PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA IN RWANDA FOR KAGAME INAUGURATION . . .HOLDS BILATERAL TALKS WITH .

President Mnangagwa will today join other world leaders to witness the inauguration of Rwanda’s President-elect Paul Kagame, who won the Central African country’s presidential elections held last month. He arrived here yesterday evening and was welcomed at Kigali International Airport by Rwanda Development Board chief executive officer Mr Francis Gatare and Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Rwanda Professor Charity Manyeruke.

President Mnangagwa is welcomed by Rwanda’s President-elect Paul Kagame at Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda yesterday. The President is in Kigali for the inauguration of the Rwandan leader.—Picture: Presidential Photographer Tawanda Mudimu

He later held bilateral talks with his counterpart ahead of today’s historic inauguration ceremony.

The President, who is accompanied by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister ambassador Frederick Shava, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba and other Government officials, will join more than a dozen other Heads of State and their representatives here to witness the ceremony at Amahoro National Stadium.

Yesterday, in evening, President Kagame met with President Emmerson Mnangagwa ahead of today’s Presidential inauguration ceremony. The two Heads of State reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the existing fruitful cooperation between Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

President-elect Kagame, of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, won the July 15 polls by a landslide, capturing 99,18 percent of the vote. His two competitors, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda got 0,5 percent, while independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana received 0,32 percent of the votes.

More than 45 000 people are expected to converge on Amahoro National Stadium to witness President-elect Kagame take his oath of office, marking the commencement of his fourth term in office.