Media Contact:
Joe Brennan - 209.946.2746
jbrennan@pacific.edu

(Stockton, Calif.) – His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, will make a rare public appearance in the United States when he visits University of the Pacific in Stockton, California on Thursday, April 14.

President Kagame will speak at 6 p.m. on April 14 at Pacific’s Alex G. Spanos Center. It will be his only major public address during a brief trip to the United States.

The event is free and open to the public, and it is sponsored by Pacific’s School of International Studies Gerber Lecture Series.

On July 4, 1994, under Kagame’s leadership, military forces of the Rwandan Patriotic Front put an end to the genocide that had claimed 1 million lives in the central African nation. Since then, Kagame has focused on rebuilding the country. Rwanda has written a constitution, established free universal education, created a system to mete out justice to those responsible for the genocide, and elected more women to national office than any other nation. He was elected president last August.

In recognition of these accomplishments, University of the Pacific President Donald DeRosa will present Kagame with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. It will be the first time an American university has conferred an honorary degree on Kagame.

DeRosa and Kagame will also announce a student exchange program with the Rwandan Ministry of Education. It will be the first such program with an American university. Rwanda’s minister of education, Romain Murenzi, will be present.

Kagame will then give an address titled "Rwanda: Hope from Despair," during which he will describe how Rwanda is recovering from genocide. He we also talk about his recent visit to Sudan, where the international community is once again faced with the problem of mass violence.

"Paul Kagame is widely regarded as the leader of a new generation of African presidents dedicated to poverty reduction, human development and female empowerment," said Dr. Margee Ensign, Dean of University of the Pacific ’s School of International Studies and an advisor to many development efforts in central Africa. Ensign invited Kagame to Pacific after she met him in Rwanda last year.

"Many Americans have formed their impression of Rwanda from the new movie, Hotel Rwanda, " Ensign said. "But what they don’t know is how much progress has been made in Rwanda over the last 11 years. I’m hoping that President Kagame’s visit will help inform the public about what’s really happening there."

Rwanda’s first lady, Madame Jeannette Kagame, will be accompanying her husband. She will appear at a reception to raise funds to assist AIDS widows and orphans in Rwanda. The fundraiser has been organized by students at Pacific’s School of International Studies and St. Mary’s High School in Stockton. Tickets are $25 for students and $75 for the general public. The event will be held in Pacific’s Grace Covell Hall.

There is no charge to attend President Kagame’s speech, but tickets are required and can be obtained at the door or in advance.

A campus map and directions are available www.pacific.edu/about/pacific-maps-directions/maps.asp