EVENT DETAILS
The Los Angeles World Affairs Council cordially invites you to attend our upcoming event:
RWANDA: BUILDING A NATION FROM A NIGHTMARE
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Dinner with His Excellency Paul Kagame: President of the
Republic of Rwanda
February 12, 2014 6:30 PM, Dinner
Hyatt Regency Century Plaza
2025 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles CA 90067
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Member $98.00
Guest of Member $108.00
Non-Member $123.00
To purchase tickets, please contact the Los Angeles World Affairs Council at (424)
258 6160 or visit The Los Angeles World Affairs Council’s Website to purchase
tickets online.
SUMMARY
RWANDA: BUILDING A NATION FROM A NIGHTMARE
The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, will address the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and UCLA’s Center for World Health over dinner on February 12th. President Kagame will talk about Rwanda’s recovery from the genocide of 1994, the country’s subsequent advances in its economy and also in health care, and the challenges facing Rwanda and its neighbors in Africa in the coming years.
President Kagame was born in southern Rwanda but when he was two, ethnic violence forced his family to flee to Uganda, where he stayed for 30 years. He returned to Rwanda in 1990 to lead the Rwanda Patriotic Front, and in July 1994 he overthrew an extremist Hutu-led government which was responsible for the killing of some 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu citizens. Since then Kagame has focused on reuniting the Rwandan people and improving their economic situation, aiming for middle income status for Rwanda by 2020 under the “Vision 2020” development plan. Rwanda has been a remarkable success story. Per capita GDP has increased from $567 in 2000 to $1,592 in 2013. 17% of the nation’s budget goes to education, making free schooling available for all children for 12 years - literacy has increased from 38% in 1978 to 71% in 2009. Improved healthcare has substantially reduced child mortality and also the prevalence of HIV and
malaria.
Kagame has won two elections, in 2003 and again in 2010, and has had close relations with the US, which has provided Rwanda with military aid and development assistance. Bill Clinton, who was President of the US during the Rwandan genocide, has said the lack of US intervention to stop the killings was a “personal failure”, and since then has been a strong personal supporter of Kagame. Rwanda also has close relations with most of its African neighbors, despite continuing instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His biographer, former New York Times reporter Stephen Kinzer, has called President Kagame “one of the most intriguing leaders in Africa”.
Please RSVP by Friday, February 7, 2014.
Cancellations must be made at least two business days in advance in order to secure a refund.
