Jean Kambanda
| Jean Kambanda | |
|---|---|
| 5th Prime Minister of Rwanda | |
|
In office April 9, 1994 – July 19, 1994 |
|
| President | Théodore Sindikubwabo |
| Preceded by | Agathe Uwilingiyimana |
| Succeeded by | Faustin Twagiramungu |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 19, 1955 |
| Political party | Republican Democratic Movement |
| Profession | Banker |
| Jean Kambanda | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 19, 1955 |
| Occupation | politician, former Prime Minister |
| Criminal charge | genocide and crimes against humanity |
| Criminal penalty | life imprisonment |
| Criminal status | Imprisoned in Mali |
Jean Kambanda (born October 19, 1955) was the Prime Minister in the caretaker government of Rwanda from the start of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. He is the only head of government to plead guilty to genocide, in the first group of such convictions since the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide came into effect in 1951.
Kambanda holds a degree in commercial engineering and began his career as a low-level United Popular BPR banker, rising as a technocrat to become the chair of the bank. At the time of the April 1994 crisis he was vice president of the Butare section of the opposition Republican Democratic Movement (MDR).
He was sworn in as prime minister on April 9, 1994 after the President, Juvénal Habyarimana, and former Prime Minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, were assassinated. The opposition MDR had been promised the prime ministerial post in the transitional government established by the Arusha accords, but Kambanda leapfrogged several levels in the party's hierarchy to take the job from the initial choice, Faustin Twagiramungu. He remained in the post for the hundred days of the genocide until July 19, 1994. After leaving office he fled the country.
Kambanda was arrested in Nairobi on July 18, 1997, after a seven-week multinational stakeout and transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The court accused him of distributing small arms and ammunition in Butare and Gitarama with the knowledge that they would be used to massacre civilians. He was found guilty after pleading guilty, a plea he later rescinded, but which rescission the Court did not accept.
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