Newark City Hall Raises Rwandan Flag on 50th Annivesary of Independence

The city of Newark on Thursday, October 25 hosted the Rwandan community at a flag raising ceremony held at Newark City hall. Rwanda suffered a bitter civil war in 1994 that saw more than half a million people dead. Essentially, the 1994 war in Rwanda was directed against the Tutsi community considered as the minority but held the reins of power and influence in the former Belgian colony in East Africa.

The event at Newark city hall was a celebration of a nation that has rebounded from strife to unprecedented economic success. Rwanda is now among the best performing economies in the world. Various speakers at the event lauded the development of a broken nation into a successful economy. Among the personalities at the event were the president of the Newark Municipal Council and the US House of Representative member elect Donald Payne, Jr., the deputy Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States and State Senator Payne. Others included the Consul General of Colombia who has his office in Newark.