Bangambiki habyarimana biography

President of Rwanda from 1973 to 1994

"Habyarimana" redirects here. For the surname, see Habyarimana (surname).

Juvénal Habyarimana (Kinyarwanda:[hɑβɟɑːɾímɑ̂ːnɑ], French:[ʒyvenalabjaʁimana]; 8 March 1937 – 6 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who was the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until his assassination in 1994.

He was nicknamed Kinani, a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible".

An ethnic Hutu, Habyarimana served in several security positions including minister of defense under Rwanda's first president, Grégoire Kayibanda.

After overthrowing Kayibanda in a coup in 1973, he became the country's new president and eventually continued his predecessor's pro-Hutu policies. He was a dictator, and electoral fraud was suspected for his unopposed re-elections: 98.99% of the vote on 24 December 1978, 99.97% of the vote on 19 December 1983, and 99.98% of the vote on 19 December 1988.^[2] Dur