CNN : Christiane Amanpour Interview Paul Kagame 19 march 2010 (English)

(CNN) -- Rwandan President Paul Kagame hit back Monday at human rights activists who say he's behaving like an autocrat and fueling a bloody civil war in Rwanda's neighbor, Congo.

"If you are talking about people in the human rights community from outside... I have an issue with this," Kagame said, 16 years after he was hailed as a hero for ending a genocide that killed at least 800,000 people.

"You tend to make a judgment of a country, 11 million people, on what a couple of people have said and (they) don't take into account what Rwandans say."

Kagame added, "Nobody has asked the Rwandans ... it's as if they don't matter in the eyes of the human rights people. It's our own decisions in the end."

He said everyone in Rwanda has to play by the rules and be accountable. "There has to be leadership to make things move in the right direction," Kagame stated.

Kagame's comments came a month after the New York-based group, Human Rights Watch, said opposition activists are facing increasing threats, attacks, and harassment ahead of Rwanda's presidential election in August.

Human Rights Watch said opposition party members have suffered serious intimidation by individuals and institutions close to the government and Kagame's ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

The RPF took power in 1994 after its army swept into the capital of Kigali and overthrew the Hutu-dominated government responsible for the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans, most of them members of the minority Tutsi community.

In the aftermath of the 100-day genocide, the fastest in modern history, Kagame transformed his country, turning it into one of the fastest growing nations in Africa and -- in the view of some -- a model of economic and social development.

Kagame said Rwanda has made significant progress in erasing some of the scars left behind after the tragedy.

"That's why the country is stable. That's why the country is moving on. That's why the country is developing."

Kagame insisted he has nothing to do with the continuing civil war in mineral-rich Congo, even though he acknowledged that Rwandan troops intervened there a decade ago in an attempt to stop rebel groups from returning to Rwanda.

The war became the largest and most destructive conflict in African history, costing more than 5 million lives, as various groups and foreign armies fought for control of Congo's land and mineral resources.

"I cannot be blamed for the problems of Congo or any other country," Kagame said. "There are the Congolese who have their own country, who are supposed to manage it, who are supposed to govern it. It has nothing to do with me."

Wrote by Tom Evans, CNN
March 15, 2010 8:09 p.m. EDT

Category:

News & Politics

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• Kagame
• 19
• march
• 2010
• (English)

[ausonkisanga]

Kagame is a great man. One of the greatest in Africa. Determined, Committed and Focused...May God increase his days of life, that he may witness his enemies ashamed of the great Rwanda. Thank you Paul, Thank you Kagame!

[faprwanda]

94% of rwandans voted for kagame in the last election, i think that speaks for itself.

[123ghua4]

The Interviewer seems to be mixed up about sequence of events: seems correct one is: Paul Kagame thinks and dreams of power-torches incumbent president's plane in an assasination-pple get angry and seek revenge (which is also wrong) - PK moves to take over the country abd because he has weapons , genocide stops. Please take note PK was not stopping genocide he was merely taking over power through starting it!

[123ghua4]

Paul Kagame torched Habyarimana's plane because he's power hungry. Cud not wait for peaceful means and he caused genocide in the process, what a useless prick . Lives of more than 1m pple , all becouse Paul Kagame has to go into power! What a shame ! I have no faith in the future of mankind because of pests like him. Im sad to be honest. Surrounding himself with a gvt of dead wood ensures continuity of dominance. He seems quite good at dodging accountability. Good for you PK, kill as you like!

[LUVFAMILIA]

@ericnjanga rwanda has a population of only 10 million people. Recovery was difficult but not impossible and swift enough. Furthermore, Kagame is heavily dependent on foreign aid, he gets the job done? Socially the country has barely developed in that his dictatorial stronghold has held it back from doing so. Others coulkd get the job done better, too bad he wins by an astounding 93%, a rather eery figure if you ask me

[lemis1900]

@MrZAIREMAN

Dat's a new 1, now u come here and we feed you but still you talk bullshit. maybe nxt time i ll have 2 vote NP so that they can help u with a boat ticket back n the bush u come from. i bet ur bigger brain couldn't help u stay n ur country. u re sittin here while Zairre is burnin but still u feel like you r smart, what a curse! Feel sorry 4 ur brothers & sisters. NB: wish i was a tusi, those guyz r smart really! they took ur country with everythin n it! PEACE 2 THE WORLD

[MrZAIREMAN]

@lemis1900

Only a Tutsi nomad impervious to disgrace can unashamedly call England his country. Unfortunately for you, I am not in the habit of engaging in slanging matches with complete and utter morons whose brains appear to be smaller than a grain of mustard seed. For the very last time, I suggest you seek someone with a similar intelligence quotient. Good luck!

[lemis1900]

@MrZAIREMAN : Sure, you are intelligent enough that you are sitting in my country while yours burn. Coward!

[Schuttberg]

@gabiro84 I think its the other way around. She wouldn't listen to him because she had her own agenda to push, so he started to get more assertive. Why should the interview be a list of accusations? Surely that is not why he granted it.

[kivuya]

the great president who sew terror in congo and his own country rwanda? the great export of people mostly tutsi to congo and uganda, tanzania... wawa.