Rwandan President Paul Kagame and United States President Bill Clinton arrive to give a joint statement on the Nutrition Initiative in Kigali in 2013.
Highs & Lows of U.S.-Rwanda Relations in Focus on Blinken Visit
The choice of Kinshasa and Kigali as two of the three stops on a visit to Africa of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reflects the urgency of escalating conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and rising tension between Rwanda and the DRC.
READ: Blinken to Visit South Africa, DR Congo and Rwanda
"In both the DRC and Rwanda, the Secretary will highlight the need for respect for territorial integrity and explore how the United States can support efforts to reduce tensions," Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee said in a press briefing on the trip.She said that - in what will be his first meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame - Blinken "will raise the case of Paul Rusesabagina, whom the Secretary has determined has been wrongfully detained".
A Rwandan government statement welcoming Blinken's forthcoming visit says "Rwanda welcomes the opportunity to once again make clear that his arrest and conviction for serious crimes against Rwandan citizens (alongside 20 other accomplices in the same trial), while residing in the United States, were lawful under both Rwandan and international law".
The close ties forged with Rwanda following the 1994 genocide by the Clinton administration have mostly persisted. "One of the lowest points came in 2012," writes Jonathan Beloff in an article for The Conversation. President Barack Obama decreased the $200 million foreign assistance programme by $200,000 "over Kagame's human rights record, as well as Kigali's role in supporting the M23 rebel group" in eastern Congo. In 2014, Kagame was one of the 40 African government heads who participated in the U.S.-African Leaders Summit that Obama hosted in Washington, DC.
The Rwandan government statement also cited inclusion on the agenda of replenishment for the Global Fund, which focuses on fighting HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria. The fund is chaired by Donald Kaberuka, a former Rwandan finance minister who served as President of the African Development Bank from 2005 to 2015.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet President Paul Kagame and his daughter.at the White House dinner during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.
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President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush are welcomed by Rwanda President Paul Kagame and his wife, Jeannette Kagame, on their arrival to Kigali International Airport in Kigali in 2008.
