Kagame: I Consider Running for President for Another 20 Years

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has said he has no problem running for president for another 20 years.

“I consider running for another 20 years,” he told France 24 special correspondent in Kigali, Marc Perelman, when asked whether he would seek re-election.

“I have no problem with that,” he said in an interview broadcast Friday, before quickly adding: “Elections are about people choosing.”

As such, Kagame, 64, will be stand for president again at the next election due in 2024.

In 2015, he changed the constitution allowing him to remain in power until 2034.

He swept the 2017 presidential election with an official 99 percent of the vote.

Kagame, who was just 36 when his Patriotic Front party forced out Hutu extremists blamed for the 1994 Genocide, has already been in power for two decades.

He wants to remain in office for another 20 years.

DR Congo crisis

Kagame also spoke about the ceasefire agreement reached last week with the Democratic Republic of Congo to ease tensions between the two countries.

"When you are having so many parties having a problem and you just keep insisting on talking about one, you are the one with the problem, not the one you are accusing." President Kagame speaking to France 24. pic.twitter.com/nxfoCINr4V

— Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) (@rbarwanda) July 9, 2022

He told France 24 news channel that his recent meeting with Congolese President Tshisekedi means “another step forward”, and that “nobody is interested in conflict”.

“The international community has spent so much money talking about solving these problems based in the Congo. And yet we have it visit us again in 2022. Do you really think Rwanda is the problem in that?”

He added: “When you are having so many parties having a problem and you just keep insisting on talking about one, you are the one with the problem, not the one you are accusing.”