Juvénal Habyarimana

He was married to Agathe Habyarimana whose family was well-connected to powerful Hutu politicians. His wife was believed to have played a very significant role in his political career. The couple had eight children.

On 6 April 1994 he was flying on an airplane with Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira from Dar es Salaam International Airport, Tanzania, to Bujumbura International Airport, Burundi. A surface-to-air missile struck one of the wings of the plane and a second missile hit its tail, causing the plane to erupt into flames mid-air before crashing into the garden of the presidential palace. All the 12 occupants of the plane were killed in the crash.

The assassination of the two African presidents triggered the Rwandan Genocide and the First Congo War, in which an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 Rwandans were killed in what was to become the bloodiest massacre in late 20th century.

He was born on 8 March 1937 in Ruanda-Urundi (now in Rwanda) to an aristocratic Hutu family.

He studied humanities and mathematics at St. Paul’s College before deciding to study medicine at Lovanium University, in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

He returned home from Congo to begin training for the National Guard in Kigali and entered military school in 1960. During his military training he proved himself to be an outstanding cadet and was also trained as a parachutist. He passed out with distinction and became one of the first officers in the National Guard as a second lieutenant in December 1961.

He became Chief of Staff in the National Guard in 1963, a position he served in for the next two years. He entered government service in 1965 as minister of defense and police chief of staff.

He developed close relations with the President Gregoire Kayibanda who considered him to be a close confidant. Impressed with Habyarimana’s work in the army, the president appointed him as a major general in January 1973.

By now Habyarimana had become very ambitious and had set his eyes on the president’s seat. He led a coup in July 1973 and overthrew President Gregoire Kayibanda, accusing him of failing to take adequate steps to end tribal and regional conflicts, thus ousting the ruling party, Parmehutu. Then he assumed office as the President of Rwanda on 5 July 1973.

In 1975, he created the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development and declared it as the country's only legal party. Until 1978 the Rwandan administration stayed under military rule.

In 1978, he was elected to a five-year term as president; he was the only presidential candidate. The initial years of his presidency were marked by considerable development and economic progress. He was also able to win the favor of both the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups because of his seemingly unbiased policies. But with time the citizens became dissatisfied with his administration.