Politics

Rwanda’s Kagame sworn in for 4th term as president

Published

2 months ago

August 11, 2024

After a resounding victory in last month’s election, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame was sworn in on Sunday for a five-year term, extending his nearly 25 years in government.

Following the election commission’s exclusion of eight other candidates, including his most vocal adversaries, the 66-year-old former rebel leader emerged victorious with 99.18% of the vote in the July ballot.

Leaders in the West and the region praised Kagame for his role in putting an end to the genocide in 1994 and transforming Rwanda into a desirable location for aid and investment. However, he has denied all charges of violating human rights, stifling dissent, and aiding rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all of which have damaged his reputation.

“Our country has been a good work in progress for the last 30 years. This new mandate means the beginning of even more hard work,” Kagame said.

“That expectation to keep improving is not a dream, it is a reality. We can do it and we will do it.”

Thousands of people attended Sunday’s swearing-in ceremony at Kigali’s Amahoro National Stadium, with many of them sporting T-shirts with the yellow, green, and blue colours of the national flag on them.

The audience cheered as the military saluted Kagame with 21 guns. There were twenty-two heads of state from African nations present.

2015 saw a reform to Rwanda’s constitution, giving Kagame more time to serve as president.

The Democratic Green Party’s Frank Habineza and the independent Philippe Mpayimana, who ran against him last month, both declared their defeat.

According to human rights organizations, the election was tainted by a crackdown on the media, the opposition, and civil society organizations. Throughout the election campaign, a government spokeswoman consistently dismissed such criticism.

Human rights advocates claimed that the 66-year-old’s resounding victory served as a clear reminder of Rwanda’s lack of democracy. Out of eight applicants, only two were allowed to run against him; several well-known opponents of Kagame were excluded.

In 2015, Kagame supervised contentious constitutional changes that reset the clock for the Rwandan leader, enabling him to potentially reign until 2034, but also cut presidential tenure from seven to five years.

President Kagame is one of several long-serving African leaders, including Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Biya of Cameroon, who has been in office since 1982, and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, who has been in office for 43 years and is the world’s longest-serving president.

Related Topics:Featured President Paul Kagame Rwanda

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Politics

Rwandan foreign minister claims Congo refused M23 peace offer

Published

4 days ago

October 6, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Rwandan Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has claimed that his Congolese colleague had refused to sign a pact to address the M23 rebel violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since 2022, the Tutsi-led M23 has been fighting in the violence-torn east of central Africa, displacing over 1.7 million people.

Congo, the UN, and others accuse Rwanda of providing troops and ammunition to the group. Rwanda denies aiding M23 and accuses Congo of fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which has attacked Tutsis in both countries.

Both nations took part in peace talks in late August to reduce the hostilities, which have exacerbated the humanitarian catastrophe in the area and occasionally stoked concerns about a wider war.

Nduhungirehe told Reuters that a strategy “for neutralising the FDLR and lifting Rwanda’s defence measures” had been agreed upon and signed by participants in the negotiations, including the head of military intelligence for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He made this statement on the fringes of a conference in France between leaders of French-speaking nations, saying that ministers were expected to sign this accord on September 14.

“We were ready to sign … but the Congolese minister refused. She first commented on the report and then later, after consultation, she came back. She told us she was opposed to adopting the report.”

According to Nduhungirehe, the plan called for Rwanda to ease its “defence measures” a few days after the activities against the FDLR, however, the Congolese minister objected to these not occurring at the same time.

An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by a Congolese government representative.

Paul Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi, the leaders of Rwanda and the Congo, were present at the meeting in France. Though a three-way meeting was suggested by French President Emmanuel Macron, the two ultimately had separate private encounters with Macron.

“The situation is still too tense (for a three-way meeting),” Macron told reporters later on Saturday. It “calls for efforts on both sides,” he said calling on the two countries to reach an agreement.

Politics

Barrick Gold, Mali govt resolve issues on Loulo and Gounkoto mines

Published

1 week ago

October 1, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The government of Mali and Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) have resolved their ongoing claims and disagreements about the Loulo and Gounkoto gold mines in that West African nation, the company announced on Monday.

Two days after four Barrick employees were detained by the Malian government, the second-largest miner in the world made a statement. A new mining agreement that would allow Mali’s military-led government more control over its resources has been negotiated by the two sides. Among Africa’s top producers of gold is Mali.

According to Barrick, once the terms of the settlement have been finalised, the agreement’s specifics will be made public.

“The current negotiations have proved challenging but we’re encouraged by the government’s recognition of the importance of securing the long-term viability of the Loulo-Gounkoto complex as a substantial contributor to the Malian economy,” Barrick’s CEO, Mark Bristow, said in a statement.

It was not immediately possible to reach the Mali government for comment.

Barrick announced in July that it has made over $10 billion in economic investments in Mali during the previous 29 years.