Louise Mushikiwabo

Louise Mushikiwabo (born 22 May 1961) is the fourth and current Secretary General of Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. She previously served as the Minister of Foreign AffaInternationaleirs and Cooperation of Rwanda from 2009 to 2018. She also served as Government Spokesperson. She had previously been Minister of Information.

Her father was Bitsindinkumi, from the Batsobe clan; Bitsindinkumi worked as a farmer, managing the family's smallholding as well as working as bookkeeper for a colonial coffee plantation. Her mother was Nyiratulira, a first cousin of the Abiru philosopher and historian Alexis Kagame. She spent her childhood in Kigali. The youngest of nine children, her siblings included Lando Ndasingwa, who became a notable businessman and politician in Rwanda before being killed in 1994 during the Rwandan genocide, and Anne-Marie Kantengwa, who took over Lando's hotel Chez Lando after his death and served in the Parliament of Rwanda from 2003 to 2008.

After completing primary and secondary school in Kigali, Mushikiwabo went to study at the National University of Rwanda (currently University of Rwanda), in the southern city of Butare, in 1981. She graduated from university in 1984, with a bachelor's degree in English, and then worked briefly as a secondary school teacher. In 1986, she emigrated from Rwanda to the United States, where she began studying for a master's degree in Languages and Interpretation at the University of Delaware, with French as her specialist language. Upon finishing her studies in 1988, she remained in the United States, settling in the Washington, D.C. area. She started her career working for lobbying organisations, before taking a position with the African Development Bank (ADB); as part of her role with the ADB she lived in Tunisia for a short time, and eventually became the bank's Communications Director.

In 2006, Mushikiwabo wrote a book, Rwanda Means the Universe, which was co-authored by Jack Kramer, an American journalist and ex-marine. The book is semi-autobiographical, describing Mushikiwabo's family history, her early life in Rwanda, and her experiences upon emigrating to the United States. It also describes the Rwandan genocide in detail, from a historical perspective as well as from Mushikwabo's own point of view living in Washington, as she received the news that many of her family members had been killed.

woman'sQuotes

• Anti-French sentiment, increasingly visible in Africa, is a sign of the times.
  • After running for a second term as head of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), which held its 18th summit on November 19 and 20, in Djerba, Tunisia.Says Louise Le Monde (November 19, 2022)
• Last month Rwanda Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Louise Mushikiwabo spoke at the Wilson Center on a wide-ranging set of issues, from the country’s development successes to the prominent role women have played in post-genocide society.
  • [Mushikiwabo said Rwanda should be judged on its own terms, given the trauma of the 1994 genocide.] Newsecurity Beat(May 25,2016)
• Ladies and gentlemen, let’s continue to feel empowered to become active participants in the political and economic transformation of our countries in particular, and the continent in general.
• Let me again put it this way: I don’t know anybody who betrays a country that gets rewarded,
  • [1] An opening speech by Minister Louise Mushikiwabo at the African Peer Review Mechanism 15th Anniversary Launch Event Aljazeera (June 10, 2016)
• I think that sentiment of ambition and moving forward has to do with the thirst to live to the fullest.
  • Francphonie has benefits for all in East Africa The East African (October 29, 2018)
• As long as countries wave chequebooks over our heads, we can never be equal.
  • Mushikiwabo hits Western powers IGIHE (July 28, 2012)

• Rwanda is in the unique position of having temporary stewardship of arguably both the most influential English and French speaking organization in the world.
  • Rwanda’s multilingual status creates opportunity as business hub for Africa[2] The New Times (December 5, 2022)
• As long as countries wave chequebooks over our heads, we can never be equal.

• Use our intelligence to manage that of artificial intelligence- President Kagame.
  • Mushikiwabo hits Western powers #WEF16 #DavosOn410 (January 21, 2016)

• Rwanda Has Had to Make Extremely Difficult Choices.
  • Speech at Wilson center | New Security Beat (May 25, 2016)

• she said Choices were made because there was no alternative and because the country had to move on and move forward… We were basically a broken nation.
  • speech at the Wilson Center | New Security Beat (May 25, 2016)
• Unfortunately most westerners form their opinions of Africa based on the reporting and news in their own countries

• I think more and more Africa is waking up the fact that you can only be limited by your ideas not by the size of your country or by the level of.
  • [3] Taarifa (November 5, 2018)

• When you choose to be a dog, you die like a dog.
  • [4] network.aljazeera.net (June 9, 2016)

• I think more and more Africa is waking up the fact that you can only be limited by your ideas not by the size of your country or by the level of.
  • [5] police.gov.rw (April 14, 2021)

• I think that sentiment of ambition and moving forward has to do with the thirst to live to the fullest.
  • [6] entrepreneurs.ng

• When we say that life is full of surprises, it is real.
  • [7] entrepreneurs.ng

• I think that sentiment of ambition and moving forward has to do with the thirst to live to the fullest.
  • [8] entrepreneurs.ng

• Our choice is not to have politicians fight – our choice is to keep going.
  • [9] entrepreneurs.ng

• The French language has no complex when compared to English, But the world today is such that it is beneficial to those who speak French to speak other languages, We go much further with more languages, We are more fortunate in employment and training with more languages.
  • [10] entrepreneurs.ng

• English is today the language of Silicon Valley, of technology, of research, of social networks.
  • [11] entrepreneurs.ng

• Human rights are not reserved for some countries and not for others. These are aspirations that everyone has. There are always improvements to be made in rights and freedoms.
  • [12] entrepreneurs.ng

• Rebuilding Rwanda One Policy at a Time.
  • [13] konnectafrica.net (November 27, 2013)
• As we all know, implementing good governance principles is not simply about designing good institutional and policy reforms for our systems, but more importantly the capacity to assess and evaluate our performance for continuous improvement.
  • Opening speech|//www.minaffet.gov.rw/updates/news-details/an-opening-speech-by-minister-louise-mushikiwabo-at-the-african-peer-review-mechanism-15th-anniversary-launch-event/ Opening speechDocs and mediaminaffet.org
• The most important thing for us is that this region can find peace.
  • Louise Mushikiwabo: ‘French losing ground in international bodies’ The Africa Report (October 1, 2024)
• create, innovate and do business in French.
  • Louise Mushikiwabo: ‘French losing ground in international bodies’ The Africa Report (October 1, 2024)

External links

https://www.africanews.com/2023/07/25/louise-mushikiwabo-to-skip-la-francophonie-games-in-kinshasa//