Rwanda is a de facto one-party state ruled by the Rwandan Patriotic Front and its leader Paul Kagame since the end of the 1994 genocide against members of the Tutsi ethnic group. Although Rwanda is nominally democratic, elections are manipulated in various ways, which include banning opposition parties, arresting or assassinating critics, and electoral fraud.
Juvénal Habyarimana 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".
Cyprien Ntaryamira was a Burundian politician who served as President of Burundi from 5 February 1994 until his death two months later. A Hutu born in Burundi, Ntaryamira studied there before fleeing to Rwanda to avoid ethnic violence and complete his education. Active in a Burundian student movement, he cofounded the socialist Burundi Workers' Party and earned an agricultural degree. In 1983, he returned to Burundi and worked agricultural jobs, though he was briefly detained as a political prisoner. In 1986 he cofounded the Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU), and in 1993 FRODEBU won Burundi's general elections. He subsequently became the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry on 10 July, but in October Tutsi soldiers killed the president and other top officials in an attempted coup.
Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the fourth President of Rwanda since 2000. He was previously a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel armed force which invaded Rwanda in 1990. The RPF was one of the parties of the conflict during the Rwandan Civil War and the armed force which ended the Rwandan genocide. He was considered Rwanda's de facto leader when he was Vice President and Minister of Defence under President Pasteur Bizimungu from 1994 to 2000 after which the vice-presidential post was abolished.
Bernard Makuza is a Rwandan politician who was Prime Minister of Rwanda from 8 March 2000 to 6 October 2011. He also served as President of the Senate of Rwanda from 14 October 2014 to 17 October 2019.
Alain Marie Juppé is a French politician. A member of The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced major strikes that paralysed the country and became very unpopular. He left office after the victory of the left in the snap 1997 legislative elections. He had previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1995, and as Minister of the Budget and Spokesman for the Government from 1986 to 1988. He was president of the political party Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) from 2002 to 2004 and mayor of Bordeaux from 1995 to 2004.
The Republican Democratic Movement was a political party in Rwanda.
Philippe Douste-Blazy is a French United Nations official and former centre-right politician. Over the course of his career, he served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development in the UN and chairman of UNITAID.
The Arusha Accords, officially the Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Rwandaand the Rwandan Patriotic Front, also known as the Arusha Peace Agreement or Arusha negotiations, were a set of five accords signed in Arusha, Tanzania on 4 August 1993, by the government of Rwanda and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), under mediation, to end a three-year Rwandan Civil War. Primarily organized by the Organisation of African Unity and the heads of state in the African Great Lakes region, the talks began on 12 July 1992, and ended on 4 August 1993, when the accords were finally signed.
Pasteur Bizimungu is a Rwandan politician who served as the third President of Rwanda, holding office from 19 July 1994 until 23 March 2000.
The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1 October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose from the long-running dispute between the Hutu and Tutsi groups within the Rwandan population. A 1959–1962 revolution had replaced the Tutsi monarchy with a Hutu-led republic, forcing more than 336,000 Tutsi to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. A group of these refugees in Uganda founded the RPF which, under the leadership of Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, became a battle-ready army by the late 1980s.
The Prime Minister of Rwanda is the head of government of the Republic of Rwanda. The prime minister is appointed by the president, along with other ministers in the Cabinet. A total of 11 people have served in the office. The incumbent prime minister is Édouard Ngirente, who took office on 30 August 2017.
Jean-Louis Marie Borloo is a French politician who served as president of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) from 2012 to 2014. He also was Minister of the Economy, Finance and Employment in 2007 and Minister of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea from 2007 until 2010 under President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Patrick Devedjian was a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party. A close adviser of Nicolas Sarkozy since the 1990s, he was Minister under the Prime Minister in charge of the Implementation of the Recovery Plan, a special ministerial post created for two years following the global financial crisis of 2008, a tenure which commenced in December 2008. He was of Armenian descent. In the night of 28 to 29 March 2020, he died of COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic.
Jean-Jack Queyranne is a French politician. He was the Regional President of the Rhône-Alpes from June 2002 until January 2016. He was a deputy in the National Assembly from the seventh district of Rhône. He is a member of the Socialist Party.
Javier Arenas Bocanegra is a Spanish politician. Although born in Seville, he was raised in Olvera, hometown of his parents. He is married with two children, graduated in law and has an MA in Business Management.
Guy Vanhengel is a Flemish politician for the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD).
Richard Sezibera is a Rwandan medical doctor, diplomat and politician, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 18 October 2018 until November 4, 2019. He replaced Louise Mushikiwabo. He was replaced by Vincent Biruta on November 4, 2019.
The Congolese Rally for Democracy–Goma was a faction of the Congolese Rally for Democracy, a rebel movement based in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the Second Congo War (1998–2003). After the war, some members of the group continued sporadic fighting in North Kivu. The movement also entered mainstream politics, participating in democratic elections with little success.
Vincent Emmanuel Angelin Meriton is a Seychellois politician who served as the Vice President of Seychelles from 2016 until 2020. He succeeded Danny Faure, and Party president of the People's Party. He once served as Seychelles' Minister for Community Development, Social Affairs and Sports.
