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56-400: President of Rwanda Government Presidential elections Battles/wars Juvénal Habyarimana ( Kinyarwanda: [hɑβɟɑːɾímɑ̂ːnɑ] , French: [ʒyvenal abjaʁimana] ; 8 March 1937 – 6 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who was the second president of Rwanda , from 1973 until his assassination in 1994 . He was nicknamed Kinani ,

112-445: A Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible". An ethnic Hutu , Habyarimana served in several security positions including minister of defense under Rwanda's first president, Grégoire Kayibanda . After overthrowing Kayibanda in a coup in 1973 , he became the country's new president and eventually continued his predecessor's pro-Hutu policies. He was a dictator , and electoral fraud was suspected for his unopposed re-elections: 98.99% of

168-572: A French court denied Rwanda's request for extradition of Agathe Habyarimana. Habyarimana was a devout Catholic . President of Rwanda This article lists the presidents of Rwanda since the creation of the office in 1961 (during the Rwandan Revolution ), to the present day. The president of Rwanda is the head of state and head of executive of the Republic of Rwanda. The president

224-461: A French crew, a French investigation was conducted; in 2006 it concluded that Kagame was responsible for the killing and demanded that he be prosecuted. The response from Kagame, the de facto leader of Rwanda since the genocide, was that the French were only trying to cover up their own part in the genocide that followed. A more recent French probe in a January 2012 report was falsely reported to exonerate

280-536: A Tutsi-dominated monarchy since the 15th century. In 1897, Germany established a presence in Rwanda with the formation of an alliance with the king, beginning the colonial era. Later, Belgium took control in 1916 during World War I. Both European nations ruled through the Rwandan king and perpetuated a pro-Tutsi policy. In Burundi, meanwhile, a ruling faction known as the ganwa emerged and quickly assumed effective control of

336-578: A conservative political agenda and was anti-communist. However, in 1990, before the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invasion, and because of mounting pressure from several sources—Rwanda's main ally and financial backer, France , its main funders, the IMF and the World Bank , and from its own citizens wishing for a greater voice and economic change—he agreed to allow the formation of other parties such as

392-489: A government that mirrored the policies of Kayibanda. Quotas were once again applied to jobs for universities and government services which intentionally disadvantaged Tutsis. As Habyarimana continued to favor a smaller and smaller coterie of supporters, Hutu groups who felt slighted by him cooperated with Tutsis to weaken his leadership. By the start of the invasion from Uganda by the army of the Rwanda Patriotic Front,

448-636: A king (instead having a stateless age set system which they adopted from Cushitic peoples) while there were a number of Bantu kingdoms to the south of the Tutsi-Hima in Tanzania, all of which shared the Tutsi-Hima's chieftaincy pattern. Since the Cushitic Sidama kingdoms interacted with Nilotic groups, Fage thus proposes that the Tutsi may have descended from one such migrating Nilotic population. The Nilotic ancestors of

504-461: A lot of leisure time, which they spent cultivating the high arts of poetry, weaving and music. Due to the Tutsi's status as a dominant minority vis-a-vis the Hutu farmers and the other local inhabitants, this relationship has been likened to that between lords and serfs in feudal Europe. According to Fage (2013), the Tutsi are serologically related to Bantu and Nilotic populations. This in turn rules out

560-552: A new constitution was approved in a referendum . At the same time, Habyarimana was elected to a five-year term as president; as president of the MRND, he was the only candidate. He was reelected in 1983 and 1988, both times as the only candidate. A Hutu himself, he initially won favor among both Hutu and Tutsi groups given his administration's reluctance to implement policies that catered to his primarily Hutu supporters. This restraint did not last and Habyarimana eventually began to oversee

616-471: A possible Cushitic origin for the founding Tutsi-Hima ruling class in the lacustrine kingdoms. However, the royal burial customs of the latter kingdoms are quite similar to those practiced by the former Cushitic Sidama states in the southern Gibe region of Ethiopia. By contrast, Bantu populations to the north of the Tutsi-Hima in the mount Kenya area such as the Agikuyu were until modern times essentially without

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672-579: A private mausoleum in Gbadolite , Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo ). Mobutu promised Habyarimana's family that his body would eventually be given a proper burial in Rwanda. On 12 May 1997, as Laurent-Désiré Kabila 's ADFL rebels were advancing on Gbadolite, Mobutu had the remains flown by cargo plane to Kinshasa , where they waited on the apron of N'djili Airport for three days. On 16 May,

