[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
[February 19, 2008]
[Pages 231-238]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference With President Paul Kagame of Rwanda in Kigali
February 19, 2008

    President Kagame. President, it's my great pleasure, it's the 
pleasure of the whole country to welcome you, Mr. President, and Mrs. 
Laura Bush and your distinguished delegation. We thank you very much for 
your visit, your friendship, and your support. These have made a 
substantive difference to many lives in our country.
    President Bush. Thank you.
    President Kagame. The bilateral investment treaty that we have just 
signed is further testimony to your commitment and the good will of the 
American people. Mr. President, your visit is a reflection that the 
United States and Rwanda have shared values. We believe in investing in 
our people. We share a commitment to expanding our people's economic and 
the democratic aspirations. We believe in strong and effective 
institutions accountable to our respective citizens. But as it is well 
appreciated, different countries begin their democratic and development 
agenda from different circumstances.
    You saw for yourself there is also decades of bad politics and bad 
leadership when you visited the genocide memorial that you just saw this 
morning. The country you are visiting today was vastly different 14 
years ago, when the very survival of Rwanda as a nation was in question. 
But the Rwandan people refused to give up hope, and we have instead 
embarked on the task of healing, reconstruction, and development.
    The results of these efforts may be illustrated by our modest 
achievements in such areas as education, health, and a general 
improvement towards sustainable economic growth. Rwandans and the more--
especially our youth--have hope in a better future. Primary school 
enrollment has risen to about 96 percent, spurred by tuition-free 
education. In our concerted effort to invest in our people, we have 
extended universal education to the very first 3 years of secondary 
education. And we intend to do more through the entire value chain of 
trade.
    In the field of health, immunization coverage has risen to 95 
percent. Thanks to American support and partnership, thousands of 
Rwandan children and mothers are alive and have hope because of the 
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program. Malaria has almost 
been eliminated in our country due in large part to the President's 
Malaria Initiative.
    On the economic front, today's agreement will certainly deepen our 
economic collaboration, Mr. President. Mr. President, we share a deep 
commitment to democracy and good governance. In this respect, we in 
Rwanda believe strongly in power sharing and consensus-building as a 
cornerstone of our political dispensation. This perspective has been 
made the centerpiece of our Constitution, informed by our particular 
history and the circumstances that disenfranchised communities and 
political

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expressions, often leading to calamities. We know that governance has 
both universal and homegrown features to allow for greater relevance. We 
believe we are making progress towards a balance between these 
imperatives.
    Mr. President, the significance of your administration's record is 
illustrated by your strong leadership in many fields, including health, 
conflict resolution, promotion of investment and trade, and your 
insistence that we Africans take ownership of our own development 
challenges and processes. Permit me to thank you once again for the 
attention you've paid our continent and our country. It may be stated 
that you have raised the bar of American-African relations, a level 
which the next President of the United States will not lower.
    We are very happy and honored to have you here, Mr. President and 
Mrs. Laura Bush. This is the second time Rwanda for the First Lady, and 
we appreciate that. I thank you for the trust and the confidence you 
have placed in our country. Mr. President, I thank you very much.
    President Bush. Mr. President, thanks. We're proud--[applause]--
we're honored to be here. Thanks very much for inviting Laura and me to join you and Mrs. Kagame for lunch today in a--what has been, so far, a very 
important stop. We had good discussions on a variety of subjects. It is 
really inspiring for us to see people who have endured such suffering 
respond with such hope.
    I really do want to congratulate you and the people in Rwanda for 
the remarkable recovery you have made. And I assure you, you have a 
steady friend in the United States. I appreciate the opportunity to 
visit with your cabinet as well. It's important for my fellow citizens 
to know that I'm dealing with a respected leader not only here at home 
but in the region.
    And so our discussions not only centered on the issues facing Rwanda 
but also how we can work together to bring peace to different parts of 
the continent of Africa. We're cooperating to address violence and 
genocide in Darfur. The Rwandan people know the horrors of genocide. I 
find it--it's not surprising at all that the first nation to step up and 
say that we want to deploy peacekeepers was Rwanda. And I thank you for 
your leadership, Mr. President. That's a--it's a strong statement on 
your part, and you remain one of the largest contributors to stability 
and peace in Darfur.
    And the United States is happy to help. We've trained--or helped 
train more than 7,000 Rwanda peacekeepers. We've provided more than $17 
million to equip and transport these forces into Darfur. The President 
mentioned something that I agree with, and that is, the role of the 
United States and others is to help African nations deal with African 
problems.
    And here's an example of a collaborative effort to help solve what 
our Nation has labeled genocide. The United States is making $100 
million available to assist African nations willing to step forward for 
the cause of peace in Darfur. And up to 12 million of those will help 
you, Mr. President, do the job that you want to do in Darfur. The United 
States appreciates the commitments to help bring peace to Darfur made by 
other African nations as well, such as Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, 
Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Malawi.
    And my message to other nations is, join with the President and help 
us get this problem solved once and for all. And we will help. We will 
help through sanctions. We will help through pressure. And we'll help 
provide money to get these forces in, in an effective manner.
    The United States and Rwanda are cooperating to assure long-term 
stability in eastern Congo. We spent a lot of time talking about that 
today. I appreciate your guidance and your advice, Mr. President. I hope 
you could tell from our discussions that Secretary Rice and Jendayi Frazer--Ambassador Frazer--and other people in my administrations 
takes this issue as seriously as you do. Last month, we helped

