Habyarimana, Juvenal (1937–1994)

Rwandan politician and soldier, president 1973–94. In 1973, as fighting between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes recommenced, he led a bloodless coup against the government of President Grégoire Kayibanda and established a military regime. He founded the National Revolutionary Development Movement (MRND) as the only legally permitted political organization and promised an eventual return to constitutional government; civilian rule was adopted in 1980. In April 1994 Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira were killed when their plane was shot down over Kigali, sparking an escalation in the civil war and a wave of atrocities against Tutsi civilians.

Habyarimana was born in Gasiza, in Gisenji prefecture in the north of Rwanda. He was educated at the College of St Paul in Bukavin, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), and at Lovanium University, Kinshasa. He began military training at the Officers' School, Kigali, (1960). He became a second-lieutenant (1961), major (1964), lieutenant-colonel (1967), colonel (1970), and major-general (1973). He was chief-of-staff 1963–65. At the beginning of 1965, he was appointed minister responsible for the national guard and the police chief-of-staff.