Heads Of State

"We do not agree with any policy that nurtures and allows counterrevolutionary forces to carry out activities against Vietnam. We want the U.S. to cooperate with us. As you know we just ratified a trade agreement between the two countries. On the principle of non-interference and respect for national independence and sovereignty, there is no reason for the U.S. to allow or to nurture such groups to carry out activities against Vietnam. We are ready to discuss any of these issues."

"Tanzania, under the leadership of the respected African leader, Teacher Julius Nyerere, was leading the African liberation struggle, and the capital, Dar es Salaam, was chosen as the headquarters of the African Liberation Committee, which is affiliated with the Organization of African Unity."

"I offer expertise, I offer emotion and I offer a healthy activist approach. So I offer my mind, my heart and my hands."

"The process of global climate change must be slowed down and reversed, otherwise it can have major consequences."

"Genocide denial is a dangerous and deliberate attempt to block the truth, we must fight revisionist and ideologist because they are easily passed on from generation to generation and that is how history repeats itself."

"Remember that in the time of need when we needed every help we could get, the world turned its back on us. The message is ‘you are on your own’, So we should learn to be on our own and I think we have learnt enough."

"One lesson that our country learnt is to transform challenges into opportunities and also use so little to do a lot. There is nothing Rwandans cannot overcome through unity, hard work, and perseverance."

"You can run but can’t hide. There is no hiding place for you from these very facts of our history. So even those who have their time to say whatever they want to say, they will say it. Maybe they will do many things based on that as well. But the fact is, they cannot find a place to hide."

"So, it’s very clear that the wounds are still deep. But Rwandans, I thank all of you, for refusing to be defined by this tragic history, and people have managed to turn the page and move forward from grieving, from crying, and people have decided to live on. And even, people have been ready, have been willing, to do the most difficult thing, one or the other, they have decided to forgive, but we can’t forget."

"But we have our lives to live, all of us, and nobody, I want to say nobody, will ever decide for us how to live our lives. We have strength, incredible strength, coming from this history that informs us, that tells us that you should never, never, allow anybody else to dictate to you how you live your life. And that is Rwanda today."

"We are polite people, we are humble people, we know where we come from, we know who we are, we listen, but at the end of the day, I want to assure you, that for as long as some of us are still here, what I’m saying is just what is going to happen, that we shall have to live our lives, live the best way we can just like other people elsewhere in the world, and they have no right, and we will not even accept, that dictating to us how we live our lives can happen."

"Rwandans will not accept any attempt to divide us. We had enough of it. More than enough. That will not succeed again here, ever."

"Our hearts are filled with grief and gratitude in equal measure. We remember our dead and are also grateful of what Rwanda has become. (7 April 2024)"

"There is no hiding place for you from these very facts of our history."

"It's very clear that wounds are still deep but “Rwandans, I thank all of you for refusing to be defined by this tragic history."

"People have managed to turn the page and move forward from grieving, crying and have decided to live on and even willing to do the most difficult thing one way or the other, they have decided to forgive but we can’t forget."

"We are polite and humble people, we know where we come from, we know who we are, we listen but at the end of the day I want to assure you that as long as some of us are still here...we shall have to live our lives the best way we can"

"Education is one of the primary things we prioritize in the development of our country, the people, and our collaboration with other countries. The educational outcomes are supportive https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/20100/news/politics/kagame-tasks-new-minister-nsengimana-to-advance-countrys-education(13 September 2024)"

"To our young people, we expect you to take Rwanda even further ahead, beyond what we have ever imagined."

"We take pride in aiming high, because that is possible and best way to live our lives. In any case, it is well within our means and capabilities."

"Always remember that we are entirely capable of shaping the future that we want and deserve."

"There is no peace for some and not for others. We all need the same peace. We will continue to stand for historical clarity regarding our situation, and will never accept to be painted as something we are not."

"At the heart of Rwanda's progress lies a simple but powerful truth: you can not expect others to invest in you, if you do not invest in yourself."

"In 2024, we marked 30 years since the Genocide against the Tutsi, and the liberation of our country. These dual anniversaries serve as a powerful reminder of how far we have come, driven by a shared purpose to move forward and rebuild. Together let us continue on this path."

"Unfortunately, we continue to see instability in our region along our borders. I want to assure you that Rwanda's security and sovereignty will always be fully protected, by all means necessary."

"Shortcuts and temporary fixes can not resolve this issue. There has to be a comprehensive solution that deals with root causes, in the medium and long term, which should guarantee lasting peace for all the peoples of our region. This is important for all of us, without exception."

"Africa’s story has been written by others; we need to own our problems and solutions and write our story.."

"When we need to protect this country that has suffered for so long, no one is helping us, I don't need anyone's permission to do what we have to do to protect ourselves"

"Rwanda has transformed itself, unity is the foundation of everything we try to do. For the beginning we understood the need to cultivate and preserve the spirit of oneness to give us hope for a better future"

"So, Rwanda has transformed itself. Unity, being together, is the foundation of everything we try to do. From the beginning, we understood the need to cultivate and preserve a spirit of “oneness” to give us hope for a better future."

"Genocide denial is a dangerous and deliberate attempt to block the truth."

"These are not people with whom we can hold talks. Maskhadov does not control the situation and, more importantly, he’s a terrorist. No country in the world is willing to deal with terrorists."

