President Higgins has spoken of the importance of finding "a fair and comprehensive way" in dealing with the past as we continue through 'a decade of commemorations' in Ireland.
The President was referring to the commemoration of key events that led to Irish independence in 1922.
"Finding a fair and comprehensive way of dealing with the past, one that can win the confidence of all, is a huge challenge - but one we are doing our best to face up to with honesty, both ethical and historical" he said.
President Higgins was speaking in Malawi this evening, where he attended an official dinner hosted by President Peter Mutharika.
"Drawing on a shared colonial past,” President Higgins said,
"Both our nations have experienced the scourges of colonisation and hunger - the terror of the hungry grass, as Irish poet Donagh MacDonagh described it. In the last century, both have also had to struggle for independence."
"One of the most damaging aspects of colonialism, I believe, is the way it shatters our view of the past."
"How to imagine a future released from the burdens of distorted past memories, and seemingly insurmountable present difficulties?
"Imagine is the important term here. Indeed, while brutal and inhuman deeds cannot, for the most moral of reasons, be forgotten, it is only through an act of imagination and creativity that we can prevent the tragic memory from colonising the future."
President Higgins also acknowledged the role played by both Malawi and Ireland during WWI describing it as "one of the most destructive and pointless wars in the history of mankind."
"Over 200,000 Irishmen fought in that war, while here in Malawi, thousands signed up to fight with the King's African Rifles, and were engaged in battles against German-led troops, mainly in what is today Tanzania."
"No other British dependency in Africa suffered the loss of such a high proportion of its young manhood as Malawi did - with all the devastating consequences this had in subsequent years, including the famine Malawi experienced in the immediate aftermath of the War. May the remembrance of those events guard us forever against the dark passions of extreme nationalism."
