Africa-Press – Rwanda. Defence Minister Juvenal Marizamunda has briefed senior defence officials from around the world on Africa’s security challenges, the threats facing the continent, and Rwanda’s perspective on solutions, while also highlighting the country’s contribution to global peace.
He made the remarks on Friday, September 19, at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, a high-level security and defence conference hosted by the China Association of Military Science (CAMS) and the China Institute of International Strategic Studies (CIISS).
In his speech, he stressed that building regional peace through dialogue and consultation is both “timely and urgent,” noting that ongoing conflicts in many regions continue to threaten stability, prosperity, and the dignity of people worldwide.
“From Rwanda’s perspective, sustainable peace requires us to examine honestly, the root causes of conflict and to pursue solutions grounded in justice, inclusivity and cooperation,” he added.
He noted that many of the conflicts that are faced on the African continent are deeply rooted in colonial history, where the partition of Africa during the Berlin conference of 1885 imposed artificial borders with little or no consideration for societal and cultural realities on the ground.
“In some regions, these imposed structures created tensions that continue to fuel dispute and armed conflict to this day,” he said.
“Secondly, the challenge of governance has also been central to the persistence of conflict where governments fail to deliver what their citizens right to expect, security, justice, development and dignity, armed and terrorist groups feed on population’s grievances in such context, the absence of trust between the state and its people undermines stability and opens the door to conflict,” he added.
Marizamunda also pointed out that Africa faces the added burden of external interference, resource competition and global terrorism, as he called for the building of strong and inclusive governance systems that earn legitimacy from citizens, ensuring accountability as well as equitable access to opportunities and resources, especially for young people who are often exploited by extremist ideologies.
He told his audience about Rwanda’s contribution to world peace keeping efforts starting in 2004, only ten years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, when the country became the first in Africa to deploy a peacekeeping contingent to Darfur, Sudan.
“This decision, born of a tragic national history, reflected a strong conviction in the principle of protecting civilians,” he said.
Since 2004, Rwanda has become one of the most reliable contributors to international peacekeeping. Over the past 20 years, the country has provided more than 80,000 peacekeepers to United Nations missions.
Today, Rwanda stands as the second-largest troop and police-contributing country globally, and the first in Africa, with approximately 6,000 personnel serving under UN mandates in South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
In addition, he noted that at the formal request of the governments of Central African Republic and Mozambique, Rwanda deployed approximately 6,000 troops to assist host countries in confronting violent armed groups and terrorists.
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