More than 20 years after genocide, Rwandans still live in a climate of fear
Kigali — Rwandan President Paul Kagame is seeking re-election amid a climate of fear that is the result of two decades of crackdowns on political opposition, the media and human-rights defenders, says Amnesty International. A report from the London-based group released on Friday noted that freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly had all been restricted since the Rwandan Patriotic Front came to power, in the wake of the East African nation’s 1994 genocide. Opposition politicians and journalists are among those who’ve been jailed, attacked or forced into exile or silence, Amnesty said. "Rwandans have faced huge, and often deadly, obstacles to participating in public life and voicing criticism of government policy," Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty’s regional director for East Africa, said in a statement. "The climate in which the upcoming elections takes place is the culmination of years of repression." Rwanda changed its constitution in 2015, enabling Kagame, who’s led since...
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