Pasteur Bizimungu
| Pasteur Bizimungu | |
|---|---|
| President of Rwanda | |
|
In office 19 July 1994 – 23 March 2000 |
|
| Preceded by | Théodore Sindikubwabo |
| Succeeded by | Paul Kagame |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1950 Gisenyi, Rwanda |
| Political party |
Rwandan Patriotic Front (1990-2000) Party for Democratic Renewal (2001- ) |
| Spouse(s) | Serafina Bizimungu |
Pasteur Bizimungu (born 1950) was the fifth President of Rwanda, holding office from 19 July 1994 until 23 March 2000.
A Rwandan, Bizimingu was born in the Gisenyi prefecture of Rwanda. According to the academic Filip Reyntjens, Bizimungu had ties to radical anti-Tutsi groups as a student in the 1970s, but later joined the RPF. He served as President of Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide.
In the 1980s and '90s, Bizimungu worked within the Hutu MRND government which ruled Rwanda until 1994. Prior to 1990, Bizimungu had close ties to Hutu president Juvénal Habyarimana. During this period, he held several positions, including director-general of Electrogaz, the national electricity company.
In 1990 he joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) after his brother, a colonel in the Rwandan Armed Forces, was murdered. At the time, the RPF was just beginning its invasion of Rwanda from Uganda. Bizimungu lived in exile in Belgium, serving as the party's information officer. In 1993, he helped negotiate the 1993 Arusha Accords, ending the three-year Rwandan Civil War.
After Habyarimana's death in a plane crash on 6 April 1994, ethnic extremists unleashed the Rwandan Genocide.
In July 1994 the RPF gained control of the country and established a national unity government. The RPF leader, Paul Kagame, was chosen as vice president, and Bizimungu became president.
During Bizimungu's administration, many believed that he was merely a figurehead, and Kagame held the real power. Bizimungu soon found himself in conflict with Kagame over what Bizimungu argued was unjustified repression of dissent. Critics accused Bizimungu of corruption, alleging that he had blocked Parliament's attempts to censure corrupt ministers, refused to pay compensation to evicted residents on one of his building sites, and dodged Rwandan taxes by registering two of his trucks in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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