Ex-Rebel Leader Sworn In as Rwanda President

KIGALI, Rwanda —  Paul Kagame took the oath as president Saturday, pledging to fight internal ethnic divisions that sparked Rwanda’s horrific 1994 genocide.

Kagame, a former rebel army leader whose group came to power in 1994 and ended a state-sponsored genocide that left more than 800,000 people dead, becomes the tiny Central African nation’s first president from the minority Tutsis since independence from Belgium in 1962.

“It’s the first time in the history of Rwanda that change in the leadership of the country has taken place peacefully,” Kagame told thousands of people who attended the swearing-in ceremony at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali, the capital.

“People said the replacement of Rwanda’s president should be carried out along ethnic lines. But Rwandans have rejected ethnic divisions, and they’ve rejected divisions along regional and religious lines.”

Kagame was named president Monday at a special joint session of parliament and the Cabinet, garnering 81 of 86 votes.

He takes over the post from Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu who stepped down last month after falling out with senior officials from the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front, or RPF.

Bizimungu, who has kept a low profile since leaving office and is said to spend most of his time on his farm outside Kigali, did not attend the ceremonies. But Kagame thanked him for the time he served in office.

Analysts warned last week that Rwanda’s ruling elite--centered on a small group of English-speaking Tutsis from the RPF who grew up in exile in neighboring Uganda--was becoming less tolerant of opposition and growing more isolated.

But Kagame said his government would work to promote national reconciliation and bridge ethnic divisions. It would also fight AIDS and corruption, and draft a new constitution, he said.

Kagame had simultaneously held the posts of vice president and minister of defense since 1994, but he was always considered the most powerful man in the country. His term as president runs until 2003.