Kagame 'casts doubt on fourth term in office'

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has cast doubt on whether he'll run for a fourth term in the 2024 elections, Bloomberg news agency reports.

He has been president since 2000, and won a controversial third term in office in 2017 with 99% of the vote after the two-term constitutional limit was lifted.

Responding to a question at a meeting in Doha about whether he will run for office again, Bloomberg quotes him as saying:

“Most likely no. I want to have some breathing space but given how things are and how they have been in the past, I have made up my mind where I am personally concerned, that it is not going to happen next time.”

But in 2012, Mr Kagame also ruled out running for a third term.

"We have the constitution in place. We have term limits. I’m serving my second and last term. I’m just hoping that another suitable person will come and continue with the work we are doing and not reverse it or break it up," he told the World Policy Journal at the time.