Juvénal Habyarimana

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"Habyarimana" redirects here. For the surname, see

Kinani

Juvénal Habyarimana

Habyarimana in 1980

2nd

In office

1 August 1973 – 6 April 1994

Prime Minister

Preceded by

Succeeded by

(interim)

of the

In office

5 July 1973 – 1 August 1973

Preceded by

Himself

(

as Chairman of the

Committee for Peace and

National Unity

)

Succeeded by

Position abolished

(

Himself

(

)

Personal details

Born

8 March 1937

Died

6 April 1994

(aged 57)

, Rwanda

Cause of death

(

)

Spouse

(

1963)

Children

Kigali Military Academy

Military service

Allegiance

Years of

service

1963–1994

Rank

Major-general

Unit

Rwanda National Guard

Battles/wars

This article is part of

a series about

Dictator of Rwanda

1973–1994

Government

Presidential elections

Battles/wars

(disputed)

Ideology

Anti-Tutsi

sentiment

Juvénal Habyarimana

(

Kinyarwanda:

;

French:

; 8 March 1937 – 6 April 1994)

was a Rwandan politician and

military officer who was the second

, from 1973 until

. He was nicknamed

Kinani

, a

word meaning

"invincible".

An ethnic

, Habyarimana served in several security positions including

under Rwanda's first president,

. After

overthrowing Kayibanda in a

, he became the country's new

president and eventually continued his predecessor's pro-Hutu policies. He was

, 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.

During his rule, Rwanda

became a

state in which his

-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, the great

majority of Rwandans remained in circumstances of

In 1990, the

-led

(RPF) launched the

against his government. After three years of war, Habyarimana signed

the

in 1993 with the RPF as a peace agreement. The following

year, he died under mysterious circumstances when his plane, also carrying the

, was

. His assassination ignited ethnic tensions in the region and helped

spark the

Early life and education

[

]

Juvénal Habyarimana was born on 8 March 1937, in

to a

wealthy

family. After receiving a primary education, he attended the

College of Saint Paul in

, where he graduated with a

degree in mathematics and humanities. In 1958 he enrolled in

's medical school in

. After the beginning of the

the following year, Habyarimana left Lovanium and enrolled

in the officer training school in

. He graduated with distinction in

1961 and became an aide to the Belgian commander of the force in Rwanda.

married

in 1962.

On 29 June 1963 Habyarimana, as a lieutenant, was appointed head of the

Two years later he was made Minister of the National

Guard and Police.

Presidency

[

]

President Habyarimana with Dutch

Prime Minister

, 1980

On 5 July 1973, while serving as Army Chief of Staff and minister of defense,

Habyarimana seized power

against the incumbent President

, ousting Kayibanda's ruling

party. In 1975, he

created the

as the

country's only legal party. The government stayed almost entirely in military

hands until 1978 when a new constitution was

. 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.

himself, he initially won favor among both Hutu and

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 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, 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

("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

and

Habyarimana (third row, third

from left) at

's 80th

birthday celebration in 1992

From 1975 to 1990, the MRND and 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 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 a conservative political agenda

and was anti-communist.

were severely curtailed,

and citizens were often required to perform mandatory celebrations of his

rule.

However, in 1990, before the

(RPF) invasion, and

because of mounting pressure from several sources—Rwanda's main ally and

financial backer,

, its main funders, the

and the

, and

from its own citizens wishing for a greater voice and economic change—he

agreed to allow the formation of other parties such as the

, the

and the

Economic policy

[

]

Under Habyarimana's leadership, the country adopted a planned economy called the "liberal planning" based on

, and adopted similar economic strategies in 1980 and 1986.

In 1988, state-owned enterprises

were

as part of the liberal planning policy.

Under Habyarimana's government, Rwanda focused on foreign aid and the

, Habyarimana's

leadership achieved great accomplishments and economic growth, including the proliferation of health centers at the

municipal level, the creation of secondary schools throughout the country, the approval of private schools to

supplement the government network from the mid-1980s, integrated rural development projects in different parts of the

country, a network of tea projects with modern factories, the improvement of rural housing, water supply, rural

electrification and telephone network, the modernization of the national asphalt road network, the construction of

inter-municipal roads, the strengthening of the private banking network, and the reforestation of land unsuitable for

agriculture.

However, problems continued to exist, including an economic crisis caused by a collapse in coffee

prices that began in the late 1980s.

Rwanda Civil War

[

]

Further information:

In October 1990, an attack on Habyarimana's government began when rebels from the

, a force of mostly

Rwandan

refugees and expatriates who had served in the Ugandan army (many in key positions), crossed the border from

Habyarimana was in

attending the United Nations

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

's contribution was to send several hundred troops of the elite

(DSP).

The Zairian soldiers raped Rwandan civilians in the north of the country and looted their homes,

prompting Habyarimana to expel them within a week of their arrival.

Red Cross volunteers monitoring

and assisting displaced

populations during the Rwandan

Civil War, 1994.

With French assistance, and benefiting from the loss of RPF morale after

'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 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

(RPF) signed the

to end the

. As stipulated by the agreement, the new transitional government 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 a second ceremony, Chief Justice

did not appear and the

suggested ministers were not sworn in, infuriating Habyarimana.

Death

[

]

Main article:

A map showing places relevant

to the assassination of Juvenal

Habyarimana.

On 6 April 1994, Habyarimana's private

jet was shot down near

, killing Habyarimana.

, the

, the Chief of Staff of the Rwandan military, and numerous others also died in

the attack. The plane crashed on the grounds of the presidential residence.

The circumstances of the crash remain unclear. At the time, the

media

claimed the plane had been shot down on orders from RPF leader

. Others, including the RPF, accused

militant Hutus from within Habyarimana's party of orchestrating the crash to provoke anti-

outrage while

simultaneously seizing power.

[

]

Since the aircraft had 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 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

the former army chief

and Ambassador to India General

, the former secretary in the Ministry of Defense Major Jean-Marie

Micombero

and others.

Aftermath

[

]

Fate of remains

[

]

Habyarimana's body 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

President

and kept in a private mausoleum

(now the

). Mobutu promised Habyarimana's family that his body

would eventually be given a proper burial in Rwanda. On 12 May 1997, as

rebels were

advancing on Gbadolite, Mobutu had the remains flown by cargo plane to

, where they waited on the apron of

for three days. On 16 May, 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

leader.

Political consequences

[

]

Main article:

The death of Habyarimana ignited a genocide against the Tutsi minority and Hutus who had opposed the government in the

past or who had supported the peace accords by extremists from the majority Hutus. Within 100 days, somewhere between

491,000 and 800,000 Rwandans were massacred.

Family and personal life

[

]

Habyarimana's house

Habyarimana's wife,

, 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

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, a French court denied Rwanda's request for extradition of Agathe

Habyarimana.

Habyarimana was a devout