728-402: A rebel army made up mostly of refugee Tutsi who had helped Uganda's Museveni seize control of the presidency, Habyarimana's supporters had shrunk down to the akazu ("little house" or "President's household"), which was mainly composed of an informal group of Hutu extremists from his home region, namely from the northwestern provinces of Gisenyi and Ruhengeri . From 1975 to 1990, the MRND and

784-563: A resumption of hostilities and the start of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, in which the Hutu then in power killed an estimated 500,000–600,000 people, largely of Tutsi origin. Victorious in the aftermath of the genocide, the Tutsi-ruled RPF came to power in July 1994. In the Rwanda territory, from the 15th century until 1961, the Tutsi were ruled by a king (the mwami ). Belgium abolished

840-528: A second ceremony, Chief Justice Joseph Kavaruganda did not appear and the suggested ministers were not sworn in, infuriating Habyarimana. On 6 April 1994, Habyarimana's private Falcon 50 jet was shot down near Kigali International Airport , killing Habyarimana. Cyprien Ntaryamira , the President of Burundi , the Chief of Staff of the Rwandan military, and numerous others also died in the attack. The plane crashed on

896-677: A second language. There are essentially two groups of Tutsi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). There is the Banyamulenge , a very tiny minority who live in the southern tip of South Kivu . They are descendants of Rwandan and Burundian Tutsis who were taken to the DRC by the Belgium King to perform administrative functions in his colony. The DRC boasts of 450 tribes (some of which have been exterminated today by rebel groups such as M23 and L'AFC). Tsutsi are native to Burundi and Rwanda along with

952-443: A shorter underclass, but with little relation to the gene pools that had existed a few centuries ago. The social categories are thus real, but there is little if any detectable genetic differentiation between Hutu and Tutsi. Their average height is 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm), although individuals have been recorded as being taller than 7 feet (210 cm). Prior to the arrival of colonists, Rwanda had been ruled by

1008-462: A sovereign soil because of cobalt . The death of 'more than a million' Tutsi became the foundation of the new Rwanda, where former exiles hold a monopoly on power. It also created the socio-political environment for the mass criminalisation of Hutu. Gacaca courts eventually tried more than a million (Nyseth Brehm, Uggen, and Gasanabo 2016), which led President Kagame to suggest that all Hutu bear responsibility and should apologise (Benda 2017, 13). Thus

1064-404: A spectrum of physical variation in the peoples, Belgian authorities legally mandated ethnic affiliation in the 1920s, based on economic criteria. Formal and discrete social divisions were consequently imposed upon ambiguous biological distinctions. To some extent, the permeability of these categories in the intervening decades helped to reify the biological distinctions, generating a taller elite and

1120-611: Is elected every seven years by popular vote , and appoints the prime minister and all other members of Cabinet . A total of four people have served in the office. The incumbent president is Paul Kagame , who took office on 22 April 2000, after being acting president for nearly a month. There was a two-term limit for the president in the Constitution of Rwanda . The constitutional referendum in 2015 allowed Paul Kagame third seven-year term, and ability to run for further two five-year terms thereafter. Tutsi Historically,

1176-575: The Belgian rule . The Tutsi aristocracy or elite was distinguished from Tutsi commoners. When the Belgian colonists conducted censuses, they wanted to identify the people throughout Rwanda-Burundi according to a simple classification scheme. They defined "Tutsi" as anyone owning more than ten cows (a sign of wealth) or with the physical features of a longer thin nose, high cheekbones , and being over six feet tall, all of which are common descriptions associated with

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1232-825: The Republican Democratic Movement , the Social Democratic Party , the Liberal Party and the Christian Democratic Party . In October 1990, an attack on Habyarimana's government began when rebels from the RPF , a force of mostly Tutsi Rwandan refugees and expatriates who had served in the Ugandan army (many in key positions), crossed the border from Uganda . Habyarimana was in New York City attending

1288-464: The Habyarimana government were one. Under a constitution adopted in 1978, every five years the president of the MRND, Hayarimana, was automatically elected to a five-year term as president of the republic, and was confirmed in office via a referendum. Every four years, voters had the option of choosing between two MRND candidates for the legislature. All citizens of Rwanda became members of the MRND at birth. Local administrations simultaneously represented

