In a special video message, President Bill Clinton extended his warmest greetings to all participants in the peacebuilding conference hosted by the Aegis Trust in Kigali from 25th to 28th July 2024, ‘Listening and Leading: the Art and Science of Peace, Resilience and Transformational Justice’.

Co-hosted by the University of Rwanda, Tufts University and Rwanda’s Ministry of National Unity & Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE), the conference was sponsored by Templeton World Charity Foundation, Templeton Religion Trust, Marriott Corporation, Auburn Seminary, Bridgeway Foundation, Medical College of Wisconsin, One Acre Fund and Champion Humanity Enterprise.

This is a full transcript of President Clinton’s message as delivered in the video, which was screened to conference-goers at the Kigali Genocide Memorial on 26th July:

I’m proud to extend my warmest greetings to all of you gathered in Kigali for the listening and leading conference hosted by the Aegis Trust. Each person present brings a deep commitment to peace building, both in Rwanda and around the world, and I’m very grateful you’ve come together to learn from one another and lift up our common humanity.

The 1994 genocide was a failure of the international community, and I will always mourn that we did not act together to swiftly end the killing. Today I join you in honouring those who lost their lives and in paying tribute to everyone who’s made the personal decision, day in and day out over the last 30 years, to choose reconciliation.

It’s been my great honour to work in Rwanda for many years on health and agriculture, and I’ve been deeply inspired by the people I’ve met who’ve chosen to bridge old divides and share the future. So much of this comes from the collective decision not to bury the past, but to learn from it and to forge a new national identity based on social cohesion.

Visitors to Rwanda today, aside from the many poignant genocide memorials, will see little evidence of the unimaginable violence that took place 30 years ago. Instead, they’ll find a vibrant, stable country with a growing economy that’s an innovative engine for the region and beyond. This progress would not have been possible without the peace, education and trauma healing work that has been advanced and led in many instances by people gathered in the room today.

I especially want to thank the Aegis Trust for the leadership it has offered to people around the world to learn, to research, to share and to act together toward peace and reconciliation. From its efforts to found the National Holocaust Centre in the UK, through its work with the Rwandan government to create the Kigali Genocide Memorial, to the present day and launch of the Isōko Peace Institute, Aegis has worked tirelessly to prevent atrocities and to build a better world.

So as you gather to learn the lessons of peace and community building from one another, I hope you’ll do so with a spirit of hope and optimism. Although our world continues to face many steep challenges, we should never give up on our ability to overcome them. If we work together, applying the approaches that we know have proven successful. All my best wishes for a productive, successful conference and much continued good work.