Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been sworn in for a fourth term after sweeping to victory in an election last month with more than 99 percent of the vote.
Several dozen heads of state and other dignitaries from African nations attended the inauguration ceremony on Sunday at a packed 45,000-seat stadium in Kigali, where crowds had started gathering from the early morning.
Uganda was represented by a delegation led by Vice President Jessca Alupo.
Kagame took the oath of office before Chief Justice Faustin Ntezilyayo, pledging to “preserve peace and national sovereignty, consolidate national unity”.
The outcome of the July 15 poll was never in doubt for Kagame, who has ruled the small African nation since its 1994 genocide, first as de facto leader and then president.
He won 99.18 percent of the ballots cast to secure another five years in power, according to the National Electoral Commission.Democratic Green Party leader Frank Habineza scraped into second place with 0.5 percent of the votes against 0.32 percent for independent Philippe Mpayimana.
Kagame is credited with rebuilding a ruined nation after the genocide when members of the Hutu majority unleashed 100 days of attacks targeting the Tutsi minority, killing about 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis but also Hutu moderates.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who was among those attending Sunday’s ceremony, was due to have private talks with Kagame on a DRC ceasefire, the Angolan presidency said.
Luanda brokered the agreement last month after a meeting between the foreign ministers of the DRC and Rwanda, which is accused of backing the M23 rebel group fighting Kinshasa’s armed forces.
With 65 percent of the population aged under 30, Kagame is the only leader most Rwandans have ever known.
“I proudly cast my vote for President Kagame and made it a priority to be here today to witness this historic inauguration,” said Tania Iriza, a 27-year-old trader, one of the tens of thousands of Rwandans who turned out for the ceremony.
“His leadership has been transformative for our nation. Under his leadership, Rwanda has risen from our tragic past and forged a path towards prosperity, unity and innovation.”
Kagame has won every presidential election he has contested, each time with more than 93 percent of the vote.
In 2015, he oversaw constitutional amendments that shortened presidential terms to five years from seven but reset the clock for the Rwandan leader, allowing him to potentially rule until 2034.
