Kezio-Musoke David
22 May 2008
Kigali — Fourteen years after getting the first invitation, the British Council has finally officially launched its activities in Rwanda.
Rwanda invited the British Council, a British government 'not-for-profit' agency responsible for promoting British culture throughout the world, to operate in Kigali in 1994.
The establishment of the council in Kigali will be perceived as a move Rwanda has pulled to strengthen more of her Anglophone.
It will also give Rwanda a nod for her 2003 application to join the Commonwealth, a 53-member, English-speaking club of countries, most of whom have colonial ties to the United Kingdom.
The application is due for approval next year.Rwanda, like neighbouring Burundi, was colonised by Belgium.
After independence in 1962, it became an important player in the Francophone world and enjoyed close relations with France, which allegedly sent forces to help the late despot, President Juvenal Habyarimana, repel the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in 1990.
Establishment of the British Council in Kigali will also mean that Rwanda will be "building mutually beneficial relationships between her people and the people of the UK."
Rwandans, a majority of whom are more Francophone, will in the process have to start appreciating the British creative ideas and achievements.
And since British Council offices around the world are tasked with promoting British culture, language and business ,it will be required to do the same in Rwanda.
Rwanda, formerly a Francophone country, is now the only officially bi-lingual country in the East African Community (EAC).
Burundi, despite joining the EAC in July last year, is still an entirely French- speaking country.
As Rwandans witnessed the opening of the British Council last Thursday at the Rwanda Institute of Administration and Management, the large French Embassy in the centre of the Kigali still stood empty.
The Franco-Rwandan Cooperation Centre also still remained closed. The two French institutions were closed in November 2006, when Rwanda and France broke diplomatic ties.
The bitter relations between the two countries came to a head when a politically inspired French judge, Jean Louis Bruguiere accused Mr Kagame and several of his top aides of shooting down the aircraft carrying Habyarimana, the former President of the pre-genocidal era of Rwanda.
Kigali retaliated by severing relations with Paris. Thousands of infuriated Rwandans took to the street in anti-French protests.
Commentators say that Paris was so concerned about the creeping influence of the English language and Kigali's stance on attracting all players in building a nation that had been affected by the 1994 post-genocidal war.
It is this desire to involve as many players in the development of Rwanda that prompted the country to apply to join the English-speaking Commonwealth.
In the Francophone world, the French always promoted their policy of La défense de la ligne de la francophonie which is loosely translated as "defence of the French-speaking line".
At the launch of the British Council in Kigali, Mr Tom Hinton, the Council's Regional Manager for English and Professional Development, said the Council had carried out a research, which indicated that, "many Rwandans of 17 to 35 years preferred to study in English to graduate level."
According to Education Minister Dr Daphrose Gahakwa, the Rwandan government has since asked to study the research findings.
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, defending his country's move to join the Commonwealth, has always said, "There are many benefits for us in joining the Commonwealth. They include cultural, economic and political benefits."
Mr Kagame, who was invited to last year's Commonwealth Summit in Kampala as an observer, saw his participation being received with a positive flavour.
The creation of the Rwandan Cricket Association (RCA) in 2000 and Rwanda's subsequent joining of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as an affiliate member in 2002 was hard to imagine as an act, more calculated to put the French noses more out of joint.
The ICC is a body closely associated with the British Empire and the Queen.
Before the coming of the British Council to Kigali, the British government was already an active partner in promoting Rwanda's education sector since the 1994 Genocide.
Fifty per cent of Rwanda's donor aid is also from the British Department for International Development (DFID), which makes it the leading donor to Rwanda's national budget.
Speaking at the British Council launch, Education Minister, Dr Daphrose Gahakwa said that the Memorandum of understanding signed between Rwanda and the British Council would be evaluated after a year.
Dr Gahakwa also cautioned that Rwanda's adoption of English as one of its official languages should not be translated as a preference or an identification of one particular European country.
She said English is a language rich in scientific materials and with global audience.
British Council's English language programme has already enrolled 200 Rwandan students who have been attending lectures for the past 12 weeks.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