1344-662: The Hutu and Twa. Secondly, there are minority Tutsi in North Kivu and Kalehe in South Kivu – being part of the Banyarwanda (Hutu and Tutsi) community. These are not Banyamulenge. Most of the Banyarwandans came when they fled the genocide in Rwanda. Some also came with AFDL a predominantly Tutsi army of child soldiers led by Congolese rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila and RPF soldier James Kabarebe . The Democratic republic of Congo

1400-573: The RPF. Members of Kagame's inner circle have come out publicly stating that the attack was ordered by Kagame himself. These include his former Chief of Staff and Ambassador to the United States Theogene Rudasingwa , the former army chief and Ambassador to India General Kayumba Nyamwasa , the former secretary in the Ministry of Defense Major Jean-Marie Micombero and others. Habyarimana's body

1456-457: The Tutsi domination. Belgian policies wavered and flip-flopped considerably during this period leading up to independence of Burundi and Rwanda . The Hutu majority in Rwanda had revolted against the Tutsi and was able to take power. Tutsi fled and created exile communities outside Rwanda in Uganda and Tanzania. Their actions led to the deaths of up to 200,000 Hutu. Overt discrimination from

1512-630: The Tutsi have considerably more haplogroup B Y-DNA paternal lineages (14.9% B) than do the Hutu (4.3% B). In general, the Tutsi appear to share a close genetic kinship with neighboring Bantu populations, particularly the Hutu. However, it is unclear whether this similarity is primarily due to extensive genetic exchanges between these communities through intermarriage or whether it ultimately stems from common origins: [...] generations of gene flow obliterated whatever clear-cut physical distinctions may have once existed between these two Bantu peoples – renowned to be height, body build, and facial features. With

1568-478: The Tutsi to be educated and to participate in the colonial government. Such discriminatory policies engendered resentment. When the Belgians took over, they believed it could be better governed if they continued to identify the different populations. In the 1920s, they required people to identify with a particular ethnic group and classified them accordingly in censuses. In 1959, Belgium reversed its stance and allowed

1624-493: The Tutsi were pastoralists and filled the ranks of the warriors' caste . Before 1962, they regulated and controlled Rwandan society, which was composed of Tutsi aristocracy and Hutu commoners, utilizing a clientship structure. They occupied the dominant positions in the sharply stratified society and constituted the ruling class. The definition of "Tutsi" has changed through time and location. Social structures were not stable throughout Rwanda, even during colonial times under

1680-457: The Tutsi would thereby in earlier times have served as cultural intermediaries, adopting some monarchical traditions from adjacent Cushitic kingdoms and subsequently taking those borrowed customs south with them when they first settled amongst Bantu autochthones in the Great Lakes area. However, little difference can be ascertained between the cultures today of the Tutsi and Hutu; both groups speak

1736-458: The Tutsi, in which "possibly as many as 25,000 Tutsi" – including military, civil servants and civilians – were murdered by the former and "at least as many" Hutu were killed by the latter. Since the 2000 Arusha Peace Process , today in Burundi the Tutsi minority shares power in a more or less equitable manner with the Hutu majority. Traditionally, the Tutsi had held more economic power and controlled

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1792-603: The Tutsi. In the colonial era, the Tutsi were hypothesized to have arrived in the Great Lakes region from the Horn of Africa . Tutsi were considered by some to be of Cushitic origin, although they do not speak a Cushitic language , and have lived in the areas where they presently inhabit for at least 400 years, leading to considerable intermarriage with the Hutu in the area. Due to the history of intermingling and intermarrying of Hutu and Tutsi, some ethnographers and historians are of

1848-635: The Ugandan Government of supplying the RPF, establishing a "rear command" for the group in Kampala, and "flagging off" the invasion. The Rwandan Government announced on 30 October that the war was over. On 4 August 1993 the Rwandan government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) signed the Arusha Accords to end the Rwandan Civil War . As stipulated by the agreement, the new transitional government

1904-552: The United Nations World Summit for Children when the attack commenced. When news of the RPF offensive broke, Habyarimana requested assistance from France in fighting the invasion. The French government responded by dispatching troops to his aid under the cover of protecting French nationals. Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko 's contribution was to send several hundred troops of the elite Special Presidential Division (DSP). The Zairian soldiers raped Rwandan civilians in

