Paul Kagame sworn in for fourth term as Rwanda president

Paul Kagame was sworn in for a fourth term as Rwanda’s president after winning 99% of the vote in last month’s election.

While some have praised Mr Kagame for bringing peace and stability to the country after the 1994 genocide, others have accused him of ruling with repression in a country where ordinary people are afraid to criticize him openly.

Human rights groups said the margin of his electoral victory proved the lack of democracy in Rwanda.

Only two candidates were allowed to compete against Mr Kagame in the July 15 election.

In the four presidential elections he participated in, his vote share remained above 93%.

The ceremony took place at the Amahoro National Stadium in the capital Kigali, packed with 45,000 spectators and attended by thousands of people, including several African heads of state.

In his oath of office, Mr. Kagame vowed to uphold peace and national sovereignty and consolidate national unity.

He also promised to “never use the power given to me for personal gain.”

“If I do not fulfill this oath, I will be severely punished by the law,” he said.

Mr Kagame has been the de facto leader of Rwanda since his rebel group took power in the aftermath of the genocide, in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred to overthrow the genocidal regime.

Rwanda has been relatively stable since then, with Mr Kagame seeking to make the country the “Singapore of Africa”.

The capital is one of the cleanest cities in Africa. It is the venue for the African Basketball Leaguea partnership with the NBA. It hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2022, Kendrick Lamar and other international superstars Concerts were held there.

Kagame often criticizes the West, but he also seeks to build alliances, such as with Britain in Policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda has been abolishedagreeing with the previous Conservative government.

While life has improved in Rwanda, Mr Kagame has been accused of destabilising neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Just days before the July election, a UN report said there were about 4,000 Rwandan soldiers in the DRC, accused of supporting the M23 rebels, fuelling a bitter row between the two countries.

Under Kagame, Rwandan troops have twice invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo, claiming they were hunting Hutu militias linked to the 1994 genocide.

Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi was not among the African leaders attending the inauguration.

In his speech, Kagame appeared to criticize Tshisekedi for failing to help defeat Rwandan rebels based in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Unless that changes, he said, mediation efforts won’t work.

He does not sound like someone who would be willing to succumb to any pressure and stop supporting the M23 rebels.

Additional reporting by Will Ross, BBC World Service Africa Editor