Rwandan parliament dissolved
2008-08-14 20:35
Kigali - Rwandan President Paul Kagame dissolved the national assembly on Thursday ahead of legislative elections next month.
"It's time that Rwandans once again choose their representatives in the chamber of deputies," Kagame said in a message carried on state radio and television to coincide with the constitutional move, under which parliament must be dissolved more than 30 days before elections.
Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) won a landslide victory in the last general election, in 2003.
Around 800 000 people, mainly minority Tutsis, were massacred during the 1994 genocide carried out by extremist Hutus.
The genocide was ended when the Tutsi-dominated RPF rebellion seized power.