Ambalahaye

Ambassador Immaculée Uwanyiligira walks 160km in four days at the 4Daagse International Marches in Nijmegen.

The 95th International Fours Days Marches in Nijmegen started on Tuesday 19 July and concluded on 22 July. More than 42,000 people participated in the marches and over 800,000 cheering spectators on the roadside.

Among participants was the Rwandan Ambassador Immaculée Uwanyiligira, who before starting the walk described the air at in Nijmegen as thick with jubilation, similar to that of a Fair or Amusement Park. The Ambassador registered to walk 40km per day for four days to complete a total of 160 km on the fourth day.

From 19 July throughout 22 July, the multitude of walkers was unbelievable!  Military, civilians, organizations, individuals, old and young. Endless walkers as far as the eye could see! There were thousands and thousands of people cheering the walkers and music bands at every corner of every small town and village  in the beautiful countryside  surrounding the town of Nijmegen.

Ambassador Uwanyiligira in her own words said that she was impressed to see different configurations of families outside their homes: parents, young and grown up children, but mostly groups of neighbours and friends, all having a whale of a time, waving flags, with the youngsters offering plates of cookies, biscuits, sweets and other delicacies. Other  stretching out their hands for a "high five" or a "fist bump".  Then there were families that had converted their entire front yards as make-shift rock-band stages, replete with big performing equipment. ‘It was an unforgettable experience and the beauty of the countryside and the people was amazing’ she said. 

Friday 22 July at 1612, Ambassador Uwanyiligira touched the finish line registering 160 Km of consecutive walking. Looking tired but clearly relieved, she smiled as she received her medal for champions of the 95^th 4Daagse.

Asked by a journalist of Gelderlander, a regional newspaper if she was ready before starting the Marches, Uwanyiligira replied that she thought she was – but realised  that the 160 km walk required another level of fitness and training before the start!

In her interview with Saskia Houttuin of Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Ambassador said that even though she was feeling pain all over her body, she was happy to have completed what she had set out to do and to have experienced and lived this important Dutch event rather that hearing it from someone else. Her message relayed through Radio Netherlands was, that Rwanda is health-conscious nation.

For more information, see the Dutch magazines:

the article in the Telegraaf.
or the article in the Gelderlander

Rwanda accedes to the Executive Council
of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

  H.E Ambassador Immaculee Uwanyiligira and OPCW Director General  Mr. Ahmet Uzumcu 

The OPCW implements the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans absolutely the development, production, stockpiling or use of chemical weapons, while stipulating the irreversible destruction of all existing stocks of these weapons.

12 May 2011, Rwanda acceded to the Executive Council of the OPCW until May 2013. The Executive Council consists of 41 members who are elected by the Conference for a term of two years. Each State Party has the right, in accordance with the principle of rotation, to serve on the Council. The Convention requires that, in order to ensure the Council's effectiveness, it is constituted with due regard to the principle of equitable geographical distribution, the importance of the chemical industry, and political and security interests. Each regional group is represented on the Council in accordance with a detailed formula stipulated in the Convention as follows: Africa – nine members; Asia – nine members; Eastern Europe – five members, Latin America and the Caribbean – seven members; Western Europe and other states – 10 members; and by one further State Party, designated on a rotating basis, from Asia or Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Council is the executive organ of the Organization. It is required to carry out all functions and powers entrusted to it by the Convention, as well as any functions delegated to it by the Conference of State Parties. In so doing, the Council must act in conformity with the recommendations, decisions and guidelines of the Conference, and must ensure their proper and continuous implementation.

H.E Immaculee Uwanyiligira, Rwandan Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Rwanda to the OPCW, reiterated Rwanda’s firm commitment to the goals of the Chemical Weapons Convention and its resolve to maintain effective cooperation with the OPCW when she was presenting her letter of credence to the OPCW Director General, Mr Ahmet Uzumcu on 31 March 2011.  She also assured Director-General Uzumcu that Rwanda will undertake every effort to comply with its obligations under the Convention.

Commemoration speech by the ambassador, 07 April 2011

Press release.

April 2011 marks the 17th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi, in which more than a million men, women and children were murdered in one hundred days. 

“Upholding the truth: preserve our dignity” is the guiding theme for this year’s commemoration. 

As we remember, honour our people and bow in prayer for them – as we remember the pain, grief, and senseless brutality they endured, with the same stoic spirit, we stand strong and confidently declare that this will never happen again. We resolve to transform our grief into strength and renewed determination to build a better future that Rwanda deserves.  A future that is fast becoming a reality, a country in which all Rwandans live side by side in dignity and mutual respect.

Today, 17 years later, there are people and groups, many of them Rwandan, who, riddled with guilt of complicity, participation, or inaction during the Genocide, in an attempt to cleanse themselves of this guilt, deny that the Genocide ever occurred. Some among them even advocate its very extermination ideology.

In order to draw lessons from the Genocide we must understand why it happened, learn to spot the signs and symptoms so we can avert it in the future. As Rwandans, we continue to remember the Genocide against the Tutsi, because we don’t want it to happen again, and we would never want what happened to our country befall another country.

As philosopher Edmund Burke so aptly put it; “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to triumph in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” He also famously stated that “Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.” But while Rwanda is determined not to forget the horror of the Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda has refused to be shackled to and hamstrung by this memory. In grief we must find strength to move forward in dignity.

While we remember the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda; we should also make not of great achievements that Rwanda has made to lift itself from the abyss; and dramatically transform itself from a country on the brink of a failed state 17 years ago, into one enjoys respect among the community of nations, in the region, on the continent and the world at large. All Rwandans today, have a renewed sense of pride and dignity in being Rwandan.

Rwanda has made tremendous progress in the last 17 years. It has reconciled the frayed social fabric of its communities through a home grown process of reconciliation that has become the model for other countries emerging from conflict. Rwanda has created a secure environment and distinguished itself as the most secure country in the region that is significantly contributing to peace and stability in the region.

The reconstruction of Rwanda and the level of development achieved so far, have been possible because Rwanda and Rwandans understood the absolute necessity to work together as one people. Rwanda is committed to moving forward from the legacy of Genocide against the Tutsi, finding solutions for survivors, establishing harmonious coexistence among its people, finding solutions for its economic challenges, as well as establishing itself as respected nation.

Rwanda is one of the developing countries on track to meet (and exceed) the millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It has become a country characterised by good governance, whose light cannot be hidden under a bushel, and whose dignity shall continue to uphold.

As this year’s theme states, let uphold the truth and preserve our dignity. As we march forward in dignity, we are determined not to let our success story today be stolen by the ghosts of yesteryear.