Prince Louis Rwagasore

Prince Louis Rwagasore
Crown Prince Louis Rwagasore
Born (1932-01-10)10 January 1932
Ibwami, Gitega
Died 13 October 1961(1961-10-13) (aged 29)
Bujumbura, Ruanda-Urundi
Burial Gitega
Spouse Marie-Rose Ntamikevyo
Issue Princess Marie-Thérèse Rwagasore
Princess Pia Rwagasore
House Ntwero
Father Mwambutsa IV
Mother Thérèse Kayonga

Crown Prince Louis Rwagasore (10 January 1932 – 13 October 1961) is Burundi's national and independence hero. He was a Burundi nationalist and prime minister.

Biography

Prince Louis was the son of Mwami (King) Mwambutsa IV and his first wife, Thérèse Kayonga.[1] He attended Groupe Scolaire d'Astrida (now Groupe Scolaire Officiel de Butare) in Rwanda.[2] He briefly attended university in Belgium, but left to spearhead his country's anti-colonial movement. He founded a series of African cooperatives to encourage economic independence, but these were quickly banned by Belgium in 1958.

That same year, the prince established a nationalist political movement, Union for National Progress (UPRONA). Believing that the role of the royal family should transcend partisan politics, his father promoted him to Chief of Butanyerera, but Rwagasore turned down the appointment so that he could devote himself fully to the nationalist cause. Rwagasore, a Ganwa,[3] married a woman who most people thought was a Hutu. It is believed that Rwagasore did so in a bid to play down the ethnic divisions between ethnic groups, especially between Tutsi and Hutu, which he believed the Belgian colonial rule had pitched against one another following the divide et impera (divide and conquer) practice. At the first UPRONA Congress in March 1960, Rwagasore demanded complete independence for Burundi and called on the local population to boycott Belgian stores and refuse to pay taxes. Because of his calls for civil disobedience, he was placed under house arrest.

Despite the setbacks, Rwagasore and UPRONA won a clear victory in elections for the colony's Legislative Assembly on 8 September 1961, winning 80 percent of the vote. The next day, he was declared Prime Minister, with a mandate to prepare the country for independence.[4]

Assassination in 1961

Prince Rwagasore's Tomb

Just two weeks later, on 13 October 1961, Rwagasore was assassinated while taking his dinner at the Hotel club du lac Tanganyika in Bujumbura, Burundi by a Greek national named Jean (Ioannis) Kageorgis, allegedly in the pay of the pro-Belgian Christian Democratic Party (PDC). The assassination was planned by members of the pro-Belgian Christian Democratic Party (PDC) whose European secretary, Ms. Belva was allegedly were told by the Belgian Resident Régnier that "Rwagasore must be killed" (although Harroy never mentioned this in his account of events).[5] In addition, several days before his assassination Prince Rwagasore filled a complaint against Harroy and Régnier.[6]

Prior to his execution for murdering Prince Rwagasore, Jean Kageorgis explicitly accused the Belgian Governor-General, Jean-Paul Harroy and the Belgian Regent Régnier of responsibility in the murder stating, “Ce crime fut perpétré par la tutelle, M. Harroy et M. Regnier.”[7]

Following the assassination inter-ethnic rivalries between the Hutu and Tutsi within UPRONA flared.

Prince Louis Rwagasore Stadium was named in his honour and the football club Prince Louis FC. His tomb was constructed on the hills overlooking Bujumbura and consists of a memorial with three arches. The original inscription above the arches read "Dieu, Roi, Patrie" (God, King, Country). Oct 13 is a public holiday in Burundi, in his memory.

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ Royal Ark
  2. ↑ Bucyensenge, Jean Pierre (JP). "GSO-Butare marks 83rd anniversary." New Times. (Archive) 25 September 2012. Retrieved on 6 March 2013.
  3. ↑ A political and economic dictionary of Africa, p. 92, at Google Books
  4. ↑ "Tribute to the Hero of Burundi independence (Blog Entry by Desire-Joseph Katihabwa (Bujumbura, Burundi))". African Path: Ideal Connections, Minneapolis, USA). 2007-04-27. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
  5. ↑ Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide (Woodrow Wilson Center Press/Cambridge University Press, 1996), ISBN 0521566231, 9780521566230, pg. 55-56)
  6. ↑ afrika focus — Volume 28, Nr. 2, 2015 — pp. 156 -164, The murder of Burundi’s prime minister, Louis Rwagasore, Guy Poppe, http://www.afrikafocus.eu/file/96
  7. ↑ afrika focus — Volume 28, Nr. 2, 2015 — pp. 156 -164, The murder of Burundi’s prime minister, Louis Rwagasore, Guy Poppe, http://www.afrikafocus.eu/file/96
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