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Rwandans face presidential election
Kigali (Rwanda), Aug 25: After a campaign dominated by talk of healing the nine-year-old wounds of a genocide and marred by reports of authorities harassing opposition supporters, Rwandans faced their first true presidential election today.
Kigali (Rwanda), Aug 25: After a campaign dominated by talk of healing the nine-year-old wounds of a genocide and marred by reports of authorities harassing opposition
supporters, Rwandans faced their first true presidential election today.
But there was genuine concern among Rwandans about everyday issues, like the country's prevailing poverty and persistent unemployment. The genocide not only shattered Rwanda's society, but it also wrecked the country's economy.
Supporters of President Paul Kagame and leading opposition candidate Faustin Twagiramungu all appear to agree the person elected today needs to create more jobs, provide more access to education and raise the incomes of the more than 60 per cent of Rwanda's 8.2 million people living on less than USD1 a day. ``We now have peace and security,'' said Emmanuelle Bijogo, a 20-year-old in Kigali. Now ``the government needs to create more jobs for people.''
Bijogo said he plans to vote for Kagame because of the President's solid record and the sense that ``if Kagame is removed, there will be trouble.''
Kagame, a minority Tutsi, led the rebels who in 1994 toppled a regime of extremists from the Hutu majority, putting an end to the 100-day slaughter that killed more than half a million people, most from his Tutsi minority. He then led the fight against remnants of the genocidal regime who attacked the country from bases in neighbouring Congo. At the same time, the government rebuilt schools and hospitals, nursed the economy back to health and started the process of reconciliation.
Bureau Report
Supporters of President Paul Kagame and leading opposition candidate Faustin Twagiramungu all appear to agree the person elected today needs to create more jobs, provide more access to education and raise the incomes of the more than 60 per cent of Rwanda's 8.2 million people living on less than USD1 a day. ``We now have peace and security,'' said Emmanuelle Bijogo, a 20-year-old in Kigali. Now ``the government needs to create more jobs for people.''
Bijogo said he plans to vote for Kagame because of the President's solid record and the sense that ``if Kagame is removed, there will be trouble.''
Kagame, a minority Tutsi, led the rebels who in 1994 toppled a regime of extremists from the Hutu majority, putting an end to the 100-day slaughter that killed more than half a million people, most from his Tutsi minority. He then led the fight against remnants of the genocidal regime who attacked the country from bases in neighbouring Congo. At the same time, the government rebuilt schools and hospitals, nursed the economy back to health and started the process of reconciliation.
Bureau Report