Paul Kagame Biography
Paul Kagame is a politician and former military officer from Rwanda who has served as Rwanda’s president four times since 2000. He previously held the position of commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group based in Uganda that invaded Rwanda in 1990, participated in the Rwandan Civil War, and was the armed force that brought an end to the Rwandan genocide. When he was President Pasteur Bizimungu’s Vice President and Minister of Defense from 1994 to 2000, when the “Vice President” position was abolished, he was regarded as Rwanda’s de facto leader.
Paul Kagame Age
Kagame 65 years old as of 2023. He was born on 23 October 1957 in Ruanda-Urundi. He celebrates his birthday on 23 October.
Read: Akinwumi Adesina Bio, Age, Family, Wife, Education, Net Worth, WARDA, ADB Career
Paul Kagame Family
Kagame was born in Tambwe, Ruanda-Urundi, a village in what is now the Southern Province of Rwanda. He was the youngest of six children. His father, Deogratias Rutagambwa, belonged to the Tutsi ethnic group, which had been the source of the royal family since at least the 18th century. Deogratias Rutagambwa was a Bega who was related to King Mutara III in his family. However, rather than staying close to the royal court, he went into business for himself. Asteria Bisinda, Kagame’s mother, came from Rosalie Gicanda’s family, the Hebera branch of the royal Nyiginya clan, the last Rwandan queen.
Paul Kagame Wife
Kagame wed Jeannette Nyiramongi, a Tutsi exile living in Nairobi, Kenya, on June 10, 1989, in Uganda. Nyiramongi was recommended by Kagame’s family when he asked them to recommend a suitable marriage. Kagame went to Nairobi and introduced himself to her, which got her to go to Uganda to see him. Nyiramongi knew a lot about the RPF and how it wanted to bring refugees back to Rwanda. She valued Kagame highly. Four children are born to the couple. Their other children are Ange, Ian, and Brian, and their first son, Ivan Cyomoro, was born in 1990.
Paul Kagame Net Worth
He has a net worth of $500 million.
Paul Kagame Height
He stands at an average height of 6 feet and 2 inches(1.88m).
READ ALSO: Nasty C Bio, Age, Wife, They Don’t, SMA, Zulu, Bad Hair, Songs, Bling
Paul Kagame House
His house is not revealed. His son has a European villa-like building that was constructed in the 1950s but has undergone extensive renovations in recent years. It is 5,500 square feet in size and has six bathrooms, four bedrooms, and a long row of massive square columns painted a creamy white. A Tesla charging station can be found in a three-car garage, and a high-tech security system protects the half-acre property.
The formal living and dining rooms are connected to the skylit foyer on the inside. The skylit kitchen has two islands, and the family room next to it has a wet bar and banks of French doors that lead out to the backyard. There are three guest bedrooms, a master retreat with two lavish walk-in closets and two bathrooms, and the master retreat has a fireplace.
Paul Kagame M23
Relations between Kagame and the Congolese government remained tense despite the agreement and subsequent ceasefire. Kagame attributed the failure of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to put down the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which are Rwandan Hutu rebels operating in the North and South Kivu provinces.
Since 2004, there has been ongoing conflict in the eastern provinces of the Congo, with Kagame supporting two major insurgencies. This included a major rebellion that lasted from 2005 to 2009 and was led by Congolese Tutsi Laurent Nkunda. It also included a rebellion that started in 2012 and was led by Bosco Ntaganda of the March 23 Movement (M23). In 2012, a leaked United Nations report stated that Kagame’s defense minister, James Kabarebe, was in fact the commander of the M23.
Since Kagame held a bilateral meeting with Kabila in Gisenyi in 2016, relations have improved. When Félix Tshisekedi was elected president of the DRC in 2019, Kagame, who was the chairman of the AU at the time, tried to have an AU investigation into the poll fail. Despite this, since Tshisekedi’s election, he has developed a close relationship with him, holding summits in Kinshasa and Kigali. Kagame is still subject to accusations that Rwandan troops are operating within the Kivu provinces as of 2020. Civilians and Congolese officials, including Juvénal Munubo, a member of the parliament from Walikale, have reported seeing RDF soldiers in the DRC; however, Kagame consistently denies these claims.
Paul Kagame African Union
From January 28, 2018, to February 10, 2019, Kagame was the African Union’s Chairperson. Kagame worked to promote the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) while serving as chair. On March 21, 2018, 44 of the 55 nations that make up the African Union signed the proposed Continental Free Trade Area. By the time he left office in February 2019, 19 of the 22 nations required for its formal implementation had already ratified the Continental Free Trade Agreement. In addition, Kagame pushed through a change to the structures of the African Union in an effort to make them more efficient and financially viable.
Paul Kagame Presidency
Kagame began to publicly disagree with Bizimungu and the Hutu-led Rwandan government toward the end of the 1990s. Bizimungu accused by Kagame of corruption and poor management, and Bizimungu believed that the Transitional National Assembly was merely a puppet for Kagame and that he had no control over cabinet appointments. In March 2000, Bizimungu resigned as president. Most historians believe that Kagame forced Bizimungu to resign after he criticized the National Assembly and tried to divide the RPF. However, citing a phone call from a friend, Kagame told Kinzer that he had received the “startling news” and was surprised by the development. The Supreme Court decided that Kagame should serve as acting president until a permanent replacement was selected following Bizimungu’s resignation.
Since 1994, Kagame had been the de facto leader, but he was more concerned with the military, foreign policy, and the safety of the country than with day-to-day administration. By 2000, cross-border rebels no longer posed a threat, and Kagame decided to run for president after Bizimungu quit. Because the transitional constitution was still in effect, the president was elected by ministers from the government and the Transitional National Assembly, not directly.
Kagame and RPF secretary general Charles Murigande were the two candidates chosen by the RPF; By 81 votes to 3, Kagame was elected by the ministers and parliament. In April of 2000, Kagame was sworn in as president. At the same time as Bizimungu left the government, several Hutu politicians, including prime minister Pierre-Célestin Rwigema, left a cabinet dominated by Kagame supporters. Bizimungu started his own party in 2001, but Kagame’s government banned it because the transitional constitution forbade political campaigning.
In the year that followed, Kagame made a public statement to Bizimungu in which he warned him that the government’s patience with his continued involvement in party politics was “not infinite.” Two weeks later, Bizimungu was arrested and found guilty of corruption and inciting ethnic violence, both of which human rights groups said were politically motivated charges. He was held in prison until 2007, when Kagame granted him a pardon.