{"id":"juvenal-habyarimana","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/juvenal-habyarimana","language":"en","name":"Juvénal Habyarimana","name_en":"Juvénal Habyarimana","name_ne":null,"description":"2nd President of Rwanda (1937–1994)","headline":"2nd President of Rwanda (1937–1994)","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Juvénal Habyarimana (Kinyarwanda: [hɑβɟɑːɾímɑ̂ːnɑ]; French: [ʒyvenal abjaʁimana]; 8 March 1937 – 6 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military dictator who was the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until his assassination in 1994.","summary_more":["An ethnic Hutu, Habyarimana served in several security positions in the First Rwandese republic including minister of defense under Rwanda's second president, Grégoire Kayibanda. After overthrowing Kayibanda in a coup in 1973, he became the country's new president of the Second Rwandese Republic. Habyarimana later continued his predecessor's pro-Hutu policies. He was nicknamed Kinani, a Kinyarwanda word meaning \"invincible\".","Habyarimana led an authoritarian government, and electoral fraud was suspected for his unopposed re-elections:  98.99% of the vote on 24 December 1978, 99.97% of the vote on 19 December 1983, and 99.98% of the vote on 19 December 1988. During his rule, Rwanda became a totalitarian, one-party state in which his MRND-party enforcers required people to chant and dance in adulation of the president at mass pageants of political \"animation\". While the country as a whole had become slightly less impoverished during Habyarimana's tenure, the great majority of Rwandans remained in circumstances of extreme poverty.","In 1990, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched the Rwandan Civil War against his government. After three years of war, Habyarimana signed the Arusha Accords in 1993 with the RPF as a peace agreement. The following year, he died under mysterious circumstances when his plane, also carrying the President of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was shot down by a missile near Kigali. His assassination ignited ethnic tensions in the region and helped spark the Rwandan genocide."],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"8 March 1937","date":"1937-03-08"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Gisenyi Province","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3408362"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P19"}},{"key":"died","label":"Died","values":[{"text":"6 April 1994","date":"1994-04-06"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P570"}},{"key":"deathplace","label":"Place of death","values":[{"text":"Kigali","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3859"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P20"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"Rwanda","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1037"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"politician","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q82955"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P106"}},{"key":"party","label":"Political party","values":[{"text":"National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q957943"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P102"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"Lovanium University","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q686833"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P69"}},{"key":"spouse","label":"Spouse","values":[{"text":"Agathe Habyarimana","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q391281","start":"1962"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P26"}},{"key":"positions","label":"Positions held","values":[{"text":"President of Rwanda (5 July 1973 – 6 April 1994)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12374379","start":"1973-07-05","end":"1994-04-06"},{"text":"Minister of Defence (1965–1991)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q98208489","start":"1965","end":"1991"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P39"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"Order of the National Flag","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q742789"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juv%C3%A9nal_Habyarimana","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Juvénal Habyarimana born?","a":"Juvénal Habyarimana was born on 8 March 1937 in Gisenyi Province."},{"q":"What positions has Juvénal Habyarimana held?","a":"Positions held by Juvénal Habyarimana include: President of Rwanda (1973–1994); Minister of Defence (1965–1991)."},{"q":"Where did Juvénal Habyarimana study?","a":"Juvénal Habyarimana was educated at Lovanium University."}],"related":[{"name":"Pasteur Bizimungu","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/pasteur-bizimungu"},{"name":"Grégoire Kayibanda","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gregoire-kayibanda"},{"name":"Paul Kagame","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/paul-kagame"},{"name":"Théodore Sindikubwabo","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/theodore-sindikubwabo"},{"name":"Dominique Mbonyumutwa","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/dominique-mbonyumutwa"},{"name":"Jean-Paul Akayesu","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/jean-paul-akayesu"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/juvenal-habyarimana-f86df8661f.jpg","width":500,"height":704,"license":"Public domain","credit":"DF-SC-83-02204.jpg : Templeton derivative work: César ( talk )","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Juv%C3%A9nal_Habyarimana_(1980).jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Juvénal Habyarimana","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juv%C3%A9nal_Habyarimana","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q272580","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272580","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Juvénal Habyarimana (1980).jpg by DF-SC-83-02204.jpg : Templeton derivative work: César ( talk ) (Public domain)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Juv%C3%A9nal_Habyarimana_(1980).jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Juvénal Habyarimana, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Juvénal Habyarimana (1980).jpg — DF-SC-83-02204.jpg : Templeton derivative work: César ( talk ), Public domain.","cite":"\"Juvénal Habyarimana\". DigiNepal. Last updated 1 November 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/juvenal-habyarimana. Retrieved 7 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-11-01T06:59:19Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-06","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/juvenal-habyarimana","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/juvenal-habyarimana","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/juvenal-habyarimana?lang=ne"}}