Liberation Day (Rwanda)

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The military parade of the RDF during the Liberation Day celebrations in 2014. Amahoro Stadium Kigali.jpg
The military parade of the RDF during the Liberation Day celebrations in 2014.

Liberation Day (known locally as Kwibohora) is a public holiday in Rwanda which is celebrated on 4 July. [1] It commemorates the defeat of the previous Habyarimana regime and the Rwandan Armed Forces by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in the Rwandan Civil War, thus ending the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda. [2] On 4 July 1994, the RPF secured the capital of Kigali while the end of the war only became official on 18 July with the liberation of the north-west territories. Liberation Day takes place a week after Independence Day, although it is more of a celebration rather than the national mourning period for the Rwandan Revolution on Independence Day. [3]

Contents

Background history

The Rwandan Civil War was a conflict between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the government of Rwanda, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The war, which lasted from 1990 to 1994, arose from the long-running dispute between the Hutu and Tutsi groups within the Rwandan population. The war began on 1 October 1990 when the RPF invaded north-eastern Rwanda, advancing 60 km (37 mi) into the country. [4] After the signing of the Arusha Accords in August 1993, [5] an uneasy peace followed, during which its terms were implemented gradually, with peace-keeping United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda being sent to the country to implement it. [6] This was sidetracked following the assassination of President Habyarimana on 6 April 1994, after which between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in the Rwandan genocide, escalating the war. [7] [8] After months of war, the RPF, under Paul Kagame at this time, spent the latter half of June fighting to liberate the capital. [9] The RPF finally defeated the Rwandan Army and liberated Kigali on 4 July. [10] The RPF declared victory, with Paul Kagame being named as the new leader. 4 July was immediately designated by the new government as Liberation Day. [11]

Commemorations

On Liberation Day, many government sponsored patriotic and cultural events, including special ceremonies, and concerts are organized. Across the country, there are celebrations of the liberation anniversary, with the main celebrations taking place in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. [12] Delegations from all over the continent visit the capital to attend the celebrations. [13] The annual military parade of the Rwanda Defence Force is held at Amahoro Stadium. During this event, the President of Rwanda receives the general salute ( Rwanda Nziza ) and addresses the nation. [14] Following the address, the RDF Army Band performs an exhibition drill routine before the audience. The parade is led by the RDF color guard and a massed colors contingent. In recent years, the normal horizontal goose step performed at parades was replaced with a more Chinese style goose step as the troops participating were trained by the Chinese People's Liberation Army. [15] There is also an official state reception and a holiday football game between Rwanda and neighboring Uganda.

Major Liberation Day anniversaries:

In 2019, official celebrations of the holiday took place in Zimbabwe for the first time. [17] In 2020, Rwanda celebrated the 26th anniversary of liberation amid the COVID-19 pandemic by inaugurating several development projects on the border with Uganda. [18]

Related Research Articles

Human occupation of Rwanda is thought to have begun shortly after the last ice age. By the 11th century, the inhabitants had organized into a number of kingdoms. In the 19th century, Mwami (king) Rwabugiri of the Kingdom of Rwanda conducted a decades-long process of military conquest and administrative consolidation that resulted in the kingdom coming to control most of what is now Rwanda. The colonial powers, Germany and Belgium, allied with the Rwandan court.

Juvénal Habyarimana 2nd President of Rwanda from 1973 until assassinated in 1994

Juvénal Habyarimana was a Rwandan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until 1994. He was nicknamed Kinani, a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible".

Paul Kagame President of Rwanda since 2000

Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician and former military leader. He is the fourth and current president of Rwanda, having taken office in 2000. Kagame previously commanded the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Uganda-based rebel force which invaded Rwanda in 1990 and 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 served as Vice President and Minister of Defence under President Pasteur Bizimungu from 1994 to 2000.

United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda 1993 UN attempt to mediate peace in Rwanda prior to the Rwandan genocide

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 872 on 5 October 1993. It was intended to assist in the implementation of the Arusha Accords, signed on 4 August 1993, which was meant to end the Rwandan Civil War. The mission lasted from October 1993 to March 1996. Its activities were meant to aid the peace process between the Hutu-dominated Rwandese government and the Tutsi-dominated rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The UNAMIR has received much attention for its role in failing, due to the limitations of its rules of engagement, to prevent the Rwandan genocide and outbreak of fighting. Its mandate extended past the RPF overthrow of the government and into the Great Lakes refugee crisis. The mission is thus regarded as a major failure.

Rwandan Patriotic Front Political party in Rwanda

The Rwandan Patriotic Front is the ruling political party in Rwanda. Led by President Paul Kagame, the party has governed the country since its armed wing defeated government forces, winning the Rwandan Civil War in 1994.

Interahamwe Paramilitary group involved in 1994 Rwandan Genocide

The Interahamwe is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development, the then-ruling party of Rwanda, and enjoyed the backing of the Hutu Power government. The Interahamwe, led by Robert Kajuga, were the main perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, during which an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi, Twa, and moderate Hutus were killed from April to July 1994, and the term "Interahamwe" was widened to mean any civilian bands killing Tutsi.

Rwandan genocide 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed militias. The most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000 to 662,000 Tutsi deaths.

Rwanda Nziza National anthem of Rwanda

"Rwanda Nziza" has been the national anthem of Rwanda since January 1, 2002. It replaced "Rwanda Rwacu", which had been the national anthem since 1962.

