Paul Kagame's Rwanda: African success story or authoritarian
state?  Tony Blair and Bill Clinton have heaped praise on the
Rwandan president, but his halo is starting to slip     • The
Guardian,     • Jump to comments () Paul Kagame  A hi-tech
fingerprint scanner unlocks the entrance to Jean Gatabazi's
offices at the hospital in the Rwandan town of Nyamata. Gatabazi
says the past five years have brought a tarmac road, street
lighting and thriving businesses to the site of one of the worst
massacres of the 1994 genocide. And he knows whom he credits for
the transformation. "Paul Kagame is an excellent man," he says
proudly. "Hero is the right word."  President Kagame has
similarly mesmerised Tony Blair (who called him a "visionary
leader"), Bill Clinton ("one of the greatest leaders of our
time"), Clare Short ("such a sweetie") and Howard Schultz, chief
executive of Starbucks, who was persuaded to invest here. Such
idolatry raises the question, what spell does this flinty
statesman with bookish, even nerdy loo