Paul Kagame

Paul Kagame
President of Rwanda
Incumbent
Assumed office  24 March 2000
Prime Minister	Bernard Makuza
Preceded by	Pasteur Bizimungu
Born	23 October 1957 (1957-10-23) (age 52) Ruhango, South Province, Rwanda
Political party	Rwandan Patriotic Front
Spouse(s)	Jeannette Kagame
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]

Paul Kagame (born October 23, 1957) is the current President of the Republic of Rwanda. He rose to prominence as the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), whose victory over the incumbent government in July 1994 effectively ended the Rwandan genocide. Under his leadership, Rwanda has been called Africa’s “biggest success story”^[2] and Kagame has become a public advocate of new models for foreign aid designed to help recipients become self-reliant^[3] though questions linger about whether or not he had a role in civilian massacres in Rwanda around the time of the 1994 genocide, and his country's occupation, plunder and killings of civilians in the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo during the Second Congo War, in which an estimated 5.4 million people have died since 1998.

Early life

Kagame was born to a Tutsi family in Ruhango, Rwanda in October 1957 to Deogratius and Asteria Rutagambwa.^[4] In November 1959, an increasingly restive Hutu population, encouraged by the Belgian Military, sparked a revolt, eventually resulting in the overthrow of Mwami Kigeri V Ndahindurwa in 1961.^[5] During the 1959 revolt and its aftermath, more than 150,000 people were killed in the fighting, with the Tutsis suffering the greatest losses. Several thousand moved to neighbouring countries including Burundi and Uganda.^[5] In all, some 20,000 Tutsis were killed. In 1960 Kagame left with his family at the age of two^[6] and moved to Uganda with many other Tutsis. In 1962 they settled in the Gahunge refugee camp, Toro, where Kagame spent the rest of his childhood years.^[7] He attended Ntare Secondary School in Uganda.^[8] During this time Kagame was a "motivated student" and bore an early fascination with revolutionaries like Che Guevara.^[9]

Military service

His military career started in 1979, when he joined Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA) and spent years fighting as a guerrilla against the government of Milton Obote in what is commonly known in Uganda as the bush war.^[4]

On July 27, 1985, Milton Obote was ousted in a military coup led by Tito Okello. In 1986 the NRA succeeded in overthrowing Okello and the NRA leader Yoweri Museveni became President of Uganda.

Paul Kagame with then U.S. President George W. Bush in the Oval Office in the White House.

This same year, Kagame was instrumental in forming, along with his close friend Fred Rwigema, the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), which was composed mainly of expatriate Rwandan Tutsi soldiers that had also fought with the NRA; the RPF was also based in Uganda.^[10]

In 1986, Kagame became the head of military intelligence in the NRA, and was regarded as one of Museveni's closest allies.^[10] He also joined the official Ugandan military.^[10]

During 1990, Kagame went to Fort Leavenworth where the U.S. Army gave him military training. Broadening this connection, the U.S. and U.K. military provided further training and active logistical support to the RPF, which it used to take over power in Rwanda after 1994. After coming to power, Kagame arranged for the RPF to receive further counterinsurgency and combat training from U.S. Special Forces, which was put to use in the 1996-1997 Rwandan-backed military campaign to overthrow the government of neighboring Zaire.^[11]

Rwandan invasions and genocide

In October 1990, while Kagame was undergoing military training in the U.S., the RPF invaded Rwanda in the struggle for the liberation of Rwanda's Tutsi minority ethnic group . Only two days into the invasion, Rwigema was killed, making Kagame the military commander of the RPF.^[10] Despite initial successes, a force of French, Belgian, Rwandan, and Zairean soldiers forced the RPF to retreat. A renewed invasion was attempted in late 1991, but also had limited success.^{[citation needed]}

The invasion increased ethnic tension throughout the region, including in neighbouring Burundi where similar tensions existed. Peace talks between the RPF and the Rwandese government resulted in the Arusha accords, including political participation of the RPF in Rwanda. Despite the agreement, ethnic tensions still flared dangerously.^{[citation needed]}

