Paul Kagame

==Vice President and Minister of Defence==
The post-genocide Rwandan government took office in Kigali in July 1994.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|p=299}} It was based loosely on the Arusha Accords, but Habyarimana's party, MRND was outlawed. The positions it had been assigned were taken over by the RPF.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=299–300}} The military wing of the RPF was renamed as the [[Rwandan Patriotic Army]] (RPA), and became the national army.{{sfn|Wallis|2007|p=ix}} Paul Kagame assumed the dual roles of [[Vice President of Rwanda]] and [[Minister of Defence (Rwanda)|Minister of Defence]] while [[Pasteur Bizimungu]], a Hutu who had been a civil servant under Habyarimana before fleeing to join the RPF, was appointed president.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=90, 300}} Bizimungu and his cabinet had some control over domestic affairs, but Kagame remained commander-in-chief of the army and was the de facto ruler of the country.{{sfn|Waugh|2004|pp=120–121}}{{sfn|Prunier|1999|p=369}} German public broadcaster [[Deutsche Welle]] stated that "Bizimungu was commonly seen as a placeholder for Kagame".{{sfn|Deutsche Welle|2020}}

===Domestic situation===
[[File:DF-ST-98-01731.jpg|thumb|Vice President Kagame with United States Secretary of Defense [[William J. Perry]], July 1994|alt=Overhead view of Kagame and Perry seated on leather seats with a large microphone visible and another army member in the background]]
The infrastructure and economy of the country suffered greatly during the genocide. Many buildings were uninhabitable, and the former regime had taken all currency and moveable assets when they fled the country.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|p=181}} Human resources were also severely depleted, with over {{Percentage|40|100|0}} of the population having been killed or fled.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|p=181}} Many who remained were traumatised; most had lost relatives, witnessed killings, or participated in the genocide.{{sfn|United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}} Kagame controlled the national army and was responsible for maintaining the government's power, while other officials began rebuilding the country.{{sfn|Bonner|1994}}{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|p=187}}{{sfn|Department of State (VI)|1995}}

[[Non-governmental organization|Non-governmental organisations]] began to move back into the country, and the [[international community]] spent US$1.5&nbsp;billion on [[humanitarian aid]] between July and December 1994, but Prunier described this as "largely unconnected with the real economic needs of the community".{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=327–328}} Kagame strove to portray the government as inclusive and not Tutsi-dominated. He directed removal of ethnicity from citizens' national identity cards, and the government began a policy of downplaying the distinctions between Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa.{{sfn|Bonner|1994}}

The unity government suffered a partial collapse in 1995. The continuing violence, along with appointing of local government officials who were almost exclusively RPF Tutsi, caused serious disagreement between Kagame and senior Hutu government members, including prime minister [[Faustin Twagiramungu]] and interior minister [[Seth Sendashonga]].{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=367–368}} Twagiramungu resigned in August, and Kagame fired Sendashonga and three others the next day.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=367–368}} Pasteur Bizimungu remained president but the makeup of the new government was predominantly RPF Tutsi loyal to Kagame.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|p=192}} 

Twagiramungu and Sendashonga moved abroad to form a new opposition party shortly after leaving the government.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|p=368}} Sendashonga, who had also spoken out about the need for punishing killings by rogue RPF soldiers, moved to Kenya. Having survived an attempt on his life in 1996, he was assassinated in Nairobi in May 1998, when a UN vehicle in which he was travelling was fired upon.{{sfn|Davies|1998}} Many observers believe Kagame ordered the killing; as Caplan noted: "the RPF denied any responsibility, which no one other than RPF partisans believed".{{sfn|Caplan|2018|p=158}}

===Refugee crisis and insurgency===
{{main|Great Lakes refugee crisis}}
[[File:Rwandan refugee camp in east Zaire.jpg|thumb|A [[refugee camp]] in [[Zaire]], 1994|alt=View of refugee camp on foggy day, showing tents of various colours and the refugees]]
Following the RPF victory, approximately two million Hutu fled to refugee camps in neighboring countries, particularly Zaire, fearing RPF reprisals for the Rwandan genocide.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|p=312}} The camps were set up by the [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]] (UNHCR), but were effectively controlled by the army and government of the former Hutu regime, including many leaders of the genocide.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=313–314}} This regime was determined to return to power in Rwanda and began rearming, killing Tutsi residing in Zaire, and launching cross-border incursions in conjunction with the ''Interahamwe'' paramilitary group.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=381–382}}{{sfn|Pomfret|1997}} By late 1996, the Hutu militants represented a serious threat to the new Rwandan regime, and Kagame launched a counteroffensive.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|p=382}}

Kagame first provided troops and military training{{sfn|Pomfret|1997}} to aid a rebellion against Zaire by the [[Banyamulenge]], a Tutsi group living near [[Bukavu]] in the Zairian [[South Kivu]] province.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=384–385}} With Rwandan army support, the Banyamulenge defeated local security forces and began attacking the Hutu refugee camps in the area. At the same time, Kagame's forces joined with Zairian Tutsi around [[Goma]] to attack two of the camps there.{{sfn|Pomfret|1997}}{{sfn|Prunier|1999|pp=384–385}} Most refugees from the attacked camps moved to the large Mugunga camp. In November 1996 the Rwandan army attacked Mugunga, causing an estimated 800,000 refugees to flee.{{sfn|Prunier|2009|p=118}} Many returned to Rwanda despite the presence of the RPF; others ventured further west into Zaire.{{sfn|Prunier|2009|pp=122–123}}

