Paul Kagame (born October 23, 1957) is the current President of Rwanda who came to lead the Rwandan Patriotic Front. He came to prominence as the leader of the guerrilla RPF army, whose invasion of Rwanda is often cited as one precipitating event of the Rwandan Genocide. The RPF's victory over the incumbent government in July 1994 effectively ended the genocide. In 2003, he became the first democratically elected President of Rwanda.
Kagame was born in Gitarama, Rwanda. In November 1959, an increasingly restive Hutu population, encouraged by Congo, sparked a revolt, resulting in the overthrow of Mwami Kigeri V Ndahindurwa, the last monarch. His wife, the first lady of Rwanda, leads the Protection and Care for Families against HIV/AIDS (PACFA) Initative.
During the 1959 revolt and its aftermath, more than 160,000 Tutsis fled to neighbouring countries. In all, some 20,000 Tutsis were killed. Kagame left with his family at the age of four and moved to Uganda with many other Tutsis. He attended Ntare Secondary School in Uganda. (read more)
Source: wikipedia.org |