The Rwandan president opens the door to his candidacy for the 2024 elections after more than 20 years in power

July 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, has declared that he is contemplating the possibility of running again as a candidate to revalidate his mandate in the 2024 elections after more than 20 years at the helm of the country.

“I would run for another 20 years. I have no problem with that. Elections are an opportunity for people to decide,” he told France 24 in an interview.

Kagame rose as the country’s strongman after the 1994 genocide and consolidated his dominance six years later, with the start of his first presidential term. In 2015 he amended the Constitution to the point that it allows him, in theory, to remain in power until 2034 if the population so decides. Terms of office in Rwanda last seven years.

The president was reelected in the last elections of 2017 with 99 percent of the votes in a “very limited space for freedom of expression,” denounced at the time the NGO specialized in monitoring Human Rights at the international level Human Rights Watch.

“Kagame’s landslide victory has come as no surprise: Rwandans who dared to speak out or challenge the status quo have been arrested, forcibly disappeared or killed; independent media have been gagged and intimidation has silenced groups working for civil rights or freedom of expression,” the organization said.

Kagame’s statements take place at a time of upsurge in regional tension with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Both countries have gone through stages of crisis since the massive arrival in eastern DRC of Rwandan Hutus accused of having massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

After a certain period of diplomatic relaxation, the conflict gained intensity again in May, when the Congolese government summoned the Rwandan ambassador to denounce the country’s alleged support for the armed movement M23.

The group has been accused since November 2021 of carrying out attacks against Army positions in the Congolese region of North Kivu, despite the fact that the Congolese authorities and the M23 signed a peace agreement in December 2013 after the fighting that took place since 2012 with the Army, which was supported by United Nations troops. UN experts accused Uganda and Rwanda of supporting the rebels, although both countries denied this.

However, and after a long negotiation mediated by Angola, the Congolese president, Félix Tshisekedi, agreed on Wednesday with Kagame a ceasefire in the border area between the two African nations.

“I don’t think anyone is interested in the tensions, conflicts or any crisis in the DRC. It is in that context that I am happy that we even agreed to meet under the mediation of (Angolan) President João Lourenço. In fact, we had good discussions of both We hope to move forward,” added the president during the interview, reported by the Rwandan newspaper ‘New Times’.