On 6 April 1994, a plane carrying both the Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down by a surface-to-air missile as it approached Kigali airport. All on board were killed. The deaths immediately sparked the Rwandan Genocide and an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed. Under the Arusha accords, the RPF had a small contingent of troops present in Kigali at the time. The outbreak of genocide ended what vestiges remained of the cease fire. The RPF, under the leadership of Kagame, proceeded to take control of the whole country. Kigali was captured July 4, 1994, bringing the downfall of the government of Jean Kambanda.^[12]

Because three French citizens, crew members of the aircraft, died during the crash, an investigation was carried out by French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, who controversially concluded that the shooting of the plane was ordered by Kagame. In November 2006 Judge Bruguière signed international indictments against nine of President Kagame's senior aides, and accused Kagame of ordering the assassination of the two African presidents. Kagame could not be indicted under French law, since as a head-of-state he had immunity from prosecution. The indictments have failed to produce any arrests, due to non-cooperation from the Rwandan government, which accused the judge of partiality. The Kagame government countered that the indictment was based upon declarations by fugitives and disgruntled former lower rank RPF members who testified that the RPF was the only organization with the type of missiles that were used in the assassination. It also pointed out that at the time of the shooting of the plane, the French military was in control of Kigali Airport;^[13] although that point, and the possible attempt to imply that the French shot down the plane, is irrelevant as the plane was shot down on approach to the airport and not from the zone controlled by French forces. The former chief prosecutor for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Judge Richard Goldstone, argued in the interview that political motivations were at play in the indictment, though this did not negate the potential veracity of the accusations leveled by Judge Bruguière. Judge Goldstone stated that: "Well I don't think that case has been made at all. It's a very political judgement and I don't believe that it's borne out by the evidence. Certainly the witnesses who spoke to Bruguiere allege that those were statements made by President Kagame himself. Whether he did or not obviously is a matter in dispute, in hot dispute, but the political judgement it seems to me is another matter."^[14]

The accusations against Kagame were corroborated by several witnesses including former intelligence RPF members, the most publicly known being Commando Lieutenant Abdul Ruzibiza.^[15] Ruzibiza published a book (Rwanda: L'histoire secrete) and released testimony pertaining to Kagame and the RPF's involvement in the plane downing and massacres;^[16][17] however, Ruzibiza subsequently retracted part of his testimony, especially as pertains to Kagame senior aide Rose Kabuye after she was arrested in Germany and extradited to France.^[18] The Association des Avocats de la Defence released a statement backing Judge Bruguière's allegations.^[19][20] Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan of mixed Hutu and Tutsi origin whose feat saving 1,268 civilians has been the basis of the Academy Award nominated film Hotel Rwanda (2004), has supported the allegation that Kagame and the RPF were behind the plane downing, and stated that:^[21]

It defies logic why the UN Security Council has never mandated an investigation of this airplane missile attack to establish who was responsible, especially since everyone agrees it was the one incident that touched off the mass killings commonly referred to as the “Rwandan genocide of 1994”.

Furthermore, the French accusations were not the only ones, and parties not involved in the 1994 events have supported the French accusations. In summer 2003, Carla del Ponte, then the Chief Prosecutor for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), publicly announced that she would soon begin prosecuting members of Kagame’s Government for the same kinds of crimes charged by Judge Bruguière. However, under U.S. and U.K. pressure, she was replaced soon thereafter as ICTR prosecutor by Abubacar Jallow who pledged not to prosecute Kagame or anyone on his side, no matter what the processes initiated by del Ponte and Bruguière yielded.^[22] In February 2008, a Spanish judge issued 40 international warrants for current and former members of Kagame’s government, including senior staff at Rwanda’s Washington Embassy, in connection with war crimes and crimes against humanity.^[22]

