President of Rwanda Sees Fast Growth Ahead as Tragic Past Fades

(Kigali, Rwanda) — Rwandans should not become complacent about the country’s recent rapid growth, Rwandan President Paul Kagame told Caixin during an interview at his Kigali residence late last year.

Twenty-three years after Rwanda was devastated by genocide, the East African nation is now one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, experiencing average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 8% between 2001 and 2015, according to the World Bank.

Still, Kagame told Caixin, “The most important thing is to keep going and keep making things happen.”

One of the ways the Rwandan government intends to keep going is by becoming a hub for Smart Africa, an information and communications initiative involving 16 African countries and international organizations, including the World Bank and the International Telecommunication Union.

The initiative kicked off at a 2013 summit in Kigali attended by seven African heads of state and representatives from U.N. agencies and international technology companies. Its aims include improving broadband connectivity across the continent, and building online platforms for African governments.

Kagame said it was important for Rwanda to build on existing technology. “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “You start with the situation where it is.”

Smart Africa will be implemented through “building institutions” and “finding the resources to enable people to translate their ideas” into reality, Kagame told Caixin.

“I don’t think that, when it comes to human capacity, like any other nation, I don’t think Rwandans have any limitations,” he said. Technology education will be key in allowing Rwandans to become “players in our own right in the region” and as “part of the whole global system,” he said.

The president also spoke to Caixin about his country’s relationship with China, now Rwanda’s second-largest source of foreign direct investment.

The 59-year-old Kagame, who rose to power as a military leader in the Rwandan Patriotic Front, has been president of Rwanda since 2000 and has been at the center of the country’s recent transformation.

The 100-day genocide, which saw communal tensions between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority escalate into mass killings of Tutsi people, ended when the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front recaptured Kigali in July 1994.

Kagame is expected to run for a third presidential term after a 98% majority voted in 2015 to allow him to potentially extend his time in office until 2034.