An editorial by Jeune Afrique’s editorial director François Soudan has praised Rwanda’s post-genocide transformation under President Paul Kagame, describing it as a deliberate and distinctive model of governance that continues to defy conventional political classifications.
In his piece titled “Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Exception,” published on October 20, 2025, Soudan argues that Rwanda’s remarkable evolution since 1994 is anchored on three fundamental principles — agaciro (dignity), Ndi Umunyarwanda (“I am Rwandan”), and ubushake (willpower). Together, he writes, these values form the ideological backbone of the country’s state-building vision and its drive for national unity.
The article notes that when Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR-Inkotanyi) took power after stopping the Genocide against the Tutsi, they faced a society fractured by decades of ethnic indoctrination and colonial manipulation.
Instead of replicating Western democratic models, Soudan observes, Kagame’s administration embarked on a “political and psychological process” to create a new, inclusive Rwandan identity — one grounded in dignity and collective responsibility.
Soudan emphasizes that the strength of Kagame’s leadership lies in its focus on results and integrity. He describes Rwanda as a state that “learns, adapts, and remembers,” where governance is shaped by pragmatism, discipline, and accountability rather than political populism.
He notes that this approach has produced tangible outcomes — sustained economic growth, a robust anti-corruption record, and a strong sense of civic duty among citizens.
Highlighting Rwanda’s growing international visibility, Soudan points to recent global events such as the World Cycling Championships hosted in Kigali, which he calls “a showcase of the ‘Visit Rwanda’ brand — not as a slogan, but as proof of a strategic choice made over a decade ago to make development visible, credible, and bankable.”
The editorial also touches on Rwanda’s regional outlook, particularly its engagement in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Soudan writes that Kigali’s actions in the region cannot be understood solely through geopolitical lenses but must be seen in light of historical and cultural ties dating back to pre-colonial Rwanda, as well as the lingering trauma of the genocide.
He describes Kagame’s determination to protect Kinyarwanda-speaking communities in eastern Congo as “an existential imperative born of history and memory.”
For Soudan, this balance between security and development defines what he calls “the Rwandan exception.” He concludes that Kagame’s model, though often polarizing, has built a state with “a coherence, discipline, and capacity for adaptation unmatched elsewhere on the continent.”
“Between the cataclysm of genocide and the Rwanda of today,” Soudan writes, “there lies both a vast gulf and an unbreakable causal link — one that connects the nation’s trauma to its determination to never relapse.”
The full editorial, “Paul Kagame et l’exception rwandaise,” appears in Jeune Afrique (October 20, 2025), under the Politics section.
