Uhuru heads to Rwanda for Paul Kagamae’s inauguration

President Uhuru Kenyatta is Friday morning travelling to Kigali, Rwanda for the inauguration of President Paul Kagame.

Kagame was re-elected in polls held on August 4.

President Kenyatta congratulated the people of Rwanda for choosing decisively and democratically.

He also congratulated President Kagame for the trust that Rwandans have shown in him.

The President will attend the inauguration to show Kenya's solidarity with the people of Rwanda and their government.

Kenya has had friendly relations with Rwanda and President Kagame's re-election is expected to renew that friendship and alliance.

After his re-election, President Kagame pledged to continue transforming the nation after winning with a record 98 per cent of the votes.

There had been little doubt that the 59-year-old would return to the helm of the east African nation, which he has ruled with an iron fist since the end of the 1994 genocide.

Kagame has been the de facto leader of Rwanda since, as a 36-year-old, his rebel army routed extremist Hutu forces who slaughtered an estimated 800,000 people — mainly minority Tutsis — and seized Kigali in 1994.

He was first appointed president by lawmakers in 2000.