A NEW LEADER
Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana
In 1973, Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu from Norther Rwanda, overthrew the sitting Hutu president and set up a Military Regime in Rwanda. Due to mounting public pressure, Habyarimana continued the Hutu assault on the Tutsi population. In 1974, a public outcry developed over Tutsi over-representation in professional fields such as medicine and education. Thousands of Tutsi were forced to resign from such positions, and many were forced into exile.
In 1975, President Habyarimana formed the National Revolutionary Movement for Development, and a new constitution making Rwanda a one-party state under the MRND was approved in December 1978. Throughout the 1980's Habyarimana was continually elected President (often garnering 99% of the vote, or running uncontested). In 1990, a call for political reform went out across Rwanda and Habyarimana agreed to change Rwanda from a one party state into a multi party democracy.
In 1975, President Habyarimana formed the National Revolutionary Movement for Development, and a new constitution making Rwanda a one-party state under the MRND was approved in December 1978. Throughout the 1980's Habyarimana was continually elected President (often garnering 99% of the vote, or running uncontested). In 1990, a call for political reform went out across Rwanda and Habyarimana agreed to change Rwanda from a one party state into a multi party democracy.
Leader of the RPF, Paul Kagame
1990 also marked the beginning of the Rwandan Civil war. Since the initial exile of Tutsis in the early 1960's a strong rebel group had been forming in the border areas north of Rwanda. On one side of the conflict was the Rwandan Armed Forces under the leadership of Juvenal Habyarimana and the Rwandan Patriotic Front led by Paul Kagame. The situation in Rwnada was coming to a boiling point in early 1990. Economic issues had been plaguing the country and political tensions were on the rise with a nationwide call for a more democratic system. Add to that the ethnic tensions that had been simmering between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority since colonial times, and Rwanda was just waiting to explode. In October of 1990, RPF forces came across the norther Rwandan border and ignited a civil war that would last for two and a half years. After two and a half years of fighting and almost a year of peace talks in Arusha, an uneasy peace was finally reached in early 1993. However, tensions between ethnic groups still remained high as peace talks progressed.