Kagame receives Obasanjo in Rwanda, holds discussion on regional progress

Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Tuesday received Nigeria’s frail President Olusegun Obasanjo in Kigali, in a gathering that touched on regional security, continental cooperation and global tendencies, marking Kagame’s first public look in two weeks.

The 2 leaders met at Urugwiro Village, the Rwandan presidency confirmed in a assertion, describing their conversation as “huge-ranging” and centred on “pathways in opposition to steadiness, cooperation, and growth” inside of Africa.

Kagame, 66, has no longer been seen in public since early June, sparking online speculation and untrue rumours about his properly being. The silence gave upward thrust to a storm of social media theories, particularly in Congolese and Rwandan exile communities, with some falsely claiming he had died or became once seriously sick.

Executive spokesperson Yolande Makolo had brushed off the claims ideal week, pointing out Kagame became once “on a inside of most destroy” and remained in factual properly being.

His meeting with Obasanjo — a prominent continental statesman known for his involvement in battle resolution and regional diplomacy — gave the impact to strengthen the authorities’s denial of any properly being crisis.

Whereas the assertion did no longer describe the corpulent scope of their conversation, observers command the meeting is critical given ongoing instability in aspects of East and Central Africa, particularly tensions keen Rwanda and neighbouring DR Congo.

Kagame, who has ruled since 2000, has regularly been the topic of disinformation campaigns, most regularly coinciding with periods of heightened regional stress. The same rumours trailed old absences, including in 2014 and 2021.

Obasanjo’s consult with may perchance perchance additionally signal renewed diplomatic momentum in regional peacebuilding efforts, a roar where the frail Nigerian leader remains an influential divulge.

The Rwandan presidency did no longer inform whether any bilateral agreements or joint communiqués were reached in some unspecified time in the future of the meeting. Alternatively, the optics of Kagame’s return alongside a revered African elder statesman may perchance perchance reduction allay concerns and refocus attention on regional collaboration.