{"id":104696,"date":"2025-07-04T15:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T15:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame"},"modified":"2025-07-04T16:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T16:45:17","slug":"rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>President Paul Kagame has reiterated Rwanda\u2019s commitment to self-reliance and national sovereignty, noting that the country cannot depend on the shifting interests of external powers.<\/p>\n

Speaking to senior editors and international correspondents during a media interaction marking the 31st anniversary of Rwanda\u2019s Liberation, Kagame addressed the country\u2019s progress in building independence and resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Rwanda, I can account for everything that you ask me. What I can\u2019t account for is what others have been doing,\u201d the Head of State said, responding to a question on how close the country has come to achieving the kind of self reliance it envisioned in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cRwanda has constantly been changing. But those powerful countries, and how they see us, or other African countries, has really not changed. It\u2019s the same story. They still don\u2019t care. Not only don\u2019t they care, but they actually want to stop us from caring for ourselves. That\u2019s the biggest problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kagame pointed to the situation, early this year, just before the AFC\/M23 rebels captured swathes of territory in eastern DR Congo, including the biggest cities of Goma and Bukavu, and the huge numbers of armaments and fighters the Congolese government coalition had assembled to overrun Rwanda, to paint a clear picture of what he was saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust before the fall of Goma, Bukavu and other parts, what had been assembled by government and those they call their allies…even in terms of mobilising the support of other countries to support that, you would not believe it! What happened, happened, and, you saw it. It was Rwanda saying \u2018it won\u2019t happen here again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018An act of survival\u2019<\/p>\n

In January, residents of Rubavu District who braved days of shelling from the neighboring DR Congo told The New Times that the shelling on Rwandan territory by the Congolese army coalition would have claimed more lives than it did had it not been for the resolve of the country\u2019s security organs to shield the population.<\/p>\n

In the days leading up to the seizure of Goma by the AFC\/M23 rebels, the DR Congo-backed genocidal FDLR militia \u2013 a UN and US-sanctioned terror group founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda \u2013 had moved dangerously too close to the Rwandan border and, together with their allies, were shelling into Rwanda.<\/p>\n

The RDF repelled their advance.<\/p>\n

Kagame said: \u201cThat doesn\u2019t just come anyhow. You have to have made progress on many fronts to be able to stand for yourself and respond to all the things that are brought your way to destroy you. I think that story may speak for itself, for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we hadn\u2019t been building the unity of purpose, the strength to preserve ourselves and live, Rwanda would be living on the whims of others.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others. No! It happened once [during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi]. It will not happen again. Once was too many times. For the second one, someone else will pay for it. They will be the ones to go! They will be the ones to perish. Not Rwanda, again. I have repeated this. It is not bragging. It is an act of survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t owe our living to anyone. Never, will it happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. President Paul Kagame has reiterated Rwanda\u2019s commitment to self-reliance and national sovereignty, noting that the country cannot depend on the shifting interests of external powers. Speaking to senior editors and international correspondents during a media interaction marking the 31st anniversary of Rwanda\u2019s Liberation, Kagame addressed the country\u2019s progress in building independence and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":104695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[7549,758],"class_list":["post-104696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-kwibohora-31","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nRwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Paul Kagame has reiterated Rwanda\u2019s commitment to self-reliance and national sovereignty, noting that the coun ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Paul Kagame has reiterated Rwanda\u2019s commitment to self-reliance and national sovereignty, noting that the coun ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-04T15:59:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-04T16:45:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-04T15:59:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-04T16:45:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame\"},\"wordCount\":578,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Kwibohora 31\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame\",\"name\":\"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame - Rwanda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-04T15:59:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-04T16:45:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"President Paul Kagame has reiterated Rwanda\u2019s commitment to self-reliance and national sovereignty, noting that the coun ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\",\"name\":\"Rwanda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame - Rwanda","description":"President Paul Kagame has reiterated Rwanda\u2019s commitment to self-reliance and national sovereignty, noting that the coun ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame","og_description":"President Paul Kagame has reiterated Rwanda\u2019s commitment to self-reliance and national sovereignty, noting that the coun ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame","og_site_name":"Rwanda","article_published_time":"2025-07-04T15:59:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-04T16:45:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame","datePublished":"2025-07-04T15:59:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-04T16:45:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame"},"wordCount":578,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg","keywords":["Kwibohora 31","Rwanda"],"articleSection":["all news","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame","name":"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame - Rwanda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-04T15:59:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-04T16:45:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"President Paul Kagame has reiterated Rwanda\u2019s commitment to self-reliance and national sovereignty, noting that the coun ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/07\/sm_1751634598.321609.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/rwanda-cannot-live-on-the-whims-of-others-kagame#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rwanda cannot live on the whims of others \u2013 Kagame"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/","name":"Rwanda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}