Rwandan President Paul Kagame has announced for the first time that he plans to run for a fourth term in elections scheduled for next year.
“I am happy with the confidence that the Rwandans have shown in me. I will always serve them, as much when I can. Yes, I am indeed a candidate,” declared Paul Kagame65 ans, au magazine francophone Young Africa.
The Rwandan government decided in March to synchronize the dates of its legislative and presidential electionswhich are due to take place in August 2024.
Kagame had not previously openly expressed his intentions, but he made controversial constitutional amendments that allowed him to serve a third term and could allow him to govern until 2034.
Former rebel leader, Paul Kagame is considered the de facto leader of the country since the end of the 1994 genocide.
He was returned to power – with more than 90% of the vote – in the 2003, 2010 and 2017 elections.
While the Rwanda Today claims to be one of the most stable countries on the African continent, human rights groups accuse Kagame of governing in a climate of fear, stifling dissent and free speech.
“Showing up for another 20 years”
In 2021, Paul Rusesabaginahero of “ Hotel Rwanda » and virulent critic of Kagame, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for terrorism, following his arrest the previous year.
Paul Rusesabagina was then on a plane that he believed was bound for Burundi when the aircraft landed at Kigaliduring an operation that his family described as a kidnapping.
Released from prison in March 2023 and sent to UNITED STATES by air following a presidential pardon, Rusesabagina released a video message in July, saying that the Rwandan were “prisoners in their own country”.
Rwanda is ranked 131st out of 180 countries in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index established by Reporters Without Borders.
When asked in 2022 if he would seek re-election, Kagame said he would “consider running for another 20 years.” “The elections are the people who choose,” he told the France 24 news channel in an interview.
Paul Kagame was only 36 years old when his party, the Rwandan Patriotic Frontchased away the extremists hutus accused of being responsible for the genocide during which some 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis but also moderate Hutus, were assassinated between April and July 1994.
Source: AFP
