Paul Kagame re-elected as President of Rwanda once again
In the presidential election in the East African country of Rwanda, the incumbent Paul Kagame has been re-elected for a fourth term in office with 99.18% according to preliminary results. This was announced by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Thursday after the votes had been fully counted. According to official figures, voter turnout was 98.2%, with around 9.5 million voters, including two million first-time voters, having registered to vote. In addition to the 66-year-old Kagame, the chairman of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, Frank Habineza, who received 0.53% of the vote, and the independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana, who secured just 0.32%, also stood. They were the only opposing candidates to be admitted. The final results are expected on 27 July.
For the first time, parliamentary elections were held alongside the presidential elections. Kagame’s ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), was once again able to secure an absolute majority with 68.83% of the vote. This means that the RPF will receive 37 of the 53 parliamentary seats up for direct election, with the remaining 27 being indirectly elected by local and provincial councils, of which 24 seats are reserved for women, two for youth representatives and one for people with disabilities. The Liberal Party (PL) took second place with 8.66%, closely followed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) with 8.62%, each with five seats in parliament. Both parties are considered to be in favour of the Kagame government and had supported him in the presidential election campaign. Meanwhile, the Ideal Democratic Party (PDI) won two seats each with 4.61%, Habineza’s Democratic Green Party of Rwanda with 4.56% and the Imberakuri Social Party with 4.51%.
International election observers, including from the East African Community (EAC), the African Union (AU), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), praised Rwanda for the ‘peaceful electoral environment’ and the careful conduct of the elections. The National Electoral Commission (NEC) and other institutions responsible for organising the elections had conscientiously fulfilled their tasks in accordance with the electoral calendar. A total of over 1,000 election observers were accredited, including 776 national and 334 foreign observers. Opposition candidate Frank Habineza also accepted the result and congratulated Kagame on his election victory. However, there was criticism from human rights organisations and the opposition. For example, prominent government critics such as Bernart Ntagonde and Victoire Ingabire were excluded from the election due to a previous conviction, the cancellation of which was rejected by Rwandan courts. Diana Rwigara was also excluded from the election by the electoral commission due to a lack of signatures in favour of her candidacy. Accordingly, Ingabire rejected the election victory of President Paul Kagame and questioned the legitimacy of the election, in which no legitimate opposition had been authorised. Representatives of Human Rights Watch also described the results of the election as a sign of a lack of democracy and restrictions on political and civil society space in Rwanda. Criticism that is not new in Rwanda. Even in previous elections, in which Kagame never achieved less than 90%, critics accused the Kagame government of suppressing opposition members and restricting freedom of expression and the press. An amendment to the constitution in 2015, which reduced the presidential term of office from seven to five years but reduced Kagame’s number of terms in office to zero, meaning that Kagame could theoretically rule until 2034, also caused criticism. The shortening of the term of office comes into force with this election.
Nevertheless, there is broad support in the country for Kagame, who ended the genocide of the Tutsi minority in 1994 with the Tutsi militia he led. Since then, Kagame has brought stability and economic progress to the country. With average economic growth of 7.2% between 2012 and 2022, Rwanda is one of the fastest growing economies on the African continent. Despite the strong economic growth, almost half of Rwandans still live on less than USD 2.15 per day, according to the World Bank. The situation is also tense in terms of foreign policy, particularly with the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The latter accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group in the east of the DRC with Rwandan armed forces (Press Review CW 45/2023).
Foreign Minister Baerbock visits Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock concluded her two-day trip to West Africa, which took her first to Senegal and then to Côte d’Ivoire. In the Senegalese capital Dakar, where Baerbock, who was accompanied by a large business delegation, arrived on Monday, she held talks with her counterpart Yacine Fall and the newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye at the end of March, among others. Baerbock is thus one of the first European foreign ministers to visit the new government in Senegal. The main topics on the agenda were regional stability, migration and the green energy transition. Senegal is considered an important transit country along the West African refugee routes to Europe and the EU is increasingly pushing to prevent transmigrants from travelling through. In the area of energy transition, Germany, together with the European Union (EU) and France, is involved in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with Senegal with a total of 2.5 billion euros. In addition, the green transformation of the West African country is also being supported by the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative, which plans to invest up to 300 billion euros in infrastructure projects over the next few years in order to close global investment gaps.
