No Enemy of Our Neighbors Will Operate on Rwandan Soil - Kagame

Anyone who wants to destabilise Rwanda’s neighbours will never be allowed to operate in Rwanda, President Paul Kagame has said.

He made the remarks in Rusizi District on August 26 while addressing over 400 opinion leaders from Western Province where he also spoke at length about security issues and development, New Times, a Rwandan government owned newspaper reports.

Security remains our top priority because if there is no security nothing can be done, the Rwandan President is reported to have said.

"The way we want to live in harmony in our country is the same way we want to get along with our neighbours...so that everyone can be safe and able to do what they want to do,” he is quoted to have said.

Kagame has since on Thursday been on a four-day tour in Rwanda's Western and Southern provinces where he met residents, opinion leaders, and toured different development projects.

"I want to add that Rwandans, be it those who live here in Rusizi and all those who live along other border areas; it is important that we find ways to live well with our neighbours. There will not be anyone who wants to destabilise a neighbouring country and finds a place in Rwanda where they can operate,” Kagame added.

Rusizi borders both Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

During the citizen outreach programme, Kagame put emphasis on development and welfare of the people, pushing for effective and timely delivery of services that impact people’s lives.

While addressing opinion leaders in Rusizi District he took stock of Rwanda’s journey to development saying that the country had to be rebuilt from nothing to where it is today.

"The biggest challenge we have a country is to create value from very little you have from the little you have. That’s our biggest challenge but not an impossible task. We have little, we started from little but now, if you look at numbers you will find that there is a lot that has been achieved and people wonder how we did it,” Kagame said.

The four-day citizen outreach programme ends on Sunday, August 208 with the President visiting Karongi District where he will tour the Rugabano Tea Factory which has the capacity to process 1,000,000 kilograms of tea per year.