Rwanda's peaceful institution rebuilding efforts touted as fruitful

Rwanda has worked hard to rebuild strong institutions to prevent genocide from recurring, said Donatille Mukabalisa, speaker of the chamber of deputies of Rwanda, Monday at the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament.

Mukabalisa said that Rwanda rebuilding the country to ensure peace and security had required considerable sacrifice in a country that already had to deal with the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, where "one Rwandan out of (every) seven was killed in a hundred days."

"(Rwanda needed) to establish a climate of peace and stability for all; to rebuild inclusive governance, structures and to promote economic and social development," said Mukabalisa.

Considerable sacrifice is required for Rwandans in this rebuilding process, she claimed. "This did not happen overnight."

Because Rwanda worked hard to rebuild its governance structures, it is now able to help other countries, including through contributing troops to UN peacekeeping operations, Mukabalisa said.

"(Rwanda) strongly believes in building strong institutions and a very strong legal framework to foster unity and reconciliation with a view to preventing future genocide even beyond our borders," she said. "Hence our involvement on the international arena as one major troop and police contributing country in peacekeeping."

Mukabalisa also spoke about the Sustainable Development Goals -- a set of 17 economic and social development goals -- expected to be adopted by world leaders here in September, believing it was important for sustainable development to also consider issues of peace and security.

"The prevailing conflicts around the world is a constant reminder on the pressing need to quickly build our own capacities to confront challenges likely to trigger a conflict by properly addressing their root causes," she added. Endit