The president of Rwanda is either a nation-saving reformer or a despot in disguise—or both. But figuring that out is your problem.
Because Paul Kagame doesn’t give a shit what you think of him. Twenty years ago, hundreds of thousands of his people died in one of history’s worst atrocities.
“Twenty years is short or long depending on where you stand but there is no justification for false moral equivalence,” Kagame said during the April commemoration of the Rwanda Genocide. “The passage of time should not obscure the facts, lessen responsibility or turn victims into villains.”
Many regard Kagame as one of the 20th century’s most effective military leaders, a commander who marched his troops on Kigali and ended a massacre. As Rwanda’s president, he rules over one of Africa’s political powerhouses, a model of effective reconciliation and reconstruction.
Kagame is hugely popular in Rwanda.
But there is another side to Kagame and Rwanda. The country has supported violent militias in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and restricted its own media. It’s likely that Kagame has ordered the assassinations of political opponents and exiles around the globe. […]
Read the rest: Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, the Reformer Despot Who Saved a Nation — War is Boring — Medium.