General Kabarebe addresses ALU students on ethical leadership and Rwanda's liberation struggle

On Tuesday, Rwanda's senior presidential defense and security advisor, General James Kabarebe, addressed students at the African Leadership University (ALU) in Kigali. He argued that as future leaders, they should be led by integrity and stick to ethical values.

During a dialogue with the students about the role of ethical leadership in addressing contemporary security challenges in Africa, General James Kabarebe reiterated the journey of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) in the struggle to liberate the country and stop the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. He used Rwanda's rebuilding story to influence their thinking.

"The RPF had a well-defined vision embraced by all fighters, and they remained focused on it. That's why, even in the face of the genocide that we did not anticipate during the liberation struggle, the RPF kept focused on the Rwanda that they were fighting for, which is a united and developing Rwanda as we witness today," said General James Kabarebe.

General Kabarebe emphasized the good and visionary leadership that they had during the genocide struggle, which was the rock pillar at the forefront of this struggle and led to the triumph and the developing Rwanda that exists today.

"All the fighters understood the mission and had a desire to fulfill it, but the enabling factor to maintain that entire environment, to ensure the success of the struggle, was the exceptional leadership of our President Paul Kagame. In the absence of everything else that we did not have, the exceptional wisdom of the leader was a very strong ingredient for the success of this struggle," he added.

General James Kabarebe also urged the youth to be characterized by good values, as it will assist them in bringing the necessary changes for the development of their countries.

The African Leadership University aims to prepare a generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders for a better future of Africa. Its students come from different countries on the continent, and some of them reiterated the lessons learned during this discussion.

"The war to secure Rwanda back into a peaceful nation is that they had discipline conquered them. They were ruled by discipline, so as a future leader, I believe that this is a factor that I will include in my future life," said Delicia Kaliza.

"A key and repeated message was that we need to have a leader who can steer the country forward, a leader who is visionary, who can have the people and the masses at heart. And I think that was a strong message from this specific discussion we had with the General," added Isaac Odhiambo.

This activity was held to commemorate the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in 1994, and the students of the African Leadership University also took time to pay tribute to the victims of the genocide.