Press conference on Commonwealth Day 2010

Eduardo del Buey (Director of Communications, Commonwealth Secretariat): Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I want to bid you welcome to Marlborough House, and I wish you all a very happy Commonwealth Day. Today, we are going to have a press conference with the honourable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; his Excellency Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda; and the Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma. We are going to begin with a brief statement by Prime Minister Manning, followed by President Kagame, followed by the Secretary-General. Then we will be opening up for questions. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Prime Minister Manning.

Prime Minister Manning: Thank you very much, Mr Chairman, the very distinguished Secretary-General, and of course, my colleague the newly minted President of Rwanda – newly minted in the context of membership of the Commonwealth – President Kagame. Ladies and gentlemen, this is my first opportunity to visit the United Kingdom and to interface with you since the very successful Commonwealth Summit in Port of Spain held in November of last year. I welcome the opportunity to be associated with the Commonwealth family once again.

The Summit in Trinidad and Tobago was indeed a great success in all respects. We broke new ground in a number of areas. First of all, the Business Forum, which was outstanding. For the first time, I believe, we interfaced not just with Commonwealth businessmen and the Commonwealth business community, but we had an engagement with businessmen from Latin America, the Western Hemisphere, and to a lesser extent, businessmen from the Far East and from Europe, so that for the first time, I believe, the Business Forum was pitched on a global basis with the concomitant consequences of that. It was very significant. In fact, it was sold out, and we had to begin to dampen the demand somewhat at the last minute. It was a very successful conference. Of course, for the first time it was held on a cruise ship on the Caribbean Sea, in the Port of Spain harbour. That was the first thing.

The second thing was our interface in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting with non-Commonwealth leaders. We did that with the very distinguished President of France, President Sarkozy, the very distinguished Prime Minister of Denmark, who was Chairman of COP15, Prime Minister Rasmussen, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, who came to Trinidad and Tobago for the second time in one year in November. He had been there before for the Fifth Summit of the Americas in April, and then he returned for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November. These three leaders came in the context of the changed negotiations that have been taking place around the world for some time, in recognition that the negotiations at that stage were not going well, and in view of the opportunity that so many heads of government from the Commonwealth would be gathered in one place so close to the COP15 in Copenhagen. The opportunity presented itself to garner some kind of consensus among a diversified group on both sides of the climate-change divide, which could have had implications, in our respectful view at the time, for a successful outcome in Copenhagen.

We were able to come to an agreement in Port of Spain, even if we were not as successful in Copenhagen. In Port of Spain, we were able to agree on several things, one of which was the need for a significant amount of funding and financing for countries that were adversely affected by climate-change developments, even if they were not responsible for it, and a recognition of the need and the ability to have access to funding in the short term. We agreed on that and other aspects of the climate change agenda in Port of Spain. Regrettably, we were not as successful in Copenhagen, but we look forward to some agreement not too long from now when we meet in Mexico later this year, for COP16. That was the second innovation that we thought we were able to have at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Port of Spain.

Thirdly, we admitted to the Commonwealth a new member, and we are very pleased to admit the very distinguished Rwanda, and the very distinguished President of Rwanda, President Kagame, who is with us this morning. I can go on and on, ladies and gentlemen. We in Trinidad and Tobago are very proud, for example, of the opening ceremony that we held at that time. We are very proud of it exposing to the Commonwealth family and to the international community the diversity that is the cultural tapestry of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Caribbean. Elements of Caribbean culture were present in that ceremony and the other ceremonies that were held during the course of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. We had a very important engagement with the youth in Port of Spain. That was also a big item on the agenda. It worked well. The Civil Society Forum was also very significant.

All in all, my dear friends, I think that we were very pleased with the outcome. Of course, we were able to expose to the international community a new facility in Port of Spain: a National Academy for the Performing Arts, which as everybody saw, we believe is acknowledged to be a world-class facility in a small developing country, seeking and striving to take its place among the great countries of the world. Thank you very much, my dear friends.