In a 2007 interview with the BBC, Mr Kagame said he would co-operate with an impartial inquiry. The BBC concluded that "Whether any judge would want to take on such a task is quite another matter."^[14]

In a political countereffort, Kagame broke diplomatic relations with France in November 2006 and ordered the formation of a commission of loyal Rwandans that was officially "charged with assembling proof of the involvement of France in the genocide".^[23] The political character of that investigation was further averred when the commission issued its report solely to Kagame in November 2007 and its head, Jean de Dieu Mucyo, stated that the commission would now "wait for President Kagame to declare whether the inquiry was valid."^[23]

The Second Congo War

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Kagame was part of the cabinet of President Pasteur Bizimungu, who came to power in the aftermath of the genocide. Kagame was made Vice President of Rwanda and Defense Minister. Bizimungu was also a member of the RPF, and as its military leader, Kagame was viewed as the power behind the throne, and eventually became President when Bizimungu was deposed in March 2000.^{[citation needed]}

In 1998, Rwanda got heavily involved in the Second Congo War, supporting a well-armed rebel group in Congo, the Congolese Rally for Democracy. Together with Uganda, Rwandan forces invaded the mineral-rich north and east of Democratic Republic of Congo, citing Congolese anti-Tutsi policies and historical Rwandan heritage in the area. The government of Congo soon found itself supported by several other African nations, and mounted a counter attack, with limited success.

An April 2001 United Nations report alleged "mass scale looting" of Congolese mineral resources. The report claimed that senior members of the Rwandan government had made hundreds of millions of dollars from illegal mineral trading, and that:

A June 2001 Amnesty International report implicated Rwandan and Rwandan-backed forces (amongst others) in the deliberate killing of thousands of Congolese civilians.

Although the Rwandan and Ugandan governments claim to have withdrawn their forces from Congo, there are consistent reports of ongoing Rwandan involvement in support of rebel fighters trying to protect local Tutsi minorities against remnants of the Interahamwe, the militia involved in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. However, in September 2007, the Rwanda government has strongly denied any involvement in the current Congo fighting.

Critics allege that the Rwandan occupation of the Eastern Congo has been motivated chiefly by a desire to exploit Congolese mineral resources. Paul Kagame has, in turn, claimed that these criticisms are based on Hutu-extremist propaganda, and that Rwanda's sole reason for occupying the Congo has been to defeat the remnants of the Hutu-extremist militia who fled there from Rwanda after the 1994 genocide.

A 2002 United Nations report elaborated on the allegations of illegal profiteering by Rwandan and Ugandan forces in Congo:^[24]

President Kagame

Kagame (right) with Joseph Kabila, Thabo Mbeki, and George W. Bush

Paul Kagame became President of Rwanda in March 2000,^[25] after Bizimungu was deposed. Three and a half years later, on August 25, 2003, he won a landslide victory in the first national elections since his government took power in 1994 winning 95.5% of the votes.^[25]

Kagame is highly critical of the United Nations and its role in the 1994 genocide. In March 2004, his public criticism of France for its role in the genocide and its lack of preventative actions caused a diplomatic row.^[26] In November 2006, Rwanda severed all diplomatic ties with France and ordered all its diplomatic staff out of Rwanda within 24 hours following Judge Bruguiere issuing warrants accusing nine high ranking Rwandans of plotting the downing of President Juvenal Habyarimana's airplane in 1994 and also accusing Kagame of ordering the plane shot down.^[26]

As president, Kagame has also been critical of the West's lack of development aid in Africa. Kagame believes that Western countries keep African products out of the world marketplace. In contrast, he has praised China, saying in a 2009 interview that "the Chinese bring what Africa needs: investment and money for governments and companies."^[27]

Human rights

Regarding human rights under the current government of President Paul Kagame, Human Rights Watch has accused Rwandan police of several instances of extrajudicial killings and deaths in custody.^[28][29] In June 2006, the International Federation of Human Rights and Human Rights Watch described what they called "serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Rwanda Patriotic Army".^[30]

