Rwandan President Paul Kagame. FILE PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
KIGALI
Rwandan President Paul
Kagame said Friday he would run for a third term in office in 2017 in
line with a constitution amendment which won overwhelming backing in a
referendum earlier this month.
"You have asked me to
lead the country after 2017. Given the importance you ascribe to this
matter, I can only accept," he said during a televised address at
midnight (2200 GMT) as the nation welcomed in the New Year.
"You
have clearly expressed your choice on our country's future," he said,
describing the constitutional changes as "worthy and wise".
The
December 18 poll saw voters massively approve constitutional amendments
allowing Kagame, 58, to run for an exceptional third seven-year term in
2017.
Thereafter, the new rules will take effect and
enable him to run for a further two five-year terms through to 2034,
cementing his hold on a country he has effectively controlled since his
rebel force ended the 1994 genocide which left some 800,000 dead.
The "yes" vote in favour of the constitutional change garnered 98.4 percent, leaving just 1.6 percent of voters opposed.
But
Washington and the European Union denounced the outcome as undermining
democracy in Rwanda and called on Kagame to step down in 2017.
He has insisted he will stay.
Kagame
was elected with some 90 per cent of ballots cast both in 2003 and 2010
and he said the outcome of the referendum would determine whether he
continued in office.
Several African states have recently lifted or tried to lift constitutional bars to multiple presidential mandates.
Such
was the case in neighbouring Burundi, which descended into bloodshed in
April when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his intention to run
for a controversial third term in a July election that he went on to
win.
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