Initial events of the Rwandan genocide

The assassination of presidents Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira in the evening of April 6, 1994 was the proximate trigger for the Rwandan genocide, which resulted in the murder of approximately 800,000 Tutsi and a smaller number of moderate Hutu. The first few days following the assassinations included a number of key events that shaped the subsequent course of the genocide. These included: the seizing of power by an interim government directed by the hard-line Akazu clique; the liquidation of opposition Hutu politicians; the implementation of plans to carry out a genocide throughout the country; and the murder of United Nations peacekeepers, contributing to the impulse of the international community to refrain from intervention.

International response to the Rwandan genocide

The failure of the international community to effectively respond to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has been the subject of significant criticism. During a period of around 100 days, between 7 April and 15 July, an estimated 500,000-1,100,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsi and moderate Hutu, were murdered by Interahamwe militias.

Rwanda Defence Force Combined military forces of Rwanda

The Rwanda Defence Force is the national army of Rwanda. The country's armed forces were originally known as the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), but following the Rwandan Civil War of 1990–1994 and the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, the victorious Rwandan Patriotic Front (Inkotanyi) created a new organization and named it Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA). Later, it was renamed to its current name.

Rwandan Civil War 1990–1994 conflict in Rwanda

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.

Mbaye Diagne Senegalese Army officer

Mbaye Diagne was a Senegalese military officer who served in Rwanda as a United Nations military observer from 1993 to 1994. During the Rwandan genocide he undertook many missions on his own initiative to save the lives of civilians.

Fred Rwigyema

Fred Gisa Rwigyema was a Rwandan politician and military officer. He was the founder of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a political and military force formed by Rwandan Tutsi exile descendants of those forced to leave the country after the 1959 Hutu Revolution.

Amahoro Stadium

The Amahoro Stadium, officially known as Amahoro National Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in the Gasabo district of Kigali, Rwanda. With a capacity of 25,000, it is the largest stadium in Rwanda and hosts football matches, concerts, and public events. The football clubs Armée Patriotique Rwandaise F.C. and Rayon Sports F.C. are the tenants. The venue is also sometimes used for rugby union.

The Banyarwanda are the cultural and linguistic group of people who inhabit mainly Rwanda. Some Banyarwanda live in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, having migrated there from neighbouring Rwanda in waves. In the Congo, they live in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. There are also 1 million Banyarwanda in Uganda, where they live in the west of the country; Umutara and Kitara are the centres of their pastoral and agricultural areas.

Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira 1994 shooting down of a plane carrying the Rwandan and Burundian presidents

On the evening of 6 April 1994, the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutu, was shot down with surface-to-air missiles as their jet prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda. The assassination set the Rwandan genocide in motion, one of the bloodiest events of the late 20th century.

Seth Sendashonga was the Minister of the Interior in the government of national unity in Rwanda, following the military victory of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) after the 1994 genocide. One of the politically moderate Hutus in the National Unity Cabinet, he became increasingly disenchanted with the RPF and was eventually forced from office in 1995 after criticizing government policies. After surviving a 1996 assassination attempt while in exile in Kenya, he launched a new opposition movement, the Forces de Résistance pour la Démocratie (FRD). Sendashonga was killed by unidentified gunmen in May 1998. The Rwandan government is widely believed to be responsible for the assassination.

The Rwandan Revolution, also known as the Hutu Revolution, Social Revolution, or Wind of Destruction, was a period of ethnic violence in Rwanda from 1959 to 1961 between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two of the three ethnic groups in Rwanda. The revolution saw the country transition from a Belgian colony with a Tutsi monarchy to an independent Hutu-dominated republic.

France and the Rwandan genocide Frances role in assisting the 1994 Rwandan genocide

The role of France in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has been a source of controversy and debate both within and beyond France and Rwanda. France actively supported the Hutu-led government of Juvénal Habyarimana against the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front, which since 1990 had been engaged in a conflict intended to restore the rights of Rwandan Tutsis both within Rwanda and exiled in neighboring countries following over four decades of anti-Tutsi violence. France provided arms and military training to Habyarimana's militias, the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi, which were among the government's primary means of operationalizing the genocide following the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on April 6, 1994.

References

  1. ↑ "In Rwanda, July 4 Isn't Independence Day — It's Liberation Day". NPR.org.
  2. ↑ "Liberation Day 2022, 2023 and 2024 in Rwanda".
  3. ↑ "Liberation Day in Rwanda in 2022 | by Office Holidays".
  4. ↑ Prunier 1999, p. 94.
  5. ↑ Prunier 1999, p. 191.
  6. ↑ Dallaire 2003, p. 98.
  7. ↑ Henley, Jon (31 October 2007). "Scar tissue". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  8. ↑ Dallaire 2003, p. 386.
  9. ↑ Dallaire 2003, p. 421.
  10. ↑ Dallaire 2003, p. 459.
  11. ↑ Ministry of Public Service and Labour, Republic of Rwanda (MINFOTRA) (30 June 2015). "Official Gazette no Special bis of 30/06/2015" (PDF). Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  12. ↑ "Rwanda Liberation Day".
  13. ↑ "Rwanda marks 25th anniversary of liberation".
  14. ↑ "Kagame praises army as Rwanda marks Liberation Day - The East African". 6 July 2020.
  15. ↑ "Rwandan troops trained by Chinese mark 25th anniversary of liberation". 7 July 2019.
  16. ↑ "Rwanda's silver jubilee – celebrating the 25th Liberation Day – Zambia Daily Mail".
  17. ↑ "Kwibohora celebrations to be held in Zimbabwe". 5 July 2019.
  18. ↑ "Rwanda marks Liberation Day with inauguration of development projects - Xinhua | English.news.cn".

Bibliography:

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