According to The Economist, Kagame "allows less political space and press freedom at home than Robert Mugabe does in Zimbabwe", and "[a]nyone who poses the slightest political threat to the regime is dealt with ruthlessly".^[31]

The United States' government in 2006 described the human rights record of the Kagame government as "mediocre", citing the "disappearances" of political dissidents, as well as arbitrary arrests and acts of violence, torture and murders committed by police. US authorities listed human rights problems including the existence of political prisoners and limited freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion.^[32]

Reporters Without Borders listed Rwanda in 147th place out of 169 for freedom of the press in 2007,^[33] and reported that "Rwandan journalists suffer permanent hostility from their government and surveillance by the security services". It cited cases of journalists being threatened, harassed and arrested for criticising the government. According to Reporters Without Borders, "President Paul Kagame and his government have never accepted that the press should be guaranteed genuine freedom."^[34]

Quotes

• We cannot turn the clock back nor can we undo the harm caused, but we have the power to determine the future and to ensure that what happened never happens again. ^[10]

• You kept quiet... When these victims wanted your help to survive, you kept quiet. ^[35]

• It is the first time in the history of Rwanda that political change in the highest leadership of the country has taken place in peace and security. ^[35]

• Such problems are not solved in one day but there is a great step toward peace and security in the region. ^[35]

• There are some who are scared by unity and by building a country on the basis of ideas.^[14]

• In Africa today, we recognise that trade and investment, and not aid, are pillars of development. ^[14]

Honors and accolades

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Kagame was in March 2003 awarded the 2003 Global Leadership Award by the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO). He received the award in recognition of his "commitment and tireless work to address crises, to foster understanding, unity, and peace to benefit all people. YPO regard his role in reconciling the Tutsi and the Hutu differences in Rwanda and in developing a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a benchmark of great leadership, uncommon inspiration and remarkable achievement.

In April 2005, Kagame was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor Laws by the University of the Pacific in the United States.

In September 2005, Kagame was awarded the Andrew Young Medal for Capitalism and Social Progress by Georgia State University in the United States.

In September 2005, Kagame was awarded the African National Achievement Award by the Africa America Institute in the USA.

In April 2006, Kagame was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Oklahoma Christian University in the USA.

In May 2006, Kagame was given the 2006 ICT Africa Award, an award that is designed to recognize and reward organizations and individuals that have demonstrated excellence in promoting the use of ICTs for the overall development of the African continent.

In September 2006, Rwanda was listed as a Top-10 reformer on the Ease of doing business index by the World Bank.

In August 2007, Kagame was given the Hands Off Cain Award for his role in ending the death penalty in his country.

In November 2007, Kagame was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor in Law by the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

In December 2007, Kagame was given the African Gender Award in Dakar, Senegal for his role in promoting gender equality in Rwanda.

In June 2009, Kagame was awarded the Children's Champion Award by the US Fund for UNICEF for Promoting Children's Rights

In September 2009, Kagame was awarded the International Peace Medal from Saddleback Church for his support and role in the P.E.A.C.E. plan.

In September 2009, President Paul Kagame honoured with the Clinton Global Citizen Award in recognition of his leadership in public service that has improved the lives of people of Rwanda.

November 2009, Kagame was presented with the ‘Most Innovative People Award for Economic Innovation’ at the Lebanon2020 Summit,

v • d • e Presidents of Rwanda Dominique Mbonyumutwa • Grégoire Kayibanda • Juvénal Habyarimana • Théodore Sindikubwabo (interim) • Pasteur Bizimungu • Paul Kagame

See also

• Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-IV), 2008.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul Kagame

• Biography from the government of Rwanda^{[dead link]}
• Amnesty International, June 2001: Democratic Republic of Congo - Rwandese-Controlled East - Devastating Human Death Toll
• Freedom House entry on Rwanda, 2005

See also

• Military of Rwanda
• History of Rwanda