Right at the start of her trip, Baerbock visited the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) electric bus project in Dakar. The BRT is considered to be the world’s first bus that is 100% electrically powered and is fuelled by solar panels on the roofs of the bus stops. The 120 buses were financed by the European Investment Bank, the World Bank and the Global Gateway Initiative. Although the buses themselves come from China, German companies such as CarMedialab GmbH, which contributed the IT-supported monitoring of the battery charging infrastructure for the express bus, were also involved in the project. The express bus system, together with the TER Suburban Train, should help to equalise traffic in the metropolis and reduce environmental problems such as high levels of air pollution. Baerbock praised the electric bus system as a successful contribution to the green transformation and emphasised the investment potential for German companies in this area in Senegal. The German Foreign Minister also attended the topping-out ceremony for the new Goethe-Institut building, the foundation stone for which was laid by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier two years ago. Although many Goethe-Institutes in Europe are currently being downsized, the budget of the institute in Dakar is to remain stable at around two million euros.
From Dakar, the Foreign Minister travelled on to Côte d’Ivoire to further expand economic and geopolitical alliances here too. Like Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire is a member of the G20 Compact with Africa Initiative. They also work closely together in the fight against terrorism. For example, Baerbock visited the “Academy against Terrorism” in Jacqueville. The project, which is funded by Germany with 2.5 million euros, serves to combat terrorism in the region. The German Federal Police and the GSG9 special unit regularly train there with Ivorian armed forces, as well as soldiers from Togo, Benin and Cameroon. These anti-terrorist special forces are supported by France and the US. Baerbock’s meeting with Côte d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara, who had postponed his holiday at short notice to receive the German Foreign Minister, also focused on the security and stability of the region. Baerbock announced after the meeting that they had discussed in detail what Germany could contribute to this. She emphasised that security in the Sahel was also a key concern for Germany.
At the same time as Baerbock’s trip, the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze, received the 18 member states and organisations of the Sahel Alliance, which Schulze has chaired since last year, in Berlin on Tuesday. The Sahel Alliance was founded in 2017 to coordinate development funds and projects in the G5 Sahel states of Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad, with Germany being the fourth largest donor after the World Bank, France and the EU (Press Review CW 18/2023).
Baerbock’s visit to Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, both of which are regarded as democratically stable countries and are among Europe’s most important partners in West Africa, as well as the meeting of the members of the Sahel Alliance just one week after Federal Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced the withdrawal of the last German soldiers from Niger, was also intended to send a signal that Germany wanted to remain involved in the region despite the military withdrawal. During her trip, Baerbock emphasised that Germany would not turn a blind eye to the instability in the region and would not withdraw from the region; instead, it would focus pragmatically on the scope of its remaining room for manoeuvre. Just last week, the Sahel states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which lead the region, confirmed their break with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and announced the founding of a new confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) (Press Review CW 28/2024). There have also been unconstitutional changes of government in Gabon and Guinea over the past three years and the states have increasingly turned away from Europe, particularly France and the US, and towards other partners such as China and Russia.
Foreign Minister Baerbock visits Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock concluded her two-day trip to West Africa, which took her first to Senegal and then to Côte d’Ivoire. In the Senegalese capital Dakar, where Baerbock, who was accompanied by a large business delegation, arrived on Monday, she held talks with her counterpart Yacine Fall and the newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye at the end of March, among others. Baerbock is thus one of the first European foreign ministers to visit the new government in Senegal. The main topics on the agenda were regional stability, migration and the green energy transition. Senegal is considered an important transit country along the West African refugee routes to Europe and the EU is increasingly pushing to prevent transmigrants from travelling through. In the area of energy transition, Germany, together with the European Union (EU) and France, is involved in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with Senegal with a total of 2.5 billion euros. In addition, the green transformation of the West African country is also being supported by the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative, which plans to invest up to 300 billion euros in infrastructure projects over the next few years in order to close global investment gaps.
