Rwandan President announces he will seek 3rd term

 

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has declared he will run for a third term in office after his second seven-year term expires in 2017.

 

The announcement in his end-of-year message on Saturday Dec 26,2015 follows last month’s constitutional referendum in which 98.3%  of Rwandans voted to approve the country’s revised Constitution to allow Paul Kagame to run again after his term ends.

The move has been opposed by the U.S.

Paul Kagame became President in 2000 after being Rwanda’s de facto leader since the end of the country’s genocide in 1994.

Paul Kagame is credited with stabilising the country and promoting economic growth after the mass killings, but critics say he is an authoritarian ruler who does not tolerate opposition and he is accused of human rights abuses.