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broker a peace agreement between the Congolese Government and several 
armed groups. We also helped broker an agreement between the Congolese 
Government and the Rwanda Government.
    And now we've got to make the agreement stick. It's one thing to 
agree on something; the most important thing is to get results for the 
agreement. And that's what we discussed today on how to help bring peace 
to this part of the world.
    We also talked about economies. Look, this bilateral investment 
treaty is important because it sends a signal to U.S. companies that 
they ought to consider investing in Rwanda. The President has--wisely 
understands that capital investment is much more effective in the long 
term than just grant money. And he understands the creation of jobs 
happens when people are able to attract capital.
    And so I was pleased to sign this investment treaty with you, Mr. 
President. It's a sign of your leadership, and it's a sign that you and 
I both understand that an agreement such as this will provide legal 
protections for investors in both our countries, including 
nondiscriminatory treatment, respect for private property, transparency 
and governance, and the international arbitration of disputes. In other 
words, this treaty is a way of saying not only is this a good place to 
look, but when you invest, there will be certain guarantees: not a 
guarantee of profit, not a guarantee of return on investment, but a 
guarantee you'll be treated fairly.
    And finally, Mr. President, thank you for mentioning our efforts to 
help you fight disease. You know, people say, why would you want to come 
to Africa at this point in your Presidency? Because I'm on a mission of 
mercy is why.
    I want the American people to understand that when it comes to 
saving lives, it's in our national interest. I firmly believe that, Mr. 
President. It's in our security interest to help alleve areas of the 
world from hopelessness. It's in our moral interests to help save lives. 
And it's precisely what we're doing, thanks to your leadership and help. 
This program wouldn't be effective if your Government wasn't committed.
    And secondly, I'm frankly not interested in, you know, spending 
taxpayers' money on governments that end up pocketing the money and not 
helping citizens live. It's one of the reasons I've come to Rwanda, is 
the record here is quite extraordinary when it comes to saving lives.
    It is irresponsible for nations, to whom much has been given, to sit 
on the sidelines when young babies are dying because of mosquito bites. 
And so the United States isn't on the sideline, Mr. President; we're 
right in the middle of the action with you and proudly so.
    The malaria initiative has helped distribute 450,000 bed nets in 
Rwanda. It's not a very sophisticated strategy, as a matter of fact, 
just a simple strategy, but when implemented, saves lives. And it starts 
with having bed nets for citizens throughout your country. And we're 
just getting started. And I want to thank you for your leadership on 
this issue.
    We've set a goal to help provide indoor spraying in more than 
350,000 homes and helped provide more than 900,000 treatments of 
lifesaving medicines. In my State of Texas, we say, here's a problem, 
and we're getting after it. That's exactly what's happening here and all 
across this continent, Mr. President. And we're proud to be your partner 
in a mission of--that is a mission of the deepest sense of humanity.
    Same with HIV/AIDS: our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, has 
helped deliver 40--antiretrovirals to 44,000 Rwandans. We've helped 
deliver services to nearly 650,000 pregnant women to help prevent 
mother-to-child HIV transmission. This is a good beginning, like, a good 
record, but it should only be viewed as a beginning. And therefore, our 
United States Congress must double our PEPFAR initiative from 15 billion 
over 5 years to

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30 billion over 5 years, quit the squabbling, and get the bill passed.
    And finally, we'll be sending the Peace Corps back into Rwanda, Mr. 
President; first time it's been here since 1993. These are good, decent 
folks coming to your country simply to help people realize their God-
given talents and realize the blessings of a peaceful, hopeful life.
    So I'm proud to be with you. I want to thank you for your record; 
thank you for being a personal friend.
    Moderator. Thank you, Your Excellencies. We are now ready to take 
questions from the press--four questions, two each from the local press 
and American press. We'll start with Rwandan press. Yes, Ignatius.

