Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Friday defended a referendum that could possibly allow him stay in power until 2034, a move that has received wide criticism from the United States and other Western powers.
Kagame, who has held the East African nation’s leadership since leading a rebel army into the capital Kigali in 1996, ending a genocide that killed 800,000, is contented that he is only following the will of the people of Rwanda.
“Rwandans, most of whom are under 30 are more concerned with reaching our potential than sliding back into the dark past,” Kagame said in a speech at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.
“There is a new democratic fundamentalism that values form over substance,” Kagame added. “If it is inherently undemocratic to amend constitutions, why do they contain provisions for doing so everywhere?”
The U.S. State Department last month said it was “deeply disappointed” in Kagame’s decision to seek a third term in office.
“If some people seek to stay in power when their people don’t want them – and it has happened, I’ve seen it in Africa – that will always end in a disaster,” Kagame said. “Is it the same case with Rwanda? I’m telling you no.”
