Rwanda Senate votes to allow Kagame a third term

Similar attempts to extend power have provoked violence in Burundi, Congo.

Reuters reports:

Rwanda's senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a draft constitution to allow President Paul Kagame to seek a third term in office, the head of the senate said, clearing the path for a referendum that is not expected to face much opposition.

Kagame, in power since 2000, won widespread praise for his role in ending a genocide in 1994 of some 800,000 people, most of them Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and for his rebuilding efforts after the conflict ceased.

But while praising Rwanda's economic and social development since then, rights groups say the government severely restricts freedom of expression and does not tolerate dissent, charges the government denies.