HON MINISTER OF DEFENCE CLOSING REMARKS AT THE TENTH NATIONAL SECURITY SYMPOSIUM

Kigali, 19 May 2023

•   Hon Ministers
•   The Chief of Defence Staff
•   Service Chiefs
•   Excellency Ambassadors
•   The Vice Chancellor, University of Rwanda
•   Deputy Commandant of RDF Command and Staff College;
•   Distinguished guests; Panelists and Moderators of this symposium;
•   General officers; senior officers;
•   Dear Participants;
•   Good Afternoon!

1. It is my honor to be with you this afternoon for the closing ceremony of  yet another National Security Symposium on the theme; 'Contemporary Security Challenges, the African perspective.' First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the speakers for their valuable contribution to the Symposium and my deepest gratitude goes to all participants for honoring this event with their presence and for participating actively in the sessions. I thank you most sincerely.

2. I would like to also commend the College, University of Rwanda and  Rwanda Convention Bureau for the excellent planning and execution of this Symposium. I wish to applaud Kigali Convention Centre and Radisson Blu for being excellent hosts. Thank you, Rwanda Events, for turning our abstract wishes and designs into reality. We all know what goes into planning and executing an event of this magnitude and it is not easy. We are extremely appreciative to you for a well-planned, well-executed, and enjoyable conference. We already want to come back next year!

Distinguished Participants,

3. Engaging in an intellectual discourse of this nature is vital in finding solutions to emerging threats at national, regional and international level. These discussions allow us to harness our strengths and opportunities in order to deal with our threats and weaknesses by exploiting our collective effort. The diversity of our panellists in this symposium as well as the participants reflects the understanding of security challenges and the need to find collective or common solutions.

4. We hope that recommendations derived from these deliberations shall be transformed into action. This is always the biggest challenge. I wish to note that there is no magic bullet to a given crisis or problem. Rather we must adopt a multi-dimensional and collective approach that involves several actors and options of dealing with a problem.

5. It is my conviction that this symposium has addressed a reasonable portion of the security challenges affecting the Continent and has prescribed some practical solutions to that effect. There is also no doubt that we have extracted invaluable lessons that will inform our various undertakings. Some of the key takeaways that I can point out include:

•   That the international order today is a broken system that needs to be revamped immediately.
•   Two, it is evident that the world is becoming divided and Africa must define itself and live by her own aspirations.
•   Three, our words must be followed by deeds if we are to translate the visions and dreams of our peoples into real life needs.
•   Four, without fair and honest strategic context, there is a risk we will likely assume a future that supports our assumptions and biases.
•   Last but not least, as a Continent we need to identify and focus on the essentials.

Thank you once again for the wake-up call.

6. Let me once again thank the leadership of the College and University of Rwanda for organising this important event in such a way as to address issues that are directly linked to security and we hope that this will feed into the ongoing continental soul-searching.

7. I thank you for your kind attention, and I wish you all journey mercies to your respective destinations and I hereby declare this symposium closed.