Paul Kagame

===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}}