Paul Kagame
Paul Kagame (born October 23, 1957) is the president of Rwanda, and was a founder of the Rwandan Patriotic Front and its military commander during the Rwandan civil war.
Born in Gitarama (in Western Rwanda), he left with his family at the age of four and moved to Uganda, mainly to escape the growing violence. In 1979, he joined Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army, and spent years fighting throughout Uganda.
In 1986, Kagame became the head of military intelligence in the NRA, and was always viewed as one of Museveni's closest allies. He also joined the official Ugandan military, and participated as a guerrilla fighter in the NRA.
However, Kagame had not forgotten about his home of Rwanda. He was instrumental in forming, along with his close friend Fred Rwigyema, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which was composed mainly of Rwandan soldiers that had also fought with the NRA; the RPF was also based in Uganda.
In October 1990, the RPF invaded Rwanda for the first time. At that time, Kagame was in the United States, participating in a military training program at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Two days into the invasion, Rwigyema was killed, making Kagame the commander of the RPF.
The invasion seemed to be going well, until France put together a force of French, Belgian, Hutu, and Zairois soldiers. Another invasion was attempted in late 1991, but that faltered as well. This caused Kagame and the RPF to enter a lengthy series of talks, which lasted until 1993. The end result allowed Kagame to form a moderate government. This caused suspicions within the ranks of the RPF, who wondered if the new government would fulfill its promises.
These promises, specifically, had been a sharing of power between two ethnic groups: the Tutsi and the Hutu. The Tutsi had formerly been the elite social group, while the Hutu were the majority. Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, had taken power and held it for decades through non-democratic elections. On April 6, 1994, it seemed that he would adopt the Arusha Peace Accords, which would share power between the Tutsi and the Hutu. Fearing this, Hutu extremists killed Habyarimana and the President of the nearby country of Burundi while they were on an airplane.
The next day, the Hutu extremists began massacring thousands of Tutsi politicians and moderate Hutu citizens. Some United Nations camps sheltered innocent citizens; however, the United Nations Mission in Rwanda stood by idly during the genocide. They had been told only to "monitor", not to interfere with Rwandan politics. On the same day, 10 Belgian soldiers were tricked and killed by the extremists. U.S. President Bill Clinton issued a statement offering his condolences to the victims' families and denouncing the rebels.
For the next couple of weeks, many questionable decisions were made. Belgium and the UN withdrew almost all of their forces, leaving all of the Rwandans behind. The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to withdraw its troops, with France and Belgium at the forefront. Finally, on May 17, 1994, the UN concedes that "acts of genocide may have been committed." At that time, the Red Cross estimated at least 100,000 deaths at the hands of the Hutu extremists, the majority of those being minority Tutsis.
By Mid-May, the U.S. attempted to take action by ordering 50 APCs; however, an argument ensued over their cost. At this time, the Red Cross estimated over 500,000 deaths. At the end of May, the RPF (on its own) took over most of Rwanda. France, Belgium, and the rest of the U.N. did nothing to prevent the acts of genocide (which they had knowledge of); this caused Kagame to denounce France and the U.N., specifically, throughout the rest of his life. France, ironically, absolved its government of any responsibility, blaming mostly the U.N. and the United States.
The RPF renewed its civil war against the Rwanda Hutu government when it received word that the genocidal massacres had begun. Kagame directed RPF forces in neighboring countries such as Uganda and Tanzania to invade the country, battling the Hutu forces and Interahamwe militias who were committing the massacres.
When the RPF finally took power in 1994, after the genocide, Kagame was made Vice President of Rwanda and a member of the defense portfolio, with Pasteur Bizimungu as the President of Rwanda. Bizimungu had also been a member of the RPF. While vice president, Kagame was viewed as the power behind the throne, and the most powerful man in Rwanda.
On August 25, 2003, Kagame won a landslide victory in the first democratic elections of Rwanda. In March of that year, he had been awarded the Young Presidents Organization's Global Leadership Award for his role in leading and rebuilding Rwanda.
Kagame tends to downgrade the importance of his ethnic background (he is a Tutsi), portraying himself as simply a Rwandan. He is highly critical of the United Nations and its role in the 1994 genocide. Recently (March 2004), he publicly criticized France for its direct role in the genocide and its lack of preventative actions.
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