1960-574: The beginning of the Rwandan Revolution the following year, Habyarimana left Lovanium and enrolled in the officer training school in Kigali . He graduated with distinction in 1961 and became an aide to the Belgian commander of the force in Rwanda. He married Agathe Kanziga in 1962. On 29 June 1963 Habyarimana, as a lieutenant, was appointed head of the Garde Nationale Rwandaise . Two years later he

2016-408: The colonial period was continued by different Rwandan and Burundian governments, including identity cards that distinguished Tutsi and Hutu. In 1993, Burundi's first democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye , a Hutu, was assassinated by Tutsi officers, as was the person entitled to succeed him under the constitution. This sparked a genocide in Burundi between Hutu political structures and

2072-422: The country's administration. The ganwa who relied on support from both Hutu and Tutsi populations to rule, were sometimes perceived within Burundi as neither Hutu nor Tutsi but were predominantly of Tutsi origin. Rwanda was ruled as a colony by Germany (from 1897 to 1916) and by Belgium (from 1922 to 1961). Both the Tutsi and Hutu had been the traditional governing elite, but both colonial powers allowed only

2128-590: The day before Mobutu fled Zaire and the country was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Habyarimana's remains were burned under the supervision of an Indian Hindu leader. The death of Habyarimana ignited the genocide against the Tutsi by extremists from the majority Hutus, against Tutsis and those Hutus who had opposed the government in the past or who had supported the peace accords. Within 100 days, somewhere between 491,000 and 800,000 Rwandans were massacred. Habyarimana's wife, Agathe Habyarimana ,

2184-597: The genocide of Congolese people in the Kivu area. Their leader is Laurent Nkrunda , a Tutsi who was also a former General in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo . He is in charge of cobalt mines in the Kivu area which he guards with Rwandan army who use child soldiers and children to mine the cobalt. These are the sources of conflicts between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 supported by Rwandan armed forces all of whom operate illegally on

2240-489: The great majority of Rwandans remained in circumstances of extreme poverty . In 1990, the Tutsi -led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched the Rwandan Civil War against his government. After three years of war, Habyarimana signed the Arusha Accords in 1993 with the RPF as a peace agreement. The following year, he died under mysterious circumstances when his plane, also carrying the President of Burundi , Cyprien Ntaryamira ,

2296-459: The grounds of the presidential residence. The circumstances of the crash remain unclear. At the time, the Hutu Power media claimed the plane had been shot down on orders from RPF leader Paul Kagame . Others, including the RPF, accused militant Hutus from within Habyarimana's party of orchestrating the crash to provoke anti- Tutsi outrage while simultaneously seizing power. Since the aircraft had

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2352-480: The intention of taking back the power. The RPF had experience in organized irregular warfare from the Ugandan Bush War , and got much support from the government of Uganda. The initial RPF advance was halted by the lift of French arms to the Rwandan government. Attempts at peace culminated in the Arusha Accords . The agreement broke down after the assassination of the Rwandan and Burundian Presidents, triggering

2408-508: The majority Hutu to assume control of the government through universal elections after independence. This partly reflected internal Belgian domestic politics, in which the discrimination against the Hutu majority came to be regarded as similar to oppression within Belgium stemming from the Flemish-Walloon conflict, and the democratization and empowerment of the Hutu was seen as a just response to

2464-436: The military. A similar pattern of events took place in Rwanda, but there the Hutu came to power in 1962. They in turn often oppressed the Tutsi, who fled the country. After the anti-Tutsi violence around 1959–1961, Tutsi fled in large numbers. These exile Tutsi communities gave rise to Tutsi rebel movements. The Rwandan Patriotic Front , mostly made up of exiled Tutsi living primarily in Uganda, attacked Rwanda in 1990 with

2520-491: The monarchy, following the national referendum that led to independence. By contrast, in the northwestern part of the country (predominantly Hutu), large regional landholders shared power, similar to Buganda society (in what is now Uganda ). Under their holy king, Tutsi culture traditionally revolved around administering justice and government. They were the only proprietors of cattle , and sustained themselves on their own products. Additionally, their lifestyle afforded them

