Paul Kagame

===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}}