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afrol News, 13 May - The Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, has said that the three-day State Visit of President and Mrs. Muluzi of Malawi to Rwanda serves as a landmark for the coming-of-age of Malawi-Rwanda relations. President Kagame said this at a State Banquet he hosted in their honour on Tuesday evening. - Your visit to Rwanda demonstrates the strong desire by your Government to actively promote relations between our two countries, President Kagame said. It is "our earnest hope that this historic State Visit will be a landmark for the growth of relations between Malawi and Rwanda," President Kagame added. President Kagame paid tribute to President Muluzi for "outstanding leadership of the Malawian people by creating an environment that encourages wealth-creation and development." Speaking at the same occasion, President Muluzi commended President Kagame for taking steps to resolve the conflict in the DRC. "Let me commend Your Excellency for the efforts and contributions you have made recently towards resolving the problems in the DRC" President Muluzi said. President Muluzi said that it is the desire of his Government to strengthen ties with Rwanda, and establish a resident diplomatic mission of Malawi in Rwanda. "There are also many products that we can exchange. We need to sit down and agree how we can expand trade between us - we in Malawi believe that the consolidation of our young democracies in this region will largely depend on the attainment of sustained economic growth and development. We shall count on Rwanda and its people as our bilateral partners in this endeavour and many others," President Muluzi said. On Wednesday morning, President Muluzi and his wife had visited the Murambi Genocide Site at Gikongoro. They were accompanied by President Kagame and wife. During the emotional tour, President and Mrs. Muluzi were told that over 40,000 Rwandans were massacred at the site, a former technical school, beginning on April 21st 1994. The killing lasted 2 days.
President and Mrs. Muluzi later laid wreaths at the graves where some of the victims of this massacre were later given dignified re-burials in 1995. Speaking after being introduced to the people of Gikongoro, President Muluzi said, "I cannot believe what I have seen. My heart is filled with grief and sorrow." - My message to Rwanda, Africa and the entire world is that what happened here should never, ever, happen again, President Muluzi added. "What the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda should teach us all is that we must learn to live together as one." President Muluzi left Rwanda on Friday. Muluzi expressed appreciation for the warm and brotherly hospitality accorded to him by the government and people of Rwanda. He extended an invitation to President Kagame to pay a return visit to Malawi. Paul Kagame gladly accepted the invitation. The Rwandan President this week also had met with Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, who on Tuesday made a brief working visit to Rwanda for talks with Kagame. Kagame briefed Obasanjo about events in the Great Lakes Region. On Monday, Kagame held talks with President Robert Mugabe on a one-day working visit to Zimbabwe. In Harare, issues surrounding the conflict in the DRC were discussed. Sources:
Rwandan govt. sources and afrol archives
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