Rwanda’s Kagame Sworn In For Fourth Term After 99 Percent Election Win

Rwanda’s all-powerful President Paul Kagame was sworn in on August 11, for a fourth term after sweeping to victory in elections last month with more than 99% of the vote. Several dozen heads of state and other dignitaries from African nations joined the inauguration ceremony at a packed 45,000-seat stadium in Kigali, where crowds had started gathering from the early morning.

Kagame took the oath of office

Kagame took the oath of office before Chief Justice Faustin Ntezilyayo, pledging to “preserve peace and national sovereignty, consolidate national unity.” The outcome of the July 15 poll was never in doubt for the iron-fisted Kagame, who has ruled the small African nation since the 1994 genocide, as de facto leader and then president.

Who was Paul Kagame?

Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the President of Rwanda since 2000. He was previously a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel armed force which invaded Rwanda in 1990. The RPF was one of the parties of the conflict during the Rwandan Civil War and the armed force which ended the Rwandan genocide. He was considered Rwanda’s de facto leader when he was Vice President and Minister of Defence under President Pasteur Bizimungu from 1994 to 2000 after which the vice-presidential post was abolished.

Lack of democracy in Rwanda

He won 99.18% of ballots cast to secure another five years in power, according to the National Electoral Commission. Rights activists said the 66-year-old’s overwhelming victory was a stark reminder of the lack of democracy in Rwanda.

Ruined nation after the genocide

Kagame is credited with rebuilding a ruined nation after the genocide, when Hutu extremists unleashed 100 days of vicious bloodletting targeting the Tutsi minority, killing around 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis but also Hutu moderates. But rights activists and opponents say he rules in a climate of fear, crushing any dissent with intimidation, arbitrary detentions, killings and enforced disappearances.

DRC cease-fire talks

Kigali is also accused of stoking instability in the east of its much larger neighbor the Democratic Republic of Congo. Angola’s President Joao Lourenco, among those attending Sunday’s ceremony, was due to have private talks with Kagame on a DRC ceasefire deal, the Angolan presidency said. Luanda brokered the agreement last month after a meeting between the foreign ministers of DRC and Rwanda, which is accused of backing the M23 rebel group fighting Kinshasa’s armed forces.

Achievement of Kagame

Kagame has won every presidential election he has contested, each time with more than 93 percent of the ballot. In 2015, he oversaw controversial constitutional amendments that shortened presidential terms to five years from seven but reset the clock for the Rwandan leader, allowing him to potentially rule until 2034.