Paul Kagame has been sworn in for a fourth term as Rwanda's president after winning 99% of the vote in last month's election.
While some hail Mr Kagame for bringing peace and stability
to his country after the 1994 genocide, others accuse him of running a
repressive regime in a country where ordinary people are afraid to openly
criticise him.
Rights groups say the margin of his electoral victory is
proof of the lack of democracy in Rwanda.
Only two candidates were allowed to stand against Mr Kagame
in the 15 July election.
In his four presidential elections, he has always gained at
least 93% of the vote.
Several African heads of states were among the many
thousands who attended the ceremony in the packed 45,000 capacity Amahoro
National Stadium in the capital, Kigali.
In his oath of office, Mr Kagame vowed to preserve peace
and national sovereignty, and to consolidate national unity.
He also pledged to "never use the powers conferred
upon me for personal interests".
"Should I fail to honour this oath, may I be subjected
to the rigours of the law," he said.
Mr Kagame has been the real power in Rwanda since his then
rebel forces came to power at the end of the genocide in which some 800,000
ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered, ousting the genocidal
regime.
Since then, Rwanda has been relatively stable, with Mr
Kagame seeking to turn the country into the "Singapore of Africa".
The capital is one of Africa's cleanest cities and is home
to the African Basketball League, which is a partnership with the NBA. It
hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2022 and international
stars like Kendrick Lamar have played concerts there.
Mr Kagame often criticises the West, yet he has also sought
to build alliances, for example with the UK over the now scrapped policy of
deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, agreed with the former Conservative
government.
While life has improved in Rwanda, Mr Kagame is accused of destabilising the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Just days before the July election, a UN report said there
were some 4,000 Rwandan troops in DR Congo, where they are accused of backing
the M23 rebel group, fuelling a bitter row between the two countries.
Under Mr Kagame, Rwandan troops have twice invaded DR
Congo, saying they were pursuing Hutu militias linked to the 1994 genocide.
Congolese President FélixTshisekedi was not among the
African leaders at the inauguration.
In his speech, Mr Kagame appeared to criticise Mr
Tshisekedi for failing to help defeat Rwandan rebels based in DR Congo.
Unless that changes, he said mediation efforts wouldn't
work.
He didn't sound like a man ready to give into any pressure
and stop backing the M23 rebels. bbc
“Throughout our campaign here, it was always humbling to hear the slogan “Ni wowe”, meaning “It’s you”. But actually, in reality, it is not me alone, ni mwebwe, ni twese — it’s all of us.
— Presidency | Rwanda (@UrugwiroVillage) August 11, 2024
Our focus now returns to the future. For the last thirty years, our country has been a good… pic.twitter.com/HlwQNECHUG
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