page_title: Paul Kagame
section_title: Democratic Republic of the Congo
hierarchical_section_title: Paul Kagame / Presidency / Foreign policy / Democratic Republic of the Congo
caption_attribution_description: English: George W. Bush meets with Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, left, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, center, and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, right, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Cropped from the original at File:Kabila mbeki bush kagame.jpg
context_page_description: Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician and former military leader. He is the 4th and current President of Rwanda, having taken office in 2000 when his predecessor, Pasteur Bizimungu, resigned. Kagame previously commanded the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the Uganda-based rebel force that invaded Rwanda and was one of the parties of the conflict during the Rwandan genocide. He was considered Rwanda's de facto leader when he served as Vice President and Minister of Defence from 1994 to 2000. He was re-elected in August 2017 with an official result of nearly 99% in an election criticized for numerous irregularities. He has been described as the "most impressive" and "among the most repressive" African leaders.
  Kagame was born to a Tutsi family in southern Rwanda. When he was two years old, the Rwandan Revolution ended centuries of Tutsi political dominance; his family fled to Uganda, where he spent the rest of his childhood. In the 1980s, Kagame fought in Yoweri Museveni's rebel army, becoming a senior Ugandan army officer after Museveni's military victories carried him to the Ugandan presidency. Kagame joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which invaded Rwanda in 1990.
context_section_description: The Second Congo War, which began in 1998, was still raging when Kagame assumed the presidency in 2000. Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Chad had committed troops to the Congolese government side, while Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi were supporting rebel groups. The rebel group Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) had split in 1999 into two factions: the RCD-Goma, supported by Rwanda, and the RCD-Kisangani, which was allied to Uganda. Uganda also supported the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), a rebel group from the north. All these rebel groups were at war with Kabila's government in Kinshasa, but were also increasingly hostile to each other. Various peace meetings had been held, culminating in the July 1999 Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement which was signed by Kabila, Kagame and all the other foreign governments. The rebel groups were not party to the agreement, and fighting continued. The RPA continued to be heavily involved in the Congo War during 2000, fighting battles against the Ugandan army in Kisangani and against Kabila's army in Kasai and Katanga.
  In January 2001, Kabila was shot dead inside his palace. The Congolese government claimed Kabila had been killed by a rogue bodyguard, who was himself killed at the scene. According to a report published in French newspaper Le Monde, Kabila was killed by the kadogo, an army of child soldiers he was known to have assembled during the First Congo War. The kadogo had suffered badly during the battles in Kasai and Katanga, were poorly paid, and had become alienated by Kabila. Kabila's son Joseph was appointed president and immediately began asserting his authority by dismissing his father's cabinet and senior army commanders, assembling a new government, and engaging with the international community. The new government provided impetus for renewed peace negotiations, and in July 2002 a peace agreement was reached between Rwanda, Congo, and the other major participants, in which all foreign troops would withdraw and RCD-Goma would enter a power-sharing transitional government with Joseph Kabila as interim president until elections could be held. By the end of 2002, all uniformed Rwandan troops had left Congolese territory.
  Despite the agreement and subsequent ceasefire, relations between Kagame and the Congolese government have remained tense. A 2003 United Nations report alleged that Rwanda was using demobilised soldiers to continue its illegal exploitation of Congolese minerals. Meanwhile, Kagame blamed Kabila for failing to suppress Hutu rebels in North and South Kivu provinces. Two major insurgencies have occurred in the eastern provinces: the first, from 2005 to 2009, was led by Congolese Tutsi Laurent Nkunda, while the second, carried out by the March 23 Movement (M23) under leader Bosco Ntaganda, began in 2012; Ntaganda gave himself up to the International Criminal Court in early 2013, and peace talks have taken place, but as of May 2013 the conflict is at risk of resuming. Human Rights Watch alleges that both insurgencies were supported by Rwanda, a charge Kagame denies. A leaked United Nations report in 2012 also alleges Rwandan support for M23; this report cites Kagame's defence minister James Kabarebe as being effectively the commander of the movement.
caption: Kagame (right) with Congolese President Joseph Kabila (left) at a peace summit with Thabo Mbeki, and George W. Bush in September 2002
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