President Kagame: Good morning, distinguished ladies and gentlemen. Let me first of all thank Prime Minister Manning for the introduction, and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth for the opportunity to address you today. I am pleased to be here on this special occasion, as my country, Rwanda, is formally welcomed into the Commonwealth. For us, joining this great community is an important milestone in Rwanda’s transformational journey, along which we have already enjoyed the support of many Commonwealth countries. Let me therefore take this opportunity to appreciate the support Rwanda received in becoming the Commonwealth’s 54^th member which allows us to continue being an active and fully integrated member of the international community.

Rwanda recognises the strength of these partnerships; this is why we greatly value our membership in the Commonwealth like we do with other organisations. By associating in this way and through sharing common values, our country is able to learn from others and build on our own home-grown solutions for a brighter future.

As the newest member of the Commonwealth, Rwanda is prepared to establish stronger bonds with fellow members in a number of important areas, including the following. Firstly, the future of all nations depends on their youth, and so I hope that Rwanda can capitalise on the wide range of education and training programmes that the Commonwealth provides. Secondly, we hope to tap into the trade and investment opportunities that the Commonwealth offers so that Rwanda can expand its economy and effectively participate in the global marketplace. At the same time we believe in mutual learning and Rwanda wishes to play its role in exchanging lessons both from our recent past but also from our traditions and culture.

Rwanda is committed to the values of the Commonwealth and will contribute to strengthening the organisation, furthering our mutual development agendas and working in close partnership with other members to promote prosperity, freedom and rights for all. I thank you for your kind attention and look forward to today’s event. Thank you very much.

Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma: Thank you. This is a very special occasion for the Commonwealth and such a delight to have our Chair. I want to express gratefulness from the Secretariat for all the cooperation we have received from the government of Trinidad and Tobago for an outstanding CHOGM, as well as personally for the time that Prime Minister Manning always made available to me, whether for meetings or for a large number of telephone calls which became absolutely necessary. I think that the results were there for everyone to see, particularly the first visit of Honourable President Kagame here. I think the gods agreed, Mr President, that this is a very special occasion, and we look forward to installing your membership formally here.

I will just say this about the CHOGM; it was my first CHOGM as Secretary-General, and my belief in the Commonwealth and all its intangible and tangible benefits as a great global good was born and demonstrated to an extent which even I would not have anticipated before the conference. The amount of trust which the leaders have in this organisation, the amount of encouragement which is given to the Commonwealth in all directions and all the proposals that we had moving forward, I was extremely touched by the confidence that we can indeed bring forward the global agenda and contribute to it in very, very significant ways.

Today, with the presence of our two leaders, I would like to mention one or two special aspects of this year. Some of you might be aware of them; ‘Science, Technology and Society’ is the theme of the Commonwealth this year, and I just wanted to emphasise that the message we want to give from the Commonwealth is that the transformative benefits of science and technology must be shared by all. Also, that democratisation for which we stand in every other way, in every value, must embrace technology as well. This is because the fact that development today is closely connected with the intervention of technology and how the development divide can be spanned by a digital bridge is plain for all to see.

I just wanted to mention three particular aspects in which the Commonwealth wants to make a contribution. One is the Commonwealth Connects arm which we already have; the idea behind this is to assess member states if they want to make requests to us for national technology plans. We have already done it in respect of the Seychelles, Tonga and Belize. That is one, the other is ICT penetration and to assist them in strategies, because more and more development solutions are now linked to it, so we want to lift Commonwealth Connects.

Also our leaders, under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Manning, encouraged us to create what we are calling CPP, or Commonwealth Partnership Portal. This will have a series of windows in which new forms of networking and connectivity between all kinds of actors – whether government, non-governmental institutes or individuals – can take a part in the synergy that will be created in it. In the climate-change debate, the leaders said, ‘Yes, you can extend your environmental-good offices working on the Lake Victoria plan of action and see what more you can do, through science and technology and other means – access to finance – in our member states.’

This is also an occasion where I would like to say something, in conclusion, about our role increasingly in the cross‑cutting theme of women, because this is also, I think, the hundredth anniversary of International Women’s Day, which quite happily overlaps with Commonwealth Day. And we are looking forward to our meeting of women’s ministers in Barbados, in June: for the first time, finance ministers and women’s affairs ministers will sit together at the same table, and ask questions about how public finances can be better used to this end.

