President Paul Kagame has said that the main reason he and his colleagues decided to launch the struggle to liberate Rwanda was the continued refusal by the government of Juvénal Habyarimana to allow Rwandan refugees to return to their homeland.
He explained that preventing Rwandans from returning home was a serious problem that required a lasting solution, and that peaceful efforts had eventually failed.
President Kagame made these remarks on July 28, 2026, during a meeting with members of the 16th cohort of Indangamirwa youth trainees attending a civic and leadership training program at the Gabiro Military Training Centre in Gatsibo District.
In his address, he explained to the young participants the historical events that forced many Rwandans into exile beginning in 1959, following acts of discrimination and violence that caused large numbers of people to flee the country.
He said: never attended what was called an Itorero. Where I grew up, it was not known by that name. I was in a place where I was searching for the problem that existed and how it could be solved.”
President Kagame noted that he became a refugee in Uganda at a young age and that, upon reaching adulthood, he began reflecting on what could be done to bring the refugee problem to an end.
He added that at the age of 23 he met other Rwandans who faced the same problem of being denied the right to return home, and they joined efforts to seek a solution.
The President urged the trainees to begin early in life to think about their own interests, those of their families, and those of their country. He also commended the values of patriotism and Rwandan identity that they are being taught.
He reminded the youth that weapons should not be used recklessly, but only when every other means of resolving a problem has failed.
“When people are deprived of their rights and have no other way to reclaim them, that is when the difficult decision is made to fight for those rights,” he said.
President Kagame recalled that when refugees demanded the right to return, some officials in Habyarimana’s government argued that Rwanda was too small to accommodate the Rwandans living in exile.
He stressed that it could never have been acceptable for Rwandans and their descendants to continue living as refugees while they had their own country.
He explained that the problem was not the countries that hosted the refugees, but rather the government that denied them the right to return home.
Concluding his remarks, President Kagame called on the youth to learn to defend their rights and to understand that no one should determine how Rwandans ought to live.
He said that the history Rwanda has gone through should serve as a lesson for young people to love their country and be ready to stand up for it.
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