Rwanda’s veteran president Kagame to seek re-election in 2024

Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, announced that he will run for reelection in 2018, intending to continue his nearly 25-year rule.

Kagame, who took office as president in 2000, can now serve another ten years since a 2015 constitutional reform modified the term limitations that would have required him to leave office after two.

He was questioned about his plans for the upcoming election in an interview with the pan-African Jeune Afrique magazine published on Tuesday.

“I am pleased with the trust the Rwandans have placed in me. I shall always try to be of service to them. I am a candidate, that is true,” he declared.

According to the electoral commission, Kagame won the most recent election in August 2017 for a seven-year term with 98.63% of the vote.

Since the conclusion of the 1994 genocide, which is believed to have resulted in the deaths of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, Kagame has garnered praise from around the world for fostering peace and economic progress.

But he has come under increasing fire from human rights organizations for allegedly repressing political opposition and silencing independent media.

Kagame has refuted these charges. In 2015, the United States criticized the constitutional amendment, stating Kagame should resign when his term was up to make way for a new generation of leaders.

Kagame claimed in the interview with Jeune Afrique that he was unconcerned by criticism from Western nations.