Paul Kagame (born 23 October 1957) was President of Rwanda from 24 March 2000, succeeding Pasteur Bizimungu.
Biography[]
Paul Kagame was born on 23 October 1957 in Tambwe, Ruanda-Urundi, Belgium to a family of Catholic Tutsis. His family fled to Uganda after the Rwandan Revolution, and he fought alongside Yoweri Museveni's rebel army during the Ugandan Bush War against Milton Obote's government in the 1980s. The Tutsi refugees in Uganda, including Kagame, set up the Rwandan Patriotic Front in 1987 to seize power in Rwanda from the Hutus, who massacred the Tutsis in the Rwandan Genocide. He became the RPF leader after Fred Rwigyema was killed in 1990, and the RPF seized power for the oppressed Tutsis, ending the oppressive Hutu government. Soon, Hutus became the refugees, and they launched an insurgency against the government of Rwanda. He helped two insurgencies in neighboring Zaire, installing Laurent Kabila as the new President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo after overthrowing Joseph-Desire Mobutu. However, he was angry at Kabila for expelling his forces from his country, so he backed another rebellion against his son Joseph Kabila in the Second Congo War. The war ended on 18 July 2003 when DR Congo agreed to disarm all Hutu militias in the country, although this led to some civil conflict in the Congo region. Kagame was elected President of Rwanda on 24 March 2000 to succeed Pasteur Bizimungu, and he was president for over fifteen years.