Despite the disbanding of the camps, the defeated forces of the former regime continued a cross-border insurgency campaign into Rwanda from [[North Kivu]].{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|p=209}} The insurgents maintained a presence in Rwanda's north western provinces and were supported by the predominantly Hutu population, many of whom had lived in the refugee camps before they were attacked.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|p=216}} In addition to supporting the wars in the Congo, Kagame began a propaganda campaign to bring the Hutu to his side.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|pp=215–218}} He integrated former soldiers of the deposed genocidal regime's military into the RPF-dominated [[Rwandan Defence Forces|national army]] and appointed senior Hutu to key local government positions in the areas hit by insurgency.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|pp=215–218}} These tactics were eventually successful; by 1999, the population in the north west had stopped supporting the insurgency and the insurgents were mostly defeated.{{sfn|Brittain|1999}}

===Congo wars===
{{main|First Congo War|Second Congo War}}
[[File:Second Congo War Africa map en.png|thumb|Belligerents of the [[Second Congo War]]]]
Although his primary reason for military action in Zaire was the dismantling of the refugee camps, Kagame also began planning a war to remove long-time dictator President [[Mobutu Sese Seko]] from power.{{sfn|Pomfret|1997}} Mobutu had supported the ''genocidaires'' based in the camps, and was also accused of allowing attacks on Tutsi people within Zaire.{{sfn|Byman|Chalk|Hoffman|Rosenau|2001|p=18}} Together with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Kagame supported the newly created [[Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo]] (ADFL), an alliance of four rebel groups headed by [[Laurent-Désiré Kabila]], which began waging the [[First Congo War]].{{sfn|Prunier|2009|pp=113–116}} 

The ADFL, helped by Rwandan and Ugandan troops, took control of North and South Kivu provinces in November 1996 and then advanced west, gaining territory from the poorly organised and demotivated Zairian army with little fighting.{{sfn|Prunier|2009|pp=128–133}} By May 1997, they controlled almost the whole of Zaire except for the capital [[Kinshasa]]; Mobutu fled and the ADFL took the capital without fighting.{{sfn|Prunier|2009|p=136}} The country was renamed as the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (DRC) and Kabila became the new president.{{sfn|BBC News (II)}} The [[Rwandan Defence Forces]] and the [[Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo|ADFL]] were accused of carrying out mass atrocities during the First Congo War, with as many as 222,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees declared missing.{{sfn|CDI|1998}}

Kagame and the Rwandan government retained strong influence over Kabila following his inauguration, and the RPA maintained a heavy presence in Kinshasa.{{sfn|Prunier|2009|p=174}} Congolese in the capital resented this, as did many in the eastern Kivu provinces, where ethnic clashes increased sharply.{{sfn|Prunier|2009|p=177}} In July 1998, Kabila fired his Rwandan chief-of-staff, [[James Kabarebe]], and ordered all RPA troops to leave the country.{{sfn|Prunier|2009|pp=178–179}} Kagame accused Kabila of supporting the ongoing insurgency against Rwanda from North Kivu, the same accusation he had made about Mobutu.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|pp=210–211}} He responded to the expulsion of his soldiers by backing a new rebel group, the [[Rally for Congolese Democracy]] (RCD), and launching the [[Second Congo War]].{{sfn|Prunier|2009|pp=182–183}} 

The first action of the war was a [[blitzkrieg]] by the RCD and RPA, led by Kabarebe. These forces made quick gains, advancing in twelve days from the Kivu provinces west to within {{convert|130|km|mi|0}} of Kinshasa.{{sfn|Prunier|2009|p=184}} The capital was saved by the intervention of [[Angola]], Namibia and [[Zimbabwe]] on Kabila's side.{{sfn|Prunier|2009|p=186}} Following the failure of the blitzkrieg, the conflict developed into a long-term conventional war, which lasted until 2003 and caused millions of deaths and massive damage.{{sfn|BBC News (II)}} According to a report by the [[International Rescue Committee]] (IRC), this conflict led to the loss of between 3&nbsp;million and 7.6&nbsp;million lives, many through starvation and disease accompanying the social disruption of the war.{{sfn|Associated Press (II)|2010}}

Although Kagame's primary reason for the two wars in the Congo was Rwanda's security, he was alleged to gain economic benefit by exploiting the [[Mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo|mineral wealth]] of the eastern Congo.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|pp=211–212}} The 2001 United Nations ''Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo'' alleged that Kagame, along with Ugandan President Museveni, were "on the verge of becoming the godfathers of the illegal exploitation of natural resources and the continuation of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo".{{sfn|United Nations (IV)|2001|loc=211}} The report also claimed that the Rwandan Ministry of Defence contained a "Congo Desk" dedicated to collecting taxes from companies licensed to mine minerals around [[Kisangani]], and that substantial quantities of [[coltan]] and diamonds passed through Kigali before being resold on the international market by staff on the Congo Desk.{{sfn|United Nations (IV)|2001|loc=126–129}} 

International NGO [[Global Witness]] also conducted field studies in early 2013. It concluded that minerals from North and South Kivu are exported illegally to Rwanda and then marketed as Rwandan.{{sfn|Global Witness|2013|p=6}} Kagame dismissed these allegations as unsubstantiated and politically motivated; in a 2002 interview with newsletter ''[[Africa Confidential]],'' Kagame said that if solid evidence against Rwandan officers was presented, it would be dealt with very seriously.{{sfn|Smith|Wallis|2002}} In 2010, the United Nations released a report accusing the Rwandan army of committing wide scale human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the [[First Congo War|First]] and [[Second Congo War]]s, charges denied by the Rwandan government.{{sfn|McGreal|2010}}