Origins & Early Life

Grégoire Kayibanda (1 May 1924 – 15 December 1976) was a Rwandan politician, revolutionary and military dictator who was the first President of Rwanda from 1962 to 1973. An ethnic Hutu, he was a pioneer of the Rwandan Revolution and led Rwanda's struggle for independence from Belgium, replacing the Tutsi monarchy with the First Rwandese Republic. Rwanda became independent from Belgium in 1962, with Kayibanda serving as the country's first president, establishing a pro-Hutu policy and a de facto one-party system governed by his party, Parmehutu. He was overthrown in a coup d'état in 1973 by his defense minister, Juvénal Habyarimana, and died three years later.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Kayibanda was born on 1 May 1924 in Tare, Rwanda. He studied his primary school at Tare then at Kabgayi. Kayibanda was admitted in Saint Léon Minor Seminary of Kabgayi in 1937. After the completion of minor seminary in 1943, he continued to Major Seminary of Nyakibanda where he studied for four years. The Hutu majority had long been resentful of power held by the Tutsi minority.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

They were encouraged by Hutu advocates in the Catholic Church, and by Christian Belgians,...

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