2008 U.S. Presidential Election/Rwandan Elections

    Q. Thank you. My name is Ignatius Kabagambe. I work for the New 
Times newspaper here in Rwanda. My question goes to both of you, 
Presidents--2008 is a critical year, especially politically, because 
here in Rwanda, we are going to be having parliamental elections in 
September, and in the U.S., it's going to be Presidential elections. 
Presidents, what do you see--how good are your chances to your 
respective parties? [Laughter] And if you wish, you can even--your 
answers can include what you think are going to be the challenges.
    President Bush. Yes, thanks. Yes, this American press has been 
trying to get me to comment on this for, like, a couple of months. Want 
me to start? Republicans will win. [Laughter] Whoever is the President 
must understand that this mission on the continent of Africa is in our 
Nation's interests. But I think my party's nominee will win. Don't be 
listening to all these pundits here, you know, half of them sitting 
right here. [Laughter]
    You know, they--the issues in America are: Who is going to fight 
terror and protect the homeland, and who is going to keep people's taxes 
low to make sure that the economy is--grows--really, the issues. And so 
there's a lot of noise, a lot of movement, but things change rapidly in 
American politics. It will eventually get down to two people, and then 
the choice will become very clear. And we'll win.
    I don't know about your politics, Mr. President. [Laughter] It's 
probably best not to comment too specifically about it. [Laughter]
    President Kagame. President, we have something in common, and that 
is, succeed in what we are doing. So my party will, I think, win these 
elections on the basis of how this Government, and the party central to 
it, has performed well, has uplifted the living standards of our people. 
They have protected--given protection and security and brought in 
stability to the--this country and restored the rights of every 
individual citizen of this country. And economic progress is being 
registered. I think the people of this country will be wanting more of 
what we are doing.
    My prediction is that it will be fine for my party, and we'll do our 
best to continue the agenda of development of this country. And I think 
that citizens of this country are willing to give us the chance to 
continue solving them the way they have been solved. And the challenges 
are normally just in terms of organization, and it takes time, takes 
money, takes--but those are easy to overcome. So I think, Mr. President, 
we are on the same path of succeeding.
    President Bush. That's good.
    Moderator. From our side, Debbie Charles of Reuters, please.

Cuba/Former President Fidel Castro Ruz of 
Cuba

    Q. Mr. President, can you tell us what it means for the United 
States that--for the U.S. policy--that Castro has said he's going to 
step down? And how is that going to change things for the U.S.?
    President Bush. Yes, thanks. I heard the reports, several ways: one, 
reporters yelling it at me, and then, of course, I was briefed.

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Not saying you were yelling it at me; I'm saying----
    Q. I wouldn't----
    President Bush. ----no, no, of course not; you were very polite. 
More important--you know, the question really should be, what does this 
mean for the people in Cuba? They're the ones who suffered under Fidel 
Castro. They're the ones who were put in prison because of their 
beliefs. They're the ones who have been denied their right to live in a 
free society. So I view this as a period of transition that--and it 
should be the beginning of the democratic transition for the people in 
Cuba.
    There will be an interesting debate that will arise eventually. 
There will be some who say, let's promote stability. Of course, in the 
meantime, political prisoners will rot in prison, and the human 
condition will remain pathetic in many cases.
    I believe that the change from Fidel Castro ought to begin a period 
of democratic transition. First step, of course, will be for people put 
in these prisons to be let out. I've met with many of the--or some of 
the families of prisoners. It just breaks your heart to realize that 
people have been thrown in prison because they dared speak out.
    The international community should work with the Cuban people to 
begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy. And 
eventually, this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections. 
And I mean free, and I mean fair, not these kind of staged elections 
that the Castro brothers try to foist off as being true democracy.
    And we're going to help. The United States will help the people of 
Cuba realize the blessings of liberty. And so those are my initial 
thoughts.
    Moderator. [Inaudible]

U.N. Security Council Sanctions/President's Visit to Kigali Memorial 
Centre/Rwanda-U.S. Relations