Right at the start of her trip, Baerbock visited the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) electric bus project in Dakar. The BRT is considered to be the world’s first bus that is 100% electrically powered and is fuelled by solar panels on the roofs of the bus stops. The 120 buses were financed by the European Investment Bank, the World Bank and the Global Gateway Initiative. Although the buses themselves come from China, German companies such as CarMedialab GmbH, which contributed the IT-supported monitoring of the battery charging infrastructure for the express bus, were also involved in the project. The express bus system, together with the TER Suburban Train, should help to equalise traffic in the metropolis and reduce environmental problems such as high levels of air pollution. Baerbock praised the electric bus system as a successful contribution to the green transformation and emphasised the investment potential for German companies in this area in Senegal. The German Foreign Minister also attended the topping-out ceremony for the new Goethe-Institut building, the foundation stone for which was laid by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier two years ago. Although many Goethe-Institutes in Europe are currently being downsized, the budget of the institute in Dakar is to remain stable at around two million euros.
From Dakar, the Foreign Minister travelled on to Côte d’Ivoire to further expand economic and geopolitical alliances here too. Like Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire is a member of the G20 Compact with Africa Initiative. They also work closely together in the fight against terrorism. For example, Baerbock visited the “Academy against Terrorism” in Jacqueville. The project, which is funded by Germany with 2.5 million euros, serves to combat terrorism in the region. The German Federal Police and the GSG9 special unit regularly train there with Ivorian armed forces, as well as soldiers from Togo, Benin and Cameroon. These anti-terrorist special forces are supported by France and the US. Baerbock’s meeting with Côte d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara, who had postponed his holiday at short notice to receive the German Foreign Minister, also focused on the security and stability of the region. Baerbock announced after the meeting that they had discussed in detail what Germany could contribute to this. She emphasised that security in the Sahel was also a key concern for Germany.
At the same time as Baerbock’s trip, the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze, received the 18 member states and organisations of the Sahel Alliance, which Schulze has chaired since last year, in Berlin on Tuesday. The Sahel Alliance was founded in 2017 to coordinate development funds and projects in the G5 Sahel states of Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad, with Germany being the fourth largest donor after the World Bank, France and the EU (Press Review CW 18/2023).
Baerbock’s visit to Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, both of which are regarded as democratically stable countries and are among Europe’s most important partners in West Africa, as well as the meeting of the members of the Sahel Alliance just one week after Federal Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced the withdrawal of the last German soldiers from Niger, was also intended to send a signal that Germany wanted to remain involved in the region despite the military withdrawal. During her trip, Baerbock emphasised that Germany would not turn a blind eye to the instability in the region and would not withdraw from the region; instead, it would focus pragmatically on the scope of its remaining room for manoeuvre. Just last week, the Sahel states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which lead the region, confirmed their break with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and announced the founding of a new confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) (Press Review CW 28/2024). There have also been unconstitutional changes of government in Gabon and Guinea over the past three years and the states have increasingly turned away from Europe, particularly France and the US, and towards other partners such as China and Russia.
In other news
The Miss Somalia beauty pageant took place once again on Sunday evening in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. The winner is 24-year-old Aisha Ikow, who received prize money of 1,000 US dollars in addition to being crowned Miss Somalia. The competition, which wasa founded by Hani Abdi Gas in 2021, is considered socially controversial in the culturally conservative country, which has been under threat from the Islamist terrorist militia Al-Shabaab for years. Traditional clan leaders clearly reject the beauty contest and for many, including young women, the competition conflicts with religion, as one young student explained. Nevertheless, there is also support for Miss Somalia and this year, too, women from various walks of life, including a policewoman, took part. According to the founder, the competition should not only focus more on Somali culture, but also give women a voice and strengthen women’s self-determination.