quite dismissed. The more a country has
people the more it becomes diverse culturally. The more it becomes a market and
the better it can develop. All of that requires a lot of infrastructure,
information, social and community education so that the people and migrants
integrate and the locals mingle well and work together to be more productive.
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| RWANDA's CAPITAL, KIGALI |
In a situation where one section of the population feels resources are just
within the hands of either migrants or the locals are not opening up there is
usually such tensions.
How do we build a cohesive
and inclusive South Africa and Africa?
Cohesion is quite a
challenge everywhere .Before I think of cohesion in SA I would think of
cohesion in my country that went through a genocide in 1994 where one section
of the population decided to almost exterminate the other section of our
population, based on colonial definition of quite funny differences. Yet as a
country we need to be united to be stronger than we are, to be a bigger market
.So we have been spending 21 years to mobilize the Rwandans to cohesion, unity
and reconciliation.
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| KIGALI FROM SKY |
I am sure other societies including SA are also facing the
challenges. The country has been liberated but inequality is still huge,
unemployment is high and the legacy of apartheid continues to haunt and affect
people. So what is important is that education continues to be given high
importance.
Job creation, skill development continue to take place so that the
reduction of unemployment and inequality would inspire more hopes in the hearts
of few who remain destitute and are extremely poor in a society that overall is
prosperous. Those are understandable challenges .21 years after apartheid we
cannot say everything can be perfect.
Some fingers are
pointing at foreign nationals of being allegedly responsible for the upsurge of
crime and the insecurity South Africa is facing. Do you share that view?
I don’t think I share
that view because I attend different meetings where the government, from the
President, Minister of Home Affairs and others condemned this situation.But of
course there have been pronouncements by other politicians who seek to explain
and justify what happened. Sometimes fingers to migrants. That is an indication
of the complexity of the matter and difficulty in understanding of the problem.
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| RWANDA BY NIGHT |
We need to have a further study or assessment of what is underneath the problems
and also look at how the immigration system works here. Do we have more people
than the country can support or absorb?
Is entry are easy or difficult? Is the
solution to deal with the non-registered who have been living in SA for years
or to stop new comers? There are so many things to be taken into consideration.
It’s a complex and African issue though they go beyond Africa. Today we are
talking about refugees and immigrants in Europe. It’s not easy for them to be
integrated. We should not see this problem in a smaller way because we are in
SA. It’s not a South African problem.
should also appreciate the
fact that SA is the number one taker of refugees on the continent. We can’t
ignore that. Few issues that may arise from that should not be above the good
things SA is doing. Or overshadow the spirit of Ubuntu. They also have their
own problems, remember.
Some people might be
afraid that these attacks could reoccur. Is your embassy having some emergency
response system just in case…?
We first of all have a
message to our people. Not just to go into any country because you are told
it’s a country of honey and milk. We encourage Rwandans where ever they are to
remember they have a home called Rwanda.
A home that is eager to welcome them
even though we had a history where sometimes some people were not welcomed in
Rwanda. Today we have a country that welcomes everyone. Secondly we can’t
manage our country like a prison where people don’t travel.
Most developed
countries; China, America Japan, etc have emigrants. We wish our people to go
out and acquire skills and ideas to make them grow. When they have a clear plan
and clear activities integration becomes easier.
When they become dependent in
a foreign land they become a burden and they can be a cause to any resentment.
We always welcome complains and then see how to assist. Even in a case of
voluntary repatriation.
Has
your diplomatic row with SA been resolved definitely?
Not definitely but there is very positive progress.
The two countries revived their historical cordial diplomatic relations. What
happened is between two countries and cannot be addressed through the media. If
we have differences, we have bilateral channels and that’s where we debate the
differences. But the two countries believe they are capable of reviving their
relations without a mediator.
They believe they can do many things to benefit
their countries and the continent. On that note I believe the relations would
be normal in not too distant future.
Your government is accused of persecuting dissidents and those opposed to the
regime even out of their country?
I know the accusations are there but I prefer not to
go in details because bringing case by case only complicates matters. If
someone is found dead the killers should be found as well. However let’s look
at the positive features of Rwanda. Rwanda has been attracting African and
international investment. Lots of Kenyan, Nigerian, South African investments
are in Rwanda.
It is a good thing as far as South-South Cooperation is concerned.
We have American, Belgian and Dutch companies and more and more Rwandan
companies growing. Rwanda Air too is fast growing. With 3 hours and half you
are in Rwanda from SA and we have a flight every morning. Our Airline goes to
Cameroon, Lagos, Accra, Libreville, Brazzaville etc and it is growing in
destinations on the continent Africa. Rwanda is a country to do business with. Rwanda
is not a country that wants to suppress a section of its population.
It has
suffered in the past and it still has few people running around. That could be handled
by the courts and security.
What
future for RWANDA and the African continent?
Africa and its 54 countries still have problems.
There are other issues even in stable countries.
At same time there are
positive stories of growth everywhere from two to ten percent. Africa is
continent and it can resolve emerging problems. The AU has been put in place
and the African army can intervene. We have had problems in West Africa and
Ecowas helped. Like Boko Haram. East Africa is fighting Alshabab. Peace keepers
in Africa are there and there are platforms and mechanisms helping to solve
problems. The future of Africa is
promising.
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