KEY DATES IN RWANDAN HISTORY
- 15th century : Beginning of Rwandan territorial and political consolidation by the Tutsi monarchy which will reign until 1961.
- 1885 : Partition of Africa between the European powers at the Conference of Berlin. Rwanda is declared under German influence and control.
- 1892-94 : The Germans enter Rwanda.
- 1896 : Rwanda becomes a German protectorate.
- 1916 : While the First World War is raging in Europe, Belgian troops occupy Rwanda from Congo and drive the Germans out.
- 1922 : Rwanda and Burundi (Ruanda-Urundi) are joined as a League of Nations mandate, governed by Belgium.
- 1931 : The ethnic affiliation (Hutu, Tutsi and Twa) is indicated on identity cards.
- 1946 : Rwanda becomes a United Nations Trust Territory.
- 1959 : The Hutu « social revolution » leads to the first massacres of Tutsi. Tens of thousands of Tutsi flee into exile in Uganda, Zaire, Burundi and Tanzania.
- 1961 : The Hutu majority win the first parliamentary elections. The Republic is proclaimed.
- 1 July 1962 : Rwanda gains independence from Belgium. The first President is Grégoire Kayibanda, a Hutu from Southern Rwanda.
- 1961-1966 : Following multiple armed attacks by Tutsi exiles, anti-Tutsi backlashes. Pogroms organized by the Hutu authorities lead to the death of thousands of Tutsi and new waves of emigration.
- February 1973 : Tutsi living in Rwanda suffer persecution by the Rwandan authorities, mainly in secondary schools and the National University of Rwanda.
- 5 July 1973 : Major-General Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu from the North, takes power in a military coup d’etat.
- 1975 : Beginning of de jure single party rule with the creation of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (Mouvement Révolutionnaire National pour le Développement, MRND).
- 1979 : Creation of the Rwandese Alliance for National Unity (RANU) in Kenya. RANU is a political-military Tutsi-dominated movement. In 1997, it will become in 1987 the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi), based in Uganda.
- 1982 : Rwanda closes its border with Uganda in order to stop the flow of Rwandan Tutsi refugees, expelled by the Ugandan authorities.
- 1 October 1990 : Uganda-based RPF invades the northern Rwanda, starting the Rwandan Civil War.
- April 1992 : The first multi-party transitional government is established, and begins negotiating with the RPF, in Arusha, Tanzania.
- 4 August 1993 : The Arusha Accords are signed between Rwanda’s government and RPF. The United Nations approves a 2,500 peacekeeping force to Rwanda, the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), in order to ensure the implementation of the Arusha Accords.
- 6 avril 1994 : President Habyarimana is killed in a plane crash. Beginning of the Tutsi genocide.
- 4 July 1994 : The RPF’s military victory concludes the genocide. An estimated 2 million Hutu civilians begin to flee towards neighbouring countries, especially Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
- 1996-1997 : RPF troops attack and dismantles Kivu refugee camps in Zaire. Return to Rwanda of the majority of Hutu refugees. First Congo War.
