Rwandan President Paul Kagame met a former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday as his office denied rumours that he was sick following a prolonged absence from public appearances.

Read Also: Rwanda denies rumours President Kagame is sick

Kagame, 67, had not been seen in public since June 6, as evidenced by his X account, generating rumours online and in the country given his usual energetic and omnipresent role.

But on Tuesday, his office posted photos of him meeting former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, who has been engaged in peace negotiations on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Rwanda is accused of backing armed rebels fighting the Congolese government.

A post that accompanied the pictures read: “This afternoon at Urugwiro Village, President Kagame received former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is serving as one of the facilitators of the merged Luanda-Nairobi peace process for eastern DRC.

“They discussed the situation in the region, along with various key issues of continental and global significance. The two leaders shared insights on pathways toward stability, cooperation, and progress.”

For many Rwandans, Kagame is a visionary hero who modernised the country but others see him as a ruthless dictator who violently stamps out opposition.

He has effectively ruled Rwanda since 1994, when he led a rebel uprising to overthrow the extremist Hutu regime responsible for the genocide that killed more than 800,000 members of the Tutsi minority.

Kagame was re-elected last year for a fourth term with more than 99 percent of the vote.

A dissident based in Canada claimed this week that the president was suffering from a “brain injury” being treated in Germany, though a German diplomatic source told AFP they had no information on the matter.

“There is nothing to be worried or concerned about,” Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told Taarifa, a local news site.

“He is a human being, and like anyone else, he takes time to rest. There is nothing unusual or alarming,” an unnamed “family member” told the same site.

The Rwandan army, in a post on X, labelled as “fake” a statement falsely attributed to them on social media, claiming the president was facing a “serious health crisis”.

Vanguard News