“Every other person across the world wants to decide either for Rwanda or decide for Africa. And, therefore, the best thing is to let Africa and Rwanda be partners with developed countries, powerful countries. And Rwanda or Africa, therefore, decide on what we want for us ourselves going forward.”

– President Paul Kagame

I became an instant fan of Rwandan President Paul Kagame after he called out the incompetence of African leadership, and he keeps gaining points as being one of the few leaders on the continent with a backbone.

In a Livestream discussion with H.R. McMaster, the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, President Kagame calls out the United States for the tactics they use to control Africa, highlighting the backlash Rwanda received from Western nations when trying to grow its industries. He also discusses the African Union, security in the Great Lakes region, and the future of diplomatic and economic relations between Rwanda and the U.S.

The only issue I had with this discussion was President Kagame’s continued push for partnership with Western nations. Maybe it’s my ignorance of foreign policy kicking in, but I don’t see how African nations can pursue sovereignty and uniformity with other countries at the same time. When you assess the non-stop exploitation of the continent’s natural resources and citizens, reparative measures from others should no longer be an option.

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Until Next Time…

(Sources)

Photo Credit: Ze-AfricaNews