We are also launching a new project which will ask why Ministers of Women’s Affairs have relatively limited influence in cabinet decision making and best practices, and the Commonwealth plan of action is now being renewed – we are at the halfway point – on gender and human rights, gender and democracy, gender and economics, gender and HIV/Aids, and so we look forward to a year in which our work in gender will be significantly upgraded.

Lastly, you may have heard that we have a plan for a network – what we call, in shorthand, a network of election commissioners, because it is found that this is a pivotal institution for the advancement and deepening of democracy, in the way in which the citizens can have confidence in it. And so the peer group of election commissioners is going to be created very shortly, and it is for them to see how they want to take it forward, to do the highest level of standard setting for themselves. Thank you very much. This is what I wanted to draw your attention to in particular, in addition to what the honourable Chair has said. Thank you.

James Robbins (BBC): First, a general question: you may have seen the final report of the Commonwealth Conversation, which has just been published, which suggests, among its headlines, that the Commonwealth still requires bolder ambition and innovation – but also argues that the secretariat is seriously underfunded, and says that the budget has fallen, in real terms, by over 20% in the past 25 years, and that needs to change if the Commonwealth is to be more effective. Firstly, do you accept all that, and how do you build on that outcome?

And a more specific question for President Kagame, if I may. Sir, you said that you embraced Commonwealth values, and I wondered if you could set out for us specifically what you intend to do in order to meet criticisms of failings in the guarantees of human rights and media freedoms in Rwanda.

Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma: Let me take the first question. The report has come out this morning. I have glanced at it: I look forward to studying it in greater depth, but I know the bullet suggestions it has made. Thank you for making the reference to funding.

We do realise that there’s limited appetite, always, in treasuries, to be funding institutions, but I hope that we can make a case that, for the right funding of an institution, for the right programmes, and to keep it moving in the direction in which the heads want to see it move, funding does become necessary. In fact, I am in touch already with the troika of ministers – present, past and future chairs – in this connection.

Now in this report, there are many aspects which we fully support: including the emphasis on values – we are a value-based organisation, and we would like to see these principles and values advance. In fact, that is our programme already. We welcome the fact of the conversation itself, because the freedom for everyone to give an opinion about an institution is very important for the institution. We render a public service. I’ve called the Commonwealth the ‘great global good’: we render a public service, and the public of the world is entitled to know what this service is. So, in the course of the year, I think one of the results that have come out of this conversation is – and in consultation with the Chair – we will find ways of increasing the profile of this organisation, so that its mandate, its performance, its outcomes, its contributions, are much better understood and known. So on the whole, we welcome the report, and we wish to distil the lessons that are in it. Honourable President.

President Kagame: Thank you. There were varying failings in the freedoms and rights in our countries 16 years ago, and underlying that were causes that, in fact, came from outside of Rwanda. And even the 1994 genocide that took place, which was actually indicative of this failure indeed – of the freedoms and rights of the people – the actual world that talks of freedoms and rights failed to deal with this situation. So for the last 16 years, Rwanda has been rebuilding itself, and in fact, putting the pieces back together that were left after that tragic history, which the outside world – outside Rwanda – has much to share in, in terms of blame.

So in rebuilding our country in the last 16 years, we have also sought to join hands with many other countries that have a lot to contribute, if only they could contribute. As we also contribute to the wellbeing for the freedoms and rights that are talked about. I think the Commonwealth is a family where there are many failings, and failings don’t come from only one part of that family. Each family has its own failings, but when they come together, then they share good practices to overcome those failings, and that is why Rwanda sees it as very important to be part of the Commonwealth. There is a lot we are going to gain from it. There is also a lot we are going to contribute to the wellbeing of the members of the Commonwealth.

Henry Gombya (Black Star News, Str8Talk Chronicle): Mr President, we understand that you arrested General Nkunda who is wanted by the ICC in The Hague. I wonder whether you can tell us whether you are planning to hand him over or not. Secondly, as my colleague James has said, there are so many journalists who have fled from Rwanda. Most of them have gone to neighbouring countries like Uganda and Kenya and Tanzania. Furthermore, before you left Rwanda we read that you had criticised some of the media in your country for trying to interview those who are in opposition. I wonder what you see wrong in the media trying to interview those who are opposed to you and whether that is the way to go forward for a new member of the Commonwealth.