"The savagery we must bear is not new. We remember Stalin’s salt mines, his guard towers, barbed wire and unmarked graves. The pain of exodus and genocide we have known before. So we recognise the others with whom we share a terrible kinship of horror. The skeletal Jews and Romani in the ovens of Dachau and Auschwitz. The bayonet fodder of Nanjing. The ancient, wide-eyed children of Biafra. The pleading mother and baby facing the rifles at My Lai. The marsh Arabs of Iraq choked by the clouds of mustard gas. The Tutsi of Rwanda butchered on the Kigali road by the knives of the Interahamwe. They are all our martyred brothers and sisters in the legacy of senseless murder. Only our slaughter, our death is not yesterday’s, it belongs in the living nightmare of the present. How many Chechens will have died in the time you take to read this letter?"

"If you continue to stand idly by while my people vanish in a bloodbath, if you fail to act with conviction and resolve as you did in Rwanda, Chechen ghosts will stain your honour as surely as they do Russia’s. May God grant you the wisdom and vision to serve the cause of peace and justice."

"As a politician, he was extremely weak, extremely distrustful, very dependent on the intrigues of people surrounding him."

"Beyond the confines of my tiny country, my words seem to count for little, just as the anguished cry of my people still astonishingly leaves you mute and deaf. So I will continue to write until the silence is pierced."

"You will soon gather in Genoa amidst the splendor and ceremony that befits your place in the front rank of nations. Guards of honour will salute you, you will meet in palaces and the world will listen to your every word. But I write you from a killing ground putrid with slaughter and like my brethren I remain a hunted man in my own country. I too won the privilege and responsibility of leading my nation from the ballot box, but Moscow calls me a bandit, a terrorist and a criminal."

"You will join in your summit to consider debt relief for the impoverished developing world. This is a laudable aim, and it is the hope no doubt of countless millions that humanitarian concern motivates the strong to seek an end to indentured misery for the weak. But if you acknowledge the quiet violence of poverty upon the destitute and the hungry why do you turn away from us? We who die in the flames of the Kremlin’s dirty war, are we less worthy of compassion? What has made us invisible to you? I fear I know the answer. I fear the cold exigencies of realpolitik ensure your inaction and seal our fate. Lest you damage an uncertain relationship with a fragile and volatile new Russia, you are willing to overlook the annihilation of my people. In your eyes, for the sake of larger interests we are an expendable nation."

"If reason triumphs among our Kremlin opponents, we can end this war at the negotiating table. If not, then most likely blood will be spilled for a long time to come but we will not be morally responsible for the continuation of this madness."

"There was also the religious factor. As a military man I knew the capacity of the Russian army. When a Russian column was advancing and you had no proper ammunitions left and you were waiting for them to move 200 or 300 meters to destroy them and you succeeded – these were miracles. That was when the religious factor came into play. You began to believe that the outcome was in the hands of God."

"I, Aslan Maskhadov, the democratically elected President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, write this desperate appeal in the name of my people, the victims of a genocidal war whose daily murder has yet to awaken the conscience of the world you lead. We are as wretched, bloody and enslaved as you are rich, mighty and free."

"Out of a population that once numbered a million, one in seven Chechens is now dead. 250,000 of our civilians are refugees. Bereft of the most basic necessities, many are ravaged by disease and malnutrition, especially the elderly and the young. More than 20,000 civilians and resistance members endure imprisonment in the new Gulags, the so-called filtration camps. Held in dehumanizingly foul and primitive conditions with little or no medical care that far exceed the worst standards of the Russian penal system, life in the improvised camps sees the sadistic and systematic use of torture. Burning with cigarettes, crippling beatings, suffocation, drowning in human excrement, mutilation with knives, high voltage electric shock and sexual abuses are only some of the common practices. Many prisoners are ultimately killed. Surely for some this must be a welcome deliverance from hell."

"The people of Russia will experience constant fear of possible retribution by suicide bombers in revenge for the evil deeds of the [Federal Security Service] and the federal forces in Chechnya."

"When the interests of Western states and those of Russia collide in the Caucasus, when the leaders of those Western states comprehend the level of danger to the entire civilized world that emanates from Russia, then they will line up and beg us Chechens to agree to end the war."

"In 1945 you defeated the evils of militarism, fascism and Nazism. Those nations among you that had given birth to the monstrous juggernaut and holocaust of world war, vowed never to repeat the same fatal errors and forged yourselves in a new spirit to stand proudly among the elder democracies."

"Like most Chechens of his generation, Maskhadov was born in exile in Kazakhstan, where Chechens had been deported en masse in 1944 under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The exile added fuel to Chechens’ resentment of Russians."

"We are well-prepared for this summer and autumn. And in view of the mood among our fighters, I can tell you that the situation will undergo a radical change. After the referendum, the activities of the resistance units sharply increased."

"Both the President and the government of the Russian Federation are unable to clearly understand the situation and the imminent dangers. They don't care whether the state collapses; they only care about the upcoming Russian presidential and parliamentary elections."

"Don't expect anything good from the puppets and enemies. The day will soon come when the occupation forces will leave Chechnya."

"We are going through hard times now. The enemy is within us but it is invisible. We are one nation, we have one religion but there is no accord between us."