Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has revealed that Rwanda plans to build a monument at Ghana’s Burma Camp military facility to honor Ghanaian troops for their pivotal role in saving lives during the 1994 Rwandan genocide
In an interview on TV3, Ablakwa highlighted Rwanda’s enduring gratitude toward Ghana’s armed forces, which stayed behind when many international contingents withdrew amid the violence that claimed nearly one million lives.
“Rwanda continues to celebrate Ghana because of what our armed forces did when other countries left during their genocide that very horrendous episode they don’t want to remember,” Ablakwa said.
He credited Ghanaian troops with staying on the ground, saving lives, and establishing humanitarian corridors that enabled later aid deliveries.
The minister noted that Rwanda has bestowed its highest national honors on Ghanaian commanders, particularly the late Lt. Gen. Henry Kwami Anyidoho, who led the Ghanaian contingent as force commander for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR).
“They celebrate him to this day,” Ablakwa added. “When General Anyidoho arrives in Rwanda, he has received the highest national award.”
Ablakwa disclosed that the Rwandan government has formally written to Ghana’s Foreign Ministry requesting permission to construct the monument.
“Do you know the Rwandans have written to the foreign ministry that they want to come to Ghana and establish a monument?” he told the TV3 host, who responded in surprise: “They have?”
“Yes,” Ablakwa affirmed, explaining that he had assembled a committee which selected Burma Camp as the site.
“They are coming. They say that they don’t want us to contribute anything. They are going to use their own Rwandan taxpayer resources.”
The initiative stems directly from Ghana’s peacekeeping intervention, the host probed.
Ablakwa confirmed, “The intervention. They say that if our troops didn’t come there on peacekeeping and didn’t stay, they don’t know if they will be alive today.”
Construction is set to begin in the coming days, Ablakwa said, positioning the monument as “an eternal and enduring appreciation” of Ghana’s sacrifice.
Source: www.Kumasimail.com
