Blood coursed through the streets of Rwanda‘s capital, Kigali, in April 1994 as machete-wielding militiamen began a campaign of genocide that killed as many as 800,000 people, one of the great horrors of the late 20th century.
Thirty years later, Kigali is the envy of Africa. Smooth streets curl past gleaming towers that hold banks, luxury hotels and tech startups.There is a Volkswagen car plant and an mRNA vaccine facility. A 10,000-seat arena hosts Africa‘s biggest basketball league and concerts by stars such as Kendrick Lamar, an American rapper, who performed there in December.
Tourists fly in to visit Rwanda’s famed gorillas. Government officials from other African countries arrive for lessons in good governance. The electricity is reliable. Traffic cops do not solicit bribes. Violence is rare.
The architect of this stunning transformation, President Paul Kagame, achieved it with harsh methods that would normally attract international condemnation. Opponents are jailed, free speech is curtailed and critics often die in murky circumstances, even those living in the West. Kagame’s soldiers have been accused of massacre and plunder in neighbouring Congo.
For decades, Western leaders have looked past Kagame’s abuses. Some have expressed guilt for their failure to halt the genocide, when Hutu extremists massacred people mostly from Kagame’s Tutsi ethnic group.
Kagame will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the genocide Sunday, when he is expected to lay wreaths at mass graves, light a flame of remembrance and deliver a solemn speech that may well reinforce his message of exceptionalism. “Never again,” he often says. But the anniversary is also a sharp reminder that Kagame, 66, has been in power for just as long. He won the last presidential election with 99% of votes. The outcome of the next one, set for July, is in little doubt. Under Rwanda’s Constitution, he could rule for another decade.
The milepost has given new ammunition to critics who say that Kagame’s repressive tactics increasingly appear to be a way for him to entrench his iron rule — Kizito Mihigo, a Tutsi, a charismatic gospel singer and a friend of Kagame’s wife Jeannette, began facing troubles after releasing coded lyrics calling on Rwandans to show empathy for both Tutsi and Hutu victims. He was eventually found dead in a police station, while the government dubbed his death as a suicide.
Questions are growing about where Kagame is leading his country. Although he claims to have banished ethnicity, critics – including diplomats and former govt officials – say he presides over a system that is shaped by unspoken ethnic cleavages that make the prospect of genuine reconciliation as distant as ever. Ethnic Tutsis dominate the top echelons of Kagame’s government, while the Hutus, who make up 85% of the population, remain excluded from true power, critics say. It is a sign that ethnic division, despite surface appearances, is still very much a factor in the way Rwanda is ruled.
Kagame burst into power in July 1994, sweeping into Kigali as the head of Tutsi-dominated rebel group the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which ousted Hutu extremists who orchestrated the genocide.
Since coming to power, Kagame has had a reputation for spending aid wisely and promoting forward-looking economic policies. Rwanda’s trajectory is impressive: Average life expectancy rose to 66 years from 40 years between 1994 and 2021.
Thirty years later, Kigali is the envy of Africa. Smooth streets curl past gleaming towers that hold banks, luxury hotels and tech startups.There is a Volkswagen car plant and an mRNA vaccine facility. A 10,000-seat arena hosts Africa‘s biggest basketball league and concerts by stars such as Kendrick Lamar, an American rapper, who performed there in December.
Tourists fly in to visit Rwanda’s famed gorillas. Government officials from other African countries arrive for lessons in good governance. The electricity is reliable. Traffic cops do not solicit bribes. Violence is rare.
The architect of this stunning transformation, President Paul Kagame, achieved it with harsh methods that would normally attract international condemnation. Opponents are jailed, free speech is curtailed and critics often die in murky circumstances, even those living in the West. Kagame’s soldiers have been accused of massacre and plunder in neighbouring Congo.
For decades, Western leaders have looked past Kagame’s abuses. Some have expressed guilt for their failure to halt the genocide, when Hutu extremists massacred people mostly from Kagame’s Tutsi ethnic group.
Kagame will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the genocide Sunday, when he is expected to lay wreaths at mass graves, light a flame of remembrance and deliver a solemn speech that may well reinforce his message of exceptionalism. “Never again,” he often says. But the anniversary is also a sharp reminder that Kagame, 66, has been in power for just as long. He won the last presidential election with 99% of votes. The outcome of the next one, set for July, is in little doubt. Under Rwanda’s Constitution, he could rule for another decade.
The milepost has given new ammunition to critics who say that Kagame’s repressive tactics increasingly appear to be a way for him to entrench his iron rule — Kizito Mihigo, a Tutsi, a charismatic gospel singer and a friend of Kagame’s wife Jeannette, began facing troubles after releasing coded lyrics calling on Rwandans to show empathy for both Tutsi and Hutu victims. He was eventually found dead in a police station, while the government dubbed his death as a suicide.
Questions are growing about where Kagame is leading his country. Although he claims to have banished ethnicity, critics – including diplomats and former govt officials – say he presides over a system that is shaped by unspoken ethnic cleavages that make the prospect of genuine reconciliation as distant as ever. Ethnic Tutsis dominate the top echelons of Kagame’s government, while the Hutus, who make up 85% of the population, remain excluded from true power, critics say. It is a sign that ethnic division, despite surface appearances, is still very much a factor in the way Rwanda is ruled.
Kagame burst into power in July 1994, sweeping into Kigali as the head of Tutsi-dominated rebel group the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which ousted Hutu extremists who orchestrated the genocide.
Since coming to power, Kagame has had a reputation for spending aid wisely and promoting forward-looking economic policies. Rwanda’s trajectory is impressive: Average life expectancy rose to 66 years from 40 years between 1994 and 2021.