On the eve of the 01st July 2012 corresponding to the 50th Anniversary of the Independence of Rwanda, the National University of Rwanda (NUR) organized debates to reflect on the history of Independent Rwanda with the objective to get a good understanding of the past and clearly describe future perspectives.

At NUR, the debates on the celebration of 50 years of the Independence of Rwanda lasted three days and focused on three different topics: On 27th June 2012, the topic of discussion was “50 Years of Rwandan Independence: Illusions, Realities and Perspectives”, on 28th June 2012, the topic discussed was “Challenges and Opportunities of Africa after 50 Years of Independence” and on 29th June 2012, the topic was “The Long Road towards Economic Independence of Africa: The Case of Rwanda”

Prof. Paul Rutayisire, expert in Rwandan History and also director of the Centre for Conflict Management and his co presenters explained how Rwanda got an ostensible independence which was marked by divisionism among Rwandans. Prof. Rutayisire went on saying that colonizers encouraged hatred among Rwandans which resulted in killings of Tutsis. This led the mass of refugees to flee to neighboring countries in1959”.

Yves Rugira who is a fourth year student in Sociology stated that he learnt from discussions how Rwandan Independence resulted in conflict among Rwandans instead of uniting them. He said, “I was very happy to participate in the discussions about 50 years of the Independence of Rwanda whereby I understood how colonizers handed the so called Independence over Rwandans. This inspires me as a young citizen to know that “United we stand, divided we fall”.

The discussions about 50 years of Independence of Rwanda gathered NUR academic, administrative staff and students.

One member of the public Participating in a discussion session about 50 years of Independence of Rwanda

By Jean Baptiste Micomyiza