President Kagame: First of all, I need to start by correcting you. In actual fact, to my knowledge, Nkunda is not wanted by the ICC. Other people in his group were wanted by the ICC and they are not in our hands; they are in the hands of the ICC, so I wish to correct you on that. The ICC has not made any contact with us to ask for Nkunda or to say they are interested in Nkunda, so I think you need to be corrected on that.

Secondly, again on the issue of Nkunda, we are dealing with the DRC government and we are in the process of dealing with that situation as we have dealt with other situations that have been affecting the DRC as well as Rwanda. The two countries are working very well to overcome that problem, so as far as I am concerned and to my knowledge, there is very good progress.

On the question of the media and the press in our region, again, it is a question of how you want to look at it. You talk about journalists running away from Rwanda and going to neighbouring countries. As an honest observer, the region itself has many problems which every country in the region has been trying to overcome or countries in the region are working together to overcome. There have been media houses closed in those neighbouring countries you talk about, journalists have been arrested every other day, in and out of prison in those neighbouring countries. You know that. It is not like the impression you want to give, where Rwanda is forcing people to flee to better places in the neighbouring countries. I think it is a general problem where there is not one side who is right and the other side is wrong and it is permanently like that; I think it is a question of engagement and dialogue and discussion to see where the right and the wrong is. We have had journalists in Rwanda who have killed people in the genocide. It has not spared them that crime because they are journalists, so when they do that they are brought to justice like any other human beings or citizens to be held accountable. We have had journalists who have been involved in other crimes. The justice systems play their part in the country of Rwanda, the neighbouring countries or other countries beyond in dealing with that situation as they deal with other citizens. However, freedom of expression through the media, the press and so forth is something that goes on, that grows from one situation and develops for the better in the whole region as is the case with Rwanda.

Katherine Haddon (AFP): President Kagame, I wanted to ask you about the recent arrest of the widow of the former president in France and moves to have her extradited to Rwanda. Firstly, how confident are you that a French court will approve that move and secondly, can you guarantee that she will receive a fair trial in Rwanda if she is extradited?

President Kagame: This is part of an interesting conversation. You talk about justice, and there are countries that claim they have more developed systems to deal with justice, namely the developed countries. We are talking about a case that is now in France. Certainly, this woman, the wife of the former president, has been accused of being involved in the genocide in Rwanda, yet this person who has committed these crimes has been sitting in France, which is supposed to have a developed justice system which one might have expected would have seen her tried. It has not happened for the last 16 years. Therefore, if she has been arrested in France, well and good, maybe it is never too late in this case. Rwanda has been trying different cases of the involvement in genocide of many people successfully. In fact it has done that fairly and speedily in many cases and Rwanda has tried to apply other measures to deal with the huge number of cases that were there through traditional means to great success, which has contributed to the stability of the country itself.

We have seen international tribunals established; they have been there for the last 14 years. We have tried on or about 50 cases, spent billions of dollars, and we see people all around who should be tried yet are not. So I don’t know what the French justice system wants to do with this case. Hopefully they may want to try the case to its conclusion. However, we are already working with the authorities in France, making them aware of the necessary information that we have. France could either try the case or give it to Rwanda to try. Whatever happens, we expect justice to be done. That is the aim of our country. Whether we try such cases or whether they are tried elsewhere, so be it – as long as justice is seen to be done.

Mike Jarvis (BBC Caribbean Service): A question for Prime Minister Manning. Today we are welcoming Rwanda to the Commonwealth. At the same time, Commonwealth members are joining other organisations. In the case of the Caribbean and Latin America, there is a new Latin American organisation being formed, involving a number of Caribbean countries. However, at a recent meeting, the communiqué said that the Caribbean countries that are going to be part of that organisation agreed with Argentina in its disagreement with Britain regarding the Falklands. I would like to know the Prime Minister’s perspective on that from a Trinidad point of view, from a Caribbean point of view, and also from a Commonwealth point of view.

Prime Minister Manning: The matter that was discussed in Cancún was very interesting, because, for the first time, the Caribbean countries as a group were involved in a forum that essentially reflected a Latin American position on the Falkland Islands or the Malvinas. The issue was between Argentina and Britain. The Caribbean countries, caucused separately, had a different perspective on the matter, but since it was a new organisation and since the Caribbean countries did not wish, apparently, to rock the boat or to disturb what we were told was a long-standing position in Latin America, what we did was go along with the formulation, which, in reality, did not violate any of the principles to which we adhered.

