(12 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kigali, Rwanda – 12 July 2024
1. Rwandan president and Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) flag bearer Paul Kagame greeting supporters while being driven on open top truck
2. Various of Kagame walking to greet supporters
3. Supporters dancing behind a Kagame portrait
4. Various of Kagame walking onto the stage to address supporters
5. Various of supporters cheering
6. SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda: +++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
"I have come to say thank you in advance. May you keep focus on the important things and do not be distracted by the detractors."
7. Various of supporters singing and dancing
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Nkomezi Jean-Claude, RPF Supporter:
"We are voting for him because there are many things he has done in the past and now he is continuing to do many things into the future. So we are very happy because as you can see there are many things that you can count that our president has done."
9. SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Mukagasana Josianne, RPF Supporter:
"In the past women had no say in this country, we were uneducated. But now we have a say, our daughters go to school and even our husbands have employment, all because of Paul Kagame."
10. RPF flag
11. Supporters dancing
12. SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Jean Mugisha, RPF Supporter:
"We have come to celebrate president Paul Kagame. We will come out in force to vote for him as he the nation’s father. He is our parent who has taken us far."
13. Various of police helicopter hovering over supporters and surveilling the campaign rally
STORYLINE:
Rwandan president Paul Kagame was met by crowds of admiring supporters at a rally on Friday in Gasabo, some twelve kilometers away from Kigali city center, as he campaigned to win a fourth term as president.
Kagame was driven atop an open van as he waved to thousands of supporters, before alighting and leading the crowd in his party Rwanda Patriotic Front’s (RPF) slogans and chants.
Kagame said "I have come to say thank you in advance. May you keep focus on the important things and do not be distracted by the detractors."
Rwandans will vote Monday in an election that will almost certainly extend the long rule of President Paul Kagame, who is running virtually unopposed after three decades in power.
Campaign rallies close Saturday. Monday’s vote is expected to extend Kagame’s rule by five years. A total of 9.5 million Rwandans are registered to vote, according to electoral authorities.
His challengers — Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana — have struggled to pull crowds to their events.
Kagame faced the same opponents in 2017, when he took nearly 99% of the vote. Observers say a similar result is expected this year as serious opposition to Kagame has long been absent in the country.
Kagame, 66, came to power as the leader of rebels who took control of Rwanda’s government and ended the genocide in 1994.
Kagame was Rwanda’s vice president and de facto leader from 1994 to 2000, when he first became president.
He has since ruled the East African country as an authoritarian leader who is intolerant of political dissent.
Some of his supporters were full of praise of his leadership and were optimistic at the sure prospect of fourth presidential term for Kagame.
"In the past women had no say in this country, we were uneducated. But now we have a say, our daughters go to school and even our husbands have employment, all because of Paul Kagame," added Mukagasana Josianne.
AP video by Jackson Njehia
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e068c2212d9143fa8a5bae05e0014afa
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in July 17, 2024, 3:00 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
