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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.
Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the 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.
The Rwandan Patriotic Front is the ruling political party in Rwanda.
The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were systematically killed by Hutu militias. While the Rwandan Constitution states that over 1 million people were killed, most scholarly estimates suggest between 500,000 and 662,000 Tutsi died. The genocide was marked by extreme violence, with victims often murdered by neighbors, and widespread sexual violence, with between 250,000 and 500,000 women raped.
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.
Association des Veuves du Genocide or the Association of Widows of Genocide is a Rwandan association formed to help widows, orphans and others who lost family members in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. AVEGA was founded in October 1995 by 50 women who had survived the killings but lost their husbands. One of the organization's founders has stated that she believes that "too much is expected of the victims" who, in her view, need first to be reconciled with themselves and their losses. Restitution and reparations are essential prerequisites before any consideration of reconciliation with the perpetrators.
Human rights in Rwanda have been violated on a grand scale. The greatest violation is the Rwandan genocide of Tutsi in 1994. The post-genocide government is also responsible for grave violations of human rights.
Presidential elections were held in Rwanda on 9 August 2010, the second since the Rwandan Civil War. Incumbent President Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was re-elected for a second seven-year term with 93% of the vote.
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is a Rwandan politician who served as chairwoman of the Unified Democratic Forces from 2006 to 2019. As an advocate for democracy and critic of President Paul Kagame, she was the UDF's candidate for the Rwandan 2010 presidential elections, but was ultimately arrested and sentenced to prison. A Sakharov Prize nominee, she served 8 years of a 15-year prison sentence in Kigali Central Prison on charges of terrorism and threatening national security. She currently leads the party Development And Liberty For All, with the focus to campaign for more political space and for development.
C. Peter Erlinder was an American lawyer, originally from Chicago, who lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was Lead Defense Counsel for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and represented several clients internationally, most notably several Rwandan opposition leaders, including Rwandan presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire.
The United Democratic Forces of Rwanda is a coalition of Rwandan opposition groups. Since its foundation in 2006, the UDF-Inkingi has profiled itself as an opposition party whose main objective is to change the regime of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which has been in power since the end of the genocide against the Tutsis in July 1994. To this day, despite multiple attempts to become officially registered in Rwanda, the UDF-Inkingi has not yet been authorised to operate in Rwanda as a party. According to international human rights bodies, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, UDF-Inkingi members inside Rwanda have been regularly subjected to persecution and even to murder, mostly non-elucidated.
Jean-Léonard Rugambage was a Rwandan journalist, acting editor of the newspaper Umuvugizi. He was murdered after an assailant shot him four times in front of his home in Kigali on 24 June 2010.
Jerry Robert Kajuga was national president of the Interahamwe, the group largely responsible for perpetrating the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi people in 1994. Born to a Tutsi father and a Hutu mother, Kajuga concealed his background and presented himself as being of pure Hutu descent
Antoine Kambanda is a Rwandan prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Archbishop of Kigali since 2019. He was Bishop of Kibungo from 2013 to 2018.
The following lists events that happened during 2010 in Rwanda.
Kizito Mihigo was a Rwandan gospel singer, songwriter, organist, composer of sacred music, television presenter, genocide survivor, peace maker and peace and reconciliation activist. Kizito was an iconic activist who dedicated his life to healing the souls of his fellow genocide survivors and rebuilding unity and reconciliation in Rwanda. According to Kisito's words, published on Kizitomihigo.com, he claimed, "The objective of my works is to console and strengthen the wounded hearts, singing peace and forgiveness." His ultimate performance in healing and Peacebuilding started in 2010 when he created the Kizito Mihigo Peace Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to his cause.
Diane Shima Rwigara is a Rwandan businesswoman and accountant who stood as an independent candidate in the 2017 Rwandan presidential election. Rwigara was charged on 23 September 2017, alongside her mother and four other defendants, with "inciting insurrection" among other counts, but was acquitted along with her mother on 6 December 2018.
Since the end of the Rwandan Civil War, many forms of censorship have been implemented in Rwanda.
General elections were held in Rwanda on 15 July 2024 to elect the president and members of the Chamber of Deputies.
Mageragere Prison, officially Nyarugenge Correctional Facility, is a correctional facility located in Nyarugenge District, Kigali, Rwanda. Established in September 2016, Mageragere is the largest prison in Rwanda. As of August 2023, Mageragere houses approximately 9,000 inmates.
References
- 1 2 3 "Kizito Mihigo uses music to promote peace and reconciliation". The New Times . 20 November 2012.
- 1 2 "Kizito Mihigo using music to spread peace in society". The Independent. 3 October 2012. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015.
- ↑ "Kizito Mihigo Peace foundation". Berkley Centre. 2015. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ↑ "L'association de Kizito Mihigo s'insurge contre la discrimination des albinos". Rwandaises.com (in French). 3 January 2012.
- ↑ "Kizito Mihigo urges artists to promote peace through music". AllAfrica.com . 11 April 2014.
- ↑ "Rwanda:Civil society organs win RGB grants". Great Lakes Voice. 21 April 2013. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ↑ "Kizito Mihigo, chanteur vedette et accusé en aveux". Le Soir (in French). 25 April 2014.
- ↑ "Rwanda 20 ans, un pouvoir autoritaire? Et alors?..." France Inter (in French). 7 May 2014.
- ↑ "Rwanda-complot: Arrestation d'un célèbre chanteur". Arrêt sur Images (in French). 18 April 2014.
- ↑ "10 ans de prison pour le chanteur populaire Kizito Mihigo". Le Nouvel Observateur (in French). 27 February 2015.
- ↑ "Rwanda – Kizito Mihigo : que devient le chanteur chrétien muselé ?". Jambo News (in French). 10 November 2017.
- ↑ "Kizito Mihigo, Victoire Ingabire get presidential pardon". The New Times . 15 May 2018.