Resource 1: Some important historical events since independence
Background information / subject knowledge for teacher
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 July 1962 | Independence Day. |
| 1963–1968 | Crystallisation of social conflicts due to Tutsi attacks from their exile mainly in Burundi, followed by persecution and killings of Tutsi in Rwanda. |
| 1965 | Since this date, Parti du movement de l’émancipation hutu (PARMEHUTU), one of the four main political parties since the late 1950s, monopolise the power and evict other parties from the political arena. |
| February–March 1973 | Social crisis in Rwanda. Tutsi excluded from schools and civil service. Some killed and others flee the country. |
| 5 July 1973 | Military coup in Rwanda. Major General Juvenal Habyarimana becomes head of state. Some politicians, including the former president, jailed and some later die in prison. |
| 5 July 1975 | The Mouvement Révolutionnaire National pour le Développement (MRND) created and is the only political party to exercise power in Rwanda till the 1990s. |
| 1975–1985 | Economic development is realised and some infrastructure scattered in the country. Increasing corruption in president’s circle. Tutsi continued to be excluded from political life and some people from the north are favoured by the regime. |
| Date | Event |
| 1978 | Reform of the education system. Primary education becomes eight years instead of six, with the last two years focusing on vocational skills. |
| 17 November and 24 December 1978 | Referendum on a new constitution and the election of the president of the republic, Juvenal Habyarimana, who stood as the only candidate. |
| 1986–1990 | Economic crisis due to the fall of coffee prices on the international market. Famines in the southern and western regions of Rwanda. Many financial and political scandals (killing of political opponents, illegal trafficking of gorillas, drugs, etc.) The refugee problem is strongly presented to the regime in as much as economic conditions were deteriorating in neighbouring countries and Rwandese in exile were considered as scapegoats. Refugees insisted upon coming back and Habyarimana’s regime refused. |
| 1990–1994 | Attack of Rwanda by Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) from Uganda (1 October 1994). Internal opponents also insisting upon democratisation of the regime. Revenge killings on Hutu and Tutsi accused to be accomplices of RPF-Inkotanyi. Restoration of multipartism. |
| 4 August 1993 | Peace agreement of Arusha (Tanzania) between RPF-Inkotanyi and Rwandan government. This agreement defined the sharing of power between different political actors. |
| 6 April 1994 | Crash of President Habyarimana’s plane on his trip from Dar-es-Salaam. He was with President Cyprian Ntaryamira of Burundi. |
| 7 April 1994 | Beginning of the Tutsi genocide. Some Hutu opponents are also killed. |
| Date | Event |
| 9 April 1994 | Dr Theodore Sindikubwabo becomes president of the republic and Jean Kambanda, prime minister of the government, auto-proclaimed as abatabazi (liberators). |
| 4 July 1994 | Capture of Kigali by RPF-Inkotanyi and the dispersion of the Rwandese army forces. |
| 19 July 1994 | Swearing-in of a new government in Kigali. Pasteur Bizimungu becomes president, Paul Kagame appointed vice-president and minister of defence and Faustin Twagiramungu prime minister. Many Rwandans flee the country to neighbouring countries. They become a source of insecurity and diplomatic tensions in the region. |
| 8 November 1994 | The Security Council of the United Nations puts into place the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to judge people who committed the 1994 genocide and other crimes against humanity. |
| 1995 - 1996 | Ex-Rwandese army forces continue making incursions into Rwanda and information circulates that preparations are taking place for an attack on refugees in Zaire (currently Democratic Republic of Congo) to Rwanda. |
| 18 October – 17 May 1997 | First Rwanda military campaign to Zaire in support of the AFDL (Alliance des Forces Démocratique pour la Libération du Congo) led by Laurent Désiré Kabila in order to put an end to the refugee camps in Zaire. |
| 2 August 1998–October 2002 | Second Rwandan intervention in Democratic Republic of Congo as Kabila distances himself from Rwandans and approaches ex-Rwandese army forces and Interahamwe. There are many anti-Tutsi and anti-Rwandan declarations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and some Rwandans who have acquired Congolese nationality start fleeing the country. Rwanda withdraws its troops after South African mediation. |
Date | Event |
| 17 April 2000 | Paul Kagame elected president by parliament to replace Pasteur Bizimungu who has resigned. |
| 12 October 2000 | The Transitional National Assembly votes a law establishing gacaca jurisdictions. This modernised traditional justice was to reveal the truth about the Tutsi genocide and to help in releasing innocent prisoners. This is to facilitate the reconciliation process. |
| 2001 | Beginning of decentralisation policy to give good services to the population and to improve the well-being of Rwandese. |
| 31 December 2001 | A new anthem is composed and a new flag raised at Amahoro Stadium and in all districts as well. A new emblem and a new motto of the Republic of Rwanda are inaugurated in replacement of those proclaimed in 1962 on Independence Day. |
| 25 August 2003 | A new constitution is voted by referendum on 26 May 2003. President Kagame elected by universal suffrage as president of republic with more than 95% of the votes. |
| 2 October 2003 | Elections of members of parliament by universal suffrage. Those in favour of the FPR get the majority and 49% of members of parliament are female. |
| 6 April 2007 | Release of Pasteur Bizimungu who had been jailed since April 2002 due to President Kagame’s pardon. |
| 25 July 2007 | Abolition of the death penalty. |
3. Comparing African histories