    Q. Thank you so much. My name is--[inaudible]--from the Reuters news 
wire.
    President Bush. Yes. Wait a minute, back to back--wait a minute. 
This is a little--[laughter]--there seems to be a monopoly here. 
[Laughter]
    Q. [Inaudible]
    President Bush. That's right, yes. [Laughter]
    Q. Mr. President, you made what I would describe as an emotional 
talk or speech on the genocides of Rwanda, especially when you were 
visiting the memorial. But unfortunately, the perpetrators of the 
killings are still holed up in several parts of the country--also 
several parts of the world, especially the Congo. And you just mentioned 
that we need to see results being done--results being seen, and the 
civil arguments have been made. So I'm wondering, Mr. President, what is 
the U.S. going to do about these perpetrators that remain at large and 
are walking freely?
    President Bush. Yes.
    Q. And then my other brief question for President Kagame is, what 
are the details of--can you give us some details about the investment 
treaty you've just signed with President Bush? What's contained in this 
treaty, and what's so special about it? Thank you.
    President Bush. Yes, just a couple of reactions--thank you very much 
for that. To specifically answer your question, we support U.N. security 
sanctions--U.N. Security Council resolutions targeting those who 
perpetuated the violence and have made our position publicly known. And 
we'll continue to support.
    Secondly, the museum was a profound--it had a profound effect on me. 
You can't help but walk in there and recognize the--you know, that evil 
does exist and, in this case, in such brutal form that babies had their 
skulls smashed. And so the question

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is, what does the world do to prevent these kinds of incidences? And I 
came away with two lessons. I'm sure there's many more. One was, we've 
got to work to prevent it from happening in the first place; when we see 
issues, that people need not--need to pay attention to the warning signs 
and prevent crises like this from happening.
    We're obviously trying to prevent such a crises from happening in 
Kenya. Condi Rice briefed the President and 
me on her meetings yesterday, and we strongly support Kofi 
Annan's efforts there. Now I'm not suggesting 
that anything close to--in Kenya has happened--is going to happen--
anything close to what happened here is going to happen in Kenya. But I 
am suggesting there's some warning signs that the international 
community needs to pay attention to. And we're paying attention to it, 
as is Kofi Annan, and I know the AU will as well.
    And secondly, that when you want--when the people decide to respond, 
that you go in with enough force that has the proper mandate. In a 
situation such as that, you don't want to send people in who are 
observers, you need to send people in who will help deal with the 
situation. That's why the mandate in Darfur is very important, and we're 
pleased with the mandate in Darfur. Now we just got to get people in 
place to be able to save lives.
    But those are the lessons I left with. The other thing I came away 
from, just so you know, is, is how amazing your country has performed 
given the horror of the genocide. I mean, it is--I just can't imagine 
what it would have been like to be a citizen who witnessed such horrors 
and then had to try to gather themselves up and live a hopeful life. And 
so thanks for your question.
    President Kagame. For your question, you asked about the treaty 
we've just signed. I think central to that treaty, and very importantly, 
is the fact that it's an invitation to the investors, and information 
that when they come here, their investments will be protected, will be 
in good hands. And when they are in Rwanda, they should be able to reap 
their returns. Of course, what that means--it means that Rwandans 
benefit from the capital flows that will be there. They will benefit 
from technologies that come with such investments. It benefits our laws 
of employment of a citizen of this country and the skills that will be 
applied also along with that.
    And it's also a commitment by the President and his administration 
to seeing investors from United States come to Rwanda. And it's also an 
assurance to them that they will be standing with them, as they come to 
make investments here, invest adequately. The most important thing to 
talk about will be this bilateral treaty.
    Moderator. All right, last one for us. Sheryl Stolberg with the New 
York Times, please.

U.S. Role in Africa/Darfur

    Q. Thank you. Mr. President, Bill Clinton came here and said he 
regretted that he wasn't able to do more to stop the genocide here. You 
have seen the memorial here today, and I'm wondering, what would you 
tell your successor about America's obligations and also its ability to 
stop genocide?
    And to you, Mr. President, did you raise the issue of Darfur with 
President Bush? Did you ask him for any further commitment by the United 
States? And if so, what was it? Thank you.
    President Bush. I would say, it's like--as I explained to this 
fellow here--that one of the lessons of the genocide in Rwanda was to 
take some of the early warning signs seriously.
    Secondly, a clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside 
forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are 
unbelievably counterproductive. In other words, people came from other 
countries--I guess you'd call them colonialists--and they pitted one 
group of people against another. And an early warning sign was--

