Rwandese National Union

Rwandese National Union
Union Nationale Rwandaise
Founder Prosper Bwanakweli
Founded 3 September 1959 (1959-09-03)[1]
Ideology Monarchism

The Rwandese National Union (French: Union Nationale Rwandaise, UNAR) was a political party in Rwanda.

History

UNAR was founded 3 September 1959 by Prosper Bwanakweli, and strongly supported by Mwami Kigeri V. At the time, Rwanda was still under Belgian administration, and UNAR was the leading monarchist party. It called for immediate independence under a hereditary Tutsi constitutional monarchy.[2]

The party boycotted the 1960 local elections,[3] but participated in the 1961 parliamentary elections, receiving 17% of the vote, winning 7 of the 44 seats in the Legislative Assembly. It joined a coalition government with the victorious MDR-Parmehutu, and was given the cabinet posts responsible for cattle and public health.[4] In 1965 the country became a one-party state under MDR-Parmehutu.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Kaarsholm, Preben (2006). Violence, political culture & development in Africa. James Currey Publishers. p. 81. ISBN 0-85255-894-5.
  2. ↑ Osabu-Kle, Daniel Tetteh (2000). Compatible cultural democracy: the key to development in Africa. University of Toronto Press. p. 220. ISBN 1-55111-289-2.
  3. ↑ Mahmood Mamdani (2014) When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda, Princeton University Press, p127
  4. ↑ Mamdani, p128
  5. ↑ History Embassy of Rwanda to the United Kingdom
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