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Juvénal Habyarimana facts for kids

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Juvénal Habyarimana
Juvénal Habyarimana (1980).jpg
Habyarimana in 1980
3rd President of Rwanda
In office
5 July 1973 – 6 April 1994
Preceded by Grégoire Kayibanda
Succeeded by Théodore Sindikubwabo
Personal details
Born (1937-03-08)March 8, 1937
Ruanda-Urundi
Died April 6, 1994(1994-04-06) (aged 57)
Kigali, Rwanda
Nationality Rwandan
Political party MRND
Spouse(s) Agathe Habyarimana

Juvénal Habyarimana (8 March 1937 – 6 April 1994) was the second President of Rwanda. He was president for almost twenty years, from 1973 until 1994. During his government, he favoured his own ethnic group, the Hutus. He was nicknamed "Kinani", a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible". Habyarimana was a dictator. He was suspected to have cheated in all of his elections.

On 6 April 1994, he was killed when his airplane was shot down close to Kigali. It was also carrying the President of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira. His assassination caused tensions between Hutus and Tutsis to worsen, and helped start the Rwandan Genocide. Within 100 days, somewhere between 800,000 and 1 million Rwandans were massacred.

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