Paul Kagame's Dirty Politics in Rwanda

In Rwanda, Paul Kagame's presidency began with high hopes from those in the West who supported him and sought to bring peace to a volatile region. Throughout his terms as President of Rwanda Kagame has received support from the U.S. and Bill Clinton specifically has endorsed him on an international scale leading him to be accepted by many others including the former PM of the UK Tony Blair. However, Kagame has been criticized recently by those in the press and sharply from within his own country as this article from The Independent describes. Recently, Patrick Karegeya who was a political opponent of Kagame's from Rwanda was found murdered in a South African hotel. Karegeya was actually head of Kagame's foreign intelligence services, but chose to leave his administration over disagreements regarding human rights and the recent attacks on the Democratic Republic of Congo. By no means is this an isolated incident, Kagame's rivals have turned up murdered a number of times throughout his presidency by a variety of methods including but not limited to, beatings, gunshots, and near beheading. Despite all of this, there has been no diplomatic effort by the West or any international body such as the UN to curb his power in Rwanda. Kagame's presidency has been marked by an ever greater sense of authoritarianism in the country that quickly silences any dissent whether political or otherwise. It is unclear whether Kagame will remain unchallenged in the next elections or what will happen to future political rivals, but what is for certain is that as long as he has what has been called a "license to kill" it will continue to undermine the political legitimacy within Rwanda.