Paul Kagame, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

    

Paul Kagame

Rwandan politician, 4th and current President of Rwanda

Date of Birth: 23-Oct-1957

Place of Birth: Muhanga District, Southern Province, Rwanda

Profession: politician, military leader

Nationality: Rwanda

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

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About Paul Kagame

  • Paul Kagame (; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military leader.
  • He is the 4th and current President of Rwanda, having taken office in 2000 when his predecessor, Pasteur Bizimungu, resigned.
  • Kagame previously commanded the rebel force that ended the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
  • He was considered Rwanda's de facto leader when he served as Vice President and Minister of Defence from 1994 to 2000.
  • He was re-elected in August 2017 with an official result of nearly 99% in an election criticized for numerous irregularities.
  • He has been described as the "most impressive" and "among the most repressive" African leaders.Kagame was born to a Tutsi family in southern Rwanda.
  • When he was two years old, the Rwandan Revolution ended centuries of Tutsi political dominance; his family fled to Uganda, where he spent the rest of his childhood.
  • In the 1980s, Kagame fought in Yoweri Museveni's rebel army, becoming a senior Ugandan army officer after Museveni's military victories carried him to the Ugandan presidency.
  • Kagame joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which invaded Rwanda in 1990.
  • RPF leader Fred Rwigyema died early in the war and Kagame took control.
  • By 1993, the RPF controlled significant territory in Rwanda and a ceasefire was negotiated.
  • The assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana set off the genocide, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu.
  • Kagame resumed the civil war, and ended the genocide with a military victory. During his vice presidency, Kagame controlled the national army and maintained law and order, while other officials began rebuilding the country.
  • Many RPF soldiers carried out retribution killings.
  • Kagame said he did not support these killings but failed to stop them.
  • A small number of these soldiers were later put on trial.
  • Hutu refugee camps formed in Zaire and other countries.
  • These camps were given food and medical aid by several western governments and aid agencies.
  • The RPF attacked the camps in 1996, forcing many refugees to return home, but insurgents continued to attack Rwanda.
  • The attack on the refugee camps killed an estimated 200,000 people.
  • As part of the invasion, Kagame sponsored two controversial rebel wars in Zaire.
  • The Rwandan- and Ugandan-backed rebels won the first war (1996–97), installing Laurent-Désiré Kabila as president in place of dictator Mobutu and renaming the country as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
  • The second war was launched in 1998 against Kabila, and later his son Joseph, following the DRC government's expulsion of Rwandan and Ugandan military forces from the country.
  • The war escalated into a conflict that lasted until a 2003 peace deal and ceasefire. As president, Kagame has prioritized national development, launching a programme to develop Rwanda as a middle-income country by 2020 (Vision 2020).
  • As of 2013, the country is developing strongly on key indicators, including health care and education; annual growth between 2004 and 2010 averaged 8% per year.
  • Kagame has had mostly good relations with the East African Community and the United States; his relations with France were poor until 2009.
  • Relations with the DRC remain tense despite the 2003 ceasefire; human rights groups and a leaked United Nations report allege Rwandan support for two insurgencies in the country, a charge Kagame denies.
  • Several countries suspended aid payments in 2012 following these allegations.
  • Kagame is popular in Rwanda and with some foreign observers; human rights groups accuse him of political repression.
  • He won an election in 2003, under a new constitution adopted that year, and was elected for a second term in 2010.
  • Kagame was elected again in 2017, and due to yet another change in the constitution, he could potentially be President until 2034.
  • His role in the assassination of exiled political opponents has been controversial.

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