2576-479: The north of the country and looted their homes, prompting Habyarimana to expel them within a week of their arrival. With French assistance, and benefiting from the loss of RPF morale after Fred Rwigyema 's death, the Rwandan Army enjoyed a major tactical advantage. By the end of October, they had regained all the ground taken by the RPF and pushed the rebels all the way back to the Ugandan border. Habyarimana accused

2632-495: The official party as well as the local authority. Legal and party policies were communicated and enforced from the Head of State down through the local administrative units, especially the general policy of Umuganda, in which Rwandans were required to "allocate half a day's labour per week" to infrastructural projects. Habyarimana is sometimes described as a moderate though the party is said to have used right-wing propaganda methods, advanced

2688-476: The same Bantu language . The rate of intermarriage between the two groups was traditionally very high, and relations were amicable until the 20th century. Many scholars have concluded that the determination of Tutsi was and is mainly an expression of class or caste, rather than ethnicity. Rwandans have their own language, Kinyarwanda . English, French and Swahili serve as additional official languages for different historic reasons, and are widely spoken by Rwandans as

2744-499: The view that Hutu and Tutsi cannot be called distinct ethnic groups. Modern-day genetic studies of the Y-chromosome generally indicate that the Tutsi, like the Hutu, are largely of Bantu extraction (60% E1b1a , 20% B , 4% E-P2 (xE1b1a)). Paternal genetic influences associated with the Horn of Africa and North Africa are few (under 3% E1b1b-M35 ), and are ascribed to much earlier inhabitants who were assimilated. However,

2800-420: The vote on 24 December 1978, 99.97% of the vote on 19 December 1983, and 99.98% of the vote on 19 December 1988. During his rule, Rwanda became a totalitarian , one-party state in which his MRND -party enforcers required people to chant and dance in adulation of the president at mass pageants of political "animation". While the country as a whole had become slightly less impoverished during Habyarimana's tenure,

2856-772: Was shot down by a missile near Kigali . His assassination ignited ethnic tensions in the region and helped spark the genocide against the Tutsi . Juvénal Habyarimana was born on 8 March 1937, in Gisenyi , Ruanda-Urundi to a wealthy Hutu family. After receiving a primary education, he attended the College of Saint Paul in Bukavu , Belgian Congo , where he graduated with a degree in mathematics and humanities. In 1958 he enrolled in Lovanium University 's medical school in Léopoldville . After

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2912-458: Was a country of refuge for Hutu and Tutsi groups that fled genocide on foot. Tutsi also fled Rwanda (when the monarchy was overthrown) into the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. In Burundi during the genocide of the Hutu many Hutu fled into the DRC as well these also form part of the Bayarwanda community. Many of the child soldiers who grew up became part of M23, a rebel group responsible for

2968-600: Was evacuated by French troops shortly after his death. She has been described as having been extremely influential in Rwandan politics. She has been accused by Rwandan Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama of complicity in the genocide and was denied asylum in France on the basis of evidence of her complicity. She was arrested in March 2010 in the Paris region by the police executing a Rwandan-issued international arrest warrant. In September 2011,

3024-543: Was identified lying in a flowerbed at about 21:30 on 6 April by the crash site. The corpses of the victims were taken into the presidential palace living room. Plans were initially made to take his body to the hospital, but the renewal of conflict made this difficult, and instead his corpse was stored in a freezer at a nearby army barracks. His family shortly thereafter fled to France, making no preparations for his burial. At some point following, Habyarimana's remains were obtained by Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko and kept in

3080-599: Was made Minister of the National Guard and Police. On 5 July 1973, while serving as Army Chief of Staff and minister of defense, Habyarimana seized power in a coup d'état against the incumbent President Grégoire Kayibanda , ousting Kayibanda's ruling Parmehutu party. In 1975, he created the Mouvement Révolutionnaire National pour le Développement as the country's only legal party. The government stayed almost entirely in military hands until 1978 when

3136-525: Was to be sworn in on 5 January 1994. Habyarimana was sworn in as interim President at the Parliament building, but then suddenly departed before calling up the new Prime Minister and cabinet to be inaugurated. Habyarimana returned that afternoon with a list of new cabinet members from Hutu extremist parties, who had not been agreed upon in the Arusha Accords, to be sworn in. Having not been formally invited for

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