François Rukeba
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François Rukeba (born 23 April 1912) was a Rwandan politician and rebel leader.
François Rukeba was born on 23 April 1912 in Murehe, Ruanda-Urundi.[1] He was considered ethnically Hutu by most Rwandans, though he was of mixed origins. According political scientist René Lemarchand, his father was Congolese while his mother was Hutukazi.[2] According to Warren Weinstein, his maternal ancestry traced to the Shi people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1]
Political career
Rukeba was a close companion of the deposed Mwami (king) of Rwanda, Yuhi V Musinga. He was initially a subchief who presided over a jurisdiction near Cyangugu, but was dismissed by the Belgian colonial administration in 1944 after they ruled that he had falsified court register entries. In 1947 the administration served him with a deportation order, and the following year appealed to the Visiting United Nations Mission, accusing the authorities of mistreating him. He grew anti-Belgian in outlook and became a staunch supporter of the monarchy.[2] He eventually found work as a merchant.[3]
Throughout the 1950s, Rukeba petitioned the United Nations for reforms in Ruanda-Urundi.[1] At the funeral of the late Mwami, Mutara III Rudahigwa, on 28 July 1959 Rukeba led the crowd in demanding the naming of a successor to the throne.[4] In August he cofounded the Rwandese National Union (UNAR), a party which quickly became the political voice of Tutsi traditionalists,[1] and was made its president.[2] He founded the party's youth wing.[1] UNAR organised a meeting in Kigali on 13 September, and there Rukeba declared the party's programme and criticised Belgian colonialism. He also declared that, "He who does not belong to this party will be regarded as the people's enemy, the Mwami's enemy, Rwanda's enemy."[5]