Juvénal Habyarimana
President of Rwanda from 1973 to 1994 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Juvénal Habyarimana (Kinyarwanda: [hɑβɟɑːɾímɑ̂ːnɑ], French: [ʒyvenal abjaʁimana]; 8 March 1937 – 6 April 1994)[1] was a Rwandan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until his assassination in 1994. He was nicknamed Kinani, a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible".
Juvénal Habyarimana | |
---|---|
2nd President of Rwanda | |
In office 5 July 1973 – 6 April 1994 | |
Prime Minister | Sylvestre Nsanzimana Dismas Nsengiyaremye Agathe Uwilingiyimana |
Preceded by | Grégoire Kayibanda |
Succeeded by | Théodore Sindikubwabo (interim) |
Personal details | |
Born | (1937-03-08)8 March 1937 Gisenyi, Ruanda-Urundi |
Died | 6 April 1994(1994-04-06) (aged 57) Kigali, Rwanda |
Manner of death | Assassination (surface-to-air missile) |
Nationality | Rwandan |
Political party | MRND |
Spouse | |
Alma mater | Lovanium University Kigali Military Academy |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Rwanda |
Years of service | 1963–1994 |
Rank | Major-general |
Unit | Rwanda National Guard |
Battles/wars | Bugesera invasion Rwandan Civil War |
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 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.[2] 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".[2][3] While the country as a whole had become slightly less impoverished during Habyarimana's tenure, the great majority of Rwandans remained in circumstances of extreme poverty.[2]
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, was shot down by a missile near Kigali. His assassination ignited ethnic tensions in the region and helped spark the genocide against the Tutsi.