Joseph Kavaruganda
Joseph Kavaruganda | |
---|---|
President of the Constitutional Court of Rwanda | |
In office 1979 – 7 April 1994 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Tare, Ruanda-Urundi | 8 May 1935
Died | 7 April 1994 Kigali, Rwanda | (aged 58)
Joseph Kavaruganda (8 May 1935 – 7 April 1994) was a Rwandan jurist who served as president of Rwanda's Constitutional Court. He was killed at the beginning of the Rwandan genocide.
Early life
Joseph Kavaruganda was born on 8 May 1935 in Tare, Ruanda-Urundi. He attended primary school in Tare, and then attended the Kigali Junior Seminary before studying law in Belgium, earning his Doctor of Philosophy in 1966. He returned to Rwanda in 1967 and took up work as a president of Caisse d'Épargne, a credit and savings institution.[1]
Legal career
In 1974 Kavaruganda was appointed Prosecutor General of Rwanda.[1]
As President of the Constitutional Court, Kavaruganda came into conflict with President
Kavaruganda came under increased pressure following his break with Habyarimana. In 1991 a bomb was detonated adjacent his bedroom at his country retreat. Soon thereafter he began receiving a steady flow of death threats from Hutu extremists.[3] As the Rwandan Civil War dragged on, Habyarimana would negotiate with the political opposition and agree to reforms only to soon thereafter renege on them. Tired with what he perceived as obstructionism, in 1993 Kavaruganda wrote a letter to the president, listing the occasions in the previous years in which he had violated laws and broken his promises. He questioned, "When you violate the law, do you do it in the interest of the Rwandan people? In the spirit of the constitution? No."[4]
On 4 August 1993 the Rwandan government and the RPF signed the Arusha Accords to end the Rwandan Civil War.[5] Kavaruganda had assisted in drafting the agreement, which provoked the further ire of Hutu extremists. One edition of Kangura displayed a cartoon of him hanging from a tree with copies of the accords below him, captioned with a threat to kill him if a bi-ethnic power-sharing government was installed.[6] The Arusha Accords stipulated the investiture of an interim president and transitional government. As Chief Justice, Kavaruganda was responsible for swearing-in the officials. On the morning of 4 August Habyarimana was sworn in as interim President at the Parliament building, but then suddenly departed before calling up the new prime minister and cabinet to be inaugurated. Confused and surprised, Kavaruganda left. Habyarimana returned that afternoon with a list of new cabinet members to be sworn in from Hutu extremist parties which had not been agreed upon in the Arusha Accords. Having not been formally invited for a second ceremony, Kavaruganda did not appear and the suggested ministers were not sworn-in. Habyarimana was infuriated, and thereafter he and his political allies regarded Kavaruganda as an ally of the RPF.[5]
To assist with implementation of the Arusha Accords, the United Nations established the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda and dispatched an international peacekeeping force to the country.[7] In early February 1994 members of the Interahamwe, a Hutu extremist militia, stoned Kavaruganda's car. The following day they stormed the Constitutional Court building, but Kavaruganda and his colleagues escaped through his office window.[1][5] On 17 February UNAMIR commander Roméo Dallaire learned that an extremist group known as the Death Escadron was planning to assassinate Tutsi politician Lando Ndasingwa and Kavaruganda. In response, Daillaire sent peacekeepers to both men's homes to protect them. Kavaruganda, his wife Annonciata, and his two children still living with him felt reassured by their presence.[8]
Death
On 6 April 1994 when President Habyarimana's plane
While Kavaruganda waited for help, Jean-Marcel telephoned to say that he heard on Belgian radio that opposition party members in Kigali were being killed and urged his father to leave. While Kavaruganda explained that he was trapped, Kabera's men broke down the front door and began searching the house.[13] They found his daughter, Julithe, and put a gun to her head and demanded to know where her father was. She cried to her father for help, and Kavaruganda revealed himself and insisted again on getting dressed. Kabera told him that there was no need to do so and that he had to leave right away.[14] Kabera and the soldiers brought him outside to a waiting truck and drove away with him. The UN peacekeepers watched in the yard and did not resist.[10] He was killed later that day.[15] The remaining soldiers then harassed the family and looted their house before leaving.[16] One of the Hutu-loyalist ministers evacuated during the night, Casimir Bizimungu, returned to the neighborhood soon thereafter to gather some things from his home. Annonciata begged him to take herself, her children, and a neighbor to the Canadian embassy, and he reluctantly did so. They were granted refuge there during the genocide.[17]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Tabaro, Jean de la Croix (22 April 2014). "Tribute to Kavaruganda, the valiant constitution defender". The New Times. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, p. 98.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, pp. 99–100.
- ^ a b c Tabaro, Jean de la Croix (14 April 2015). "Inside Story: How Habyarimana Betrayed Opposition Politicians". KT Press. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, p. 101.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, pp. 101–102.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, p. 104.
- ^ a b Neuffer 2015, p. 105.
- ^ a b Neuffer 2015, p. 110.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, p. 107.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, pp. 107–108.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, pp. 108–109.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, p. 109.
- ISBN 0-679-31138-6.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, pp. 111–112.
- ^ Neuffer 2015, pp. 112–113.
Works cited
- ISBN 9781250082718.