I wish to remind you that when the Falklands war took place in 1982, one of the things we noticed out of Trinidad and Tobago was an increase in the sales of jet fuel from our second refinery. We found out subsequently that the reason for that was that we sold, from that refinery, a hydrogenated jet fuel, which burns smokelessly in Harrier jet engines. The records will show that the Argentineans have not seen one Harrier yet, and the Harriers that were lost were not lost to hostile fire at all. This means that Trinidad and Tobago did in fact make its own contribution on behalf of the Caribbean to the effort in respect of the Falkland Islands.

Our position is therefore very clear. However, as we form a new organisation in the Western hemisphere, it is the intention of Trinidad and Tobago, together with our CARICOM colleagues, to try to have a meeting of minds, and to try not to start an organisation like that in the midst of conflict. So we went along with a formulation that did not violate our principles. Our influence will be increasingly felt as that organisation develops and begins to grow.

Peter Musembi (BBC World Service, Swahili Language Section): President Kagame, you will probably agree that all is not well in the country, considering events in the past few days, the bombs in Kigali. If you consider that there were such occurrences in the run up to the 1994 genocide, do you agree that all is not well in the country? You previously said that security is quite okay and maintained; it does not seem so. The other question is that there are those who think that you are using the matter of dealing with genocide issues to silence the opposition in your country. Thank you.

President Kagame: The whole world experiences problems of security. There have been security issues from one corner of the world to the other and there are different reasons and causes. Maybe all is not well in that context, even in Rwanda. There have been incidents recently in Rwanda and their causes are not just recent; they are to be seen as part of the things that have happened over the past 16 years. We have had insecurity originating from eastern Congo into Rwanda, and there have been cases of insecurity in the region. The region and the East African community have been working together to deal with this situation, and Rwanda has been fully participating in making sure there is peace and stability not only in Rwanda but in the rest of the region. That is to be seen, I believe, in that context, not anything beyond that. We are certainly getting on top of things and Rwanda has been increasingly stable and secure for the last number of years, and it will continue to be so even with such incidents that take place. Fortunately, a number of arrests of people who have been behind that have been made; good information has been developed. The origins of the recent problems are getting to be well known, so we hope that will be simply uprooted in a very short time.

Second, I want to inform you that the people of Rwanda are part of this process of sure that there is peace and stability in their country, and I am really happy with the work they are doing themselves. There tends to be more noise made from outside, as if the Rwandan people inside the country did not matter. But I think they matter; they are doing a lot for their own development and stability. If that was put in the real context, the situation in Rwanda should be well appreciated. It is appreciated by Rwandans themselves.

Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma: I would just like to add a word to Commonwealth engagement with Rwanda. I am very grateful that I was received so quickly after CHOGM. I went a few weeks later in January to Rwanda. I want particularly to welcome the Foreign Minister of Rwanda as well, and to thank her for all the attention that was given to my visit there. I just want to say that from now on we are going to have a very dense roadmap of collaboration with Rwanda, in which I myself and the two Deputy Secretaries-General who are present here will be personally engaged in carrying it forward. We already have an electoral commission, and the work of the electoral commission is civic education, training of journalists and many of the areas that are coming up. It was particularly beneficial for me to be able to talk to all the main institutions at the same time: audit, women, youth, election commission, human rights, budget and so on. The strength, in the end, of the Commonwealth is institution building and sustainability of democratic societies based upon internal strength and increasing self-reliance. That is what we would be doing in very close collaboration and taking this forward.

Since there has been some interest shown in the Commonwealth as an organisation, I would like to mention that there is now an idea we are working on, which is the creation of an Eminent Persons’ Group – an EPG. The idea of this group is in this century to carry forward the work of the Commonwealth in a way in which people find is contemporary and adding value in a more specific way, apart from lifting the profile of how we do our work better and better as we go along. And we look forward to the contribution of this group over the course of the year and significant lifting of the work of the Commonwealth in the year to come. Thank you very much once again for participating in this press conference. My particular thanks to our Chair, Mr Manning, and to Mr Kagame.