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and it's hard to have seen it, I readily admit, but I'm talking earlier 
than 1994 and earlier than the nineties--was the fact that it became a 
habit to divide people based upon, you know, in this case, whether they 
were Tutsi or Hutu, which eventually led to exploitation.
    Secondly, I would tell my successor that the United States can play 
a very constructive role. I would urge the President not to feel like 
U.S. solutions should be imposed upon African leaders. I would urge the 
President to treat our--the leaders in Africa as partners. In other 
words, don't come to the continent feeling guilty about anything, come 
to the continent feeling confident that with some help, people can solve 
their problems.
    You know, as I told you, I made--yesterday--I made a decision not to 
unilaterally send troops into the Sudan. And I still believe it was the 
right decision. But having done that, if you're a problemsolver, you put 
yourself at the mercy of the decisions of others; in this case, the 
United Nations. And I'm well known to have spoken out by the slowness of 
the United Nations. It is--like, seems very bureaucratic to me, 
particularly with people suffering. And one reason I'm so proud to be 
standing here with this President is that he didn't wait. He said, ``We 
want to help.'' And so we're trying to get forces in, and we'll help.
    And the third thing is, is that the U.S. will provide--you know, can 
provide money and help and training. And we have. We've trained their 
forces--helped train their forces. They're good forces to begin with, 
and they just need a little added value, and we helped.
    So I guess to answer to your questions--it's kind of a long-winded 
approach--to take problems seriously before they become acute and then 
recognize that there's going to be a slowness in the response if you 
rely upon international organizations.
    Q. Are you worried that you might have regrets?
    President Bush. No, I made a decision. I stand by it. I'm now 
worried that the rest of the world needs to move as expeditiously, 
quickly. Therefore, we're--as I've told you in this little address here, 
we've got $100 million to help move people into Darfur. And nor am I 
regretful of the fact that we put serious sanctions on leaders in Sudan 
and companies owned by certain actors in Sudan. It was the right thing 
to do.
    I am trying to get other people to join. As you know, getting a 
universal sanction regime can be difficult. People sometimes have got 
different interests, different commercial interests. Our position is, is 
that human suffering ought to be--preempt commercial interests. And so 
I'm comfortable with the decision I made. I'm not comfortable with to 
how quickly the response has been.
    And nevertheless, there is a--we'll continue dealing with the issue. 
Every stop I made, I've talked about Darfur. And the President talked 
about it too. I've talked so long you probably forgot her question to 
you. [Laughter]
    President Kagame. I still remember, President. Certainly, we 
discussed Darfur, as we discussed other problem areas, especially on our 
continent. And I do want to agree with the President; problems are 
there. But I think the best approach is, indeed, to help Africans 
develop their capacity to deal with these problems. And more 
importantly, as the President said, we probably also have to invest our 
time and even resources in the monitoring and also preventing problems 
coming up, as they keep coming up in different places.
    But it is important to understand that, indeed, today we'll have 
Darfur; maybe tomorrow there will be another problem area, God forbid. 
But it's important that these problems are not to be seen as if they 
have to be resolved, attended to, by the United States. They must be 
attended to by the international community. They must also be attended 
to by people, if it is in

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Africa, by Africans. Primarily, they must develop this capacity. And 
they should be supported to develop this capacity so that we can prevent 
and we are prepared to prevent. Then you should be able to cope with 
these challenges, resolving the problems.
    So I think the approach taken by President Bush were realistic, in 
the sense that you also do not want to see every problem, United States 
being called upon to be the answer of that problem. And of course, we--
the backlash, also, in the sense that, at the same time, they also start 
blaming the United States, that they are rushing everywhere solving 
problems and, of course, reading through that to mean they have other 
interests and so on and so forth.
    So I think that will lead the way of helping the people to solve 
their own problems, but of course, with the support of the United States 
with its huge capabilities in different areas. And walking together with 
the rest of the international community is perhaps more important than 
just blaming the United States, saying, ``Why didn't you go in and solve 
the problem?'' The problems and the solutions to those problems should 
not be taken away from the responsibilities of their action, should not 
be taken away from places where they're taking place and the people in 
those places.
    I think that is the best way I could--but we did talk about that. 
And we did talk about our own contribution and to how that can be 
enhanced. And the President is willing to support us--support has always 
been coming--so that we continue to move forward.

Note: The President's news conference began at 12:20 p.m. at the 
Presidency--VIP Building. In his remarks, he referred to Jeannette 
Nyiramongi, wife of President Kagame; President Raul Castro Ruz of Cuba; 
and former Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the United Nations.