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| President Kagame |
Kagame has won international plaudits for presiding over a
peaceful and rapid economic recovery in the tiny central African nation since
the 1994 genocide, when an estimated 800,000 people Tutsis and moderate Hutus
were killed.
He has also faced mounting censure for what critics and rights
groups say are widespread human rights abuses, a muzzling of independent media
and suppression of political opposition.
Some political opponents were killed after they fled abroad,
in cases that remain unsolved.
The government denies any involvement and the cases appear
to have done little to blunt Kagame’s domestic standing among Rwanda’s 12
million citizens.
“Even if I am poor, I voted for Kagame for restoring peace
and security,” said 45-year-old farmer Appolinaire Karangwa, who cast his
ballot in the capital Kigali.
Kagame, a commander who led Tutsi rebel forces into Rwanda
to end the 1994 genocide, banned the use of tribal terms after becoming
president.
He won the last election in 2010 with 93 per cent of the
vote and during this campaign for a further seven-year term, said he expected
to win nearly 100 per cent.
Kagame’s main opponent, Frank Habineza, voted early on
Friday at Kimoronko, a polling station in Kigali.
He told reporters shortly after voting that his campaign had
been hobbled because it could not compete with the machinery of the state.
“All state structures
belong to his party. It is not very easy but we are also strong,” he said.
If elected, Habineza has promised to set up a tribunal to
retry dissidents, whose convictions by Rwandan courts have been criticized as
politically motivated.
Another would-be opponent, Diane Rwigara, was disqualified
by the election board despite her insistence that she met all the requirements
to run.
~Reuters/NAN
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