This is brilliant, of course, and far more complete than my 'mention' yesterday....but also worth observing: the 90 minute conversation I had with Kagame 13 years ago !!! Published in its entirety in World Policy Journal (where I was then the editor) .... in retrospect the true extent of his venality, corruption, demagoguery becomes increasingly into focus!
In those days he still saw himself (or correction, sought to portray himself) as the democratic leader of a fraught but democratic nation!
I visited Rwanda in 2019. In those days, people who lived there were required to not identify themselves by their ethnic heritage, but to only call themselves Rwandans. This was considered essential to recovering from the genocide. It sounds like a Kagame has reverted to ethnic logic to drive his ambitions.
This is brilliant, of course, and far more complete than my 'mention' yesterday....but also worth observing: the 90 minute conversation I had with Kagame 13 years ago !!! Published in its entirety in World Policy Journal (where I was then the editor) .... in retrospect the true extent of his venality, corruption, demagoguery becomes increasingly into focus!
In those days he still saw himself (or correction, sought to portray himself) as the democratic leader of a fraught but democratic nation!
I visited Rwanda in 2019. In those days, people who lived there were required to not identify themselves by their ethnic heritage, but to only call themselves Rwandans. This was considered essential to recovering from the genocide. It sounds like a Kagame has reverted to ethnic logic to drive his ambitions.