Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has promised that next month's elections will be free, following recent criticism from human rights groups.

因最近受到人权组织的批评，卢旺达总统保罗·卡加梅做出承诺，下个月的选举将会是自由的。

President Paul Kagame is confident of being re-elected

"Rwandan voters have the freedom to decide," he said as he launched his campaign for the 9 August poll.

Several opposition¹ critics have been killed or attacked recently - one senior official was buried as Mr Kagame was speaking.

The government has denied involvement in the killing².

The BBC's Geoffrey Mutagoma in Kigali says thousands of Mr Kagame's supporters - many in his party colours of red, white and blue - filled up the Amahoro National Stadium for his rally, and more were unable to get in.

Three other parties have launched their campaign but they are all seen as close to the president - two have been in government since 1994.

Several other political parties have been blocked from taking part in the elections.

'Not stupid'

Speaking to journalists before the rally（集会，回复） , Mr Kagame said he thought his party would retain（保持，记住） power: "I'm very confident that Rwandans will choose to work with RPF but I don't take anything for granted."

But BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says the election campaign could hardly be getting off to a more inauspicious（不详的） start.

Just hours before the first campaign rally got under way, Democratic Green Party Vice-President Andre Kagwa Rwisereka was buried.

His almost decapitated（斩首，杀头） body was found in Butare in the south of Rwanda last week after he was reported missing.

His party cannot compete in the elections, and it claims that the government has blocked its registration³.

There have been other worrying events in recent months, including the murder of a prominent journalist, the attempted assassination⁴ of a former army general, and numerous arrests amid reports of splits within the Rwandan military, our correspondent says.

The government denies it has moved to crush the opposition and points to a smear⁵（诽谤，污点） campaign.

"We certainly might not be a model government for a lot of people, but we're not a stupid government, and we will not try to kill three people in a row right before election - an election in which we believe strongly that President Paul Kagame would win," Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told the AP news agency.