44 Facts About Louis Rwagasore

Prince Louis Rwagasore was a Burundian prince and politician, who was the second prime minister of Burundi for two weeks, from 28 September 1961 until his assassination on 13 October.

Louis Rwagasore pushed for Burundian independence from Belgian control, national unity, and the institution of a constitutional monarchy.

Louis Rwagasore sought to bring UPRONA mass appeal across different regions, ethnicities, and castes, and under him the party maintained a leadership balanced between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis, though the latter were usually favoured for more important positions.

The Belgian administration disliked UPRONA and initially attempted to stifle Louis Rwagasore's activities, placing him under house arrest in 1960 during municipal elections.

Louis Rwagasore remains relatively unknown internationally in comparison to other leaders of independence movements in the African Great Lakes region.

Prince Louis Rwagasore was born on 10 January 1932 in Gitega, Ruanda-Urundi, to Mwami Urundi Mwambutsa IV and Therese Kanyonga.

Mwambutsa and Kanyonga after giving birth to Louis Rwagasore, birthed two daughters, Rosa Paula Iribagiza and Regine Kanyange, before divorcing in 1940.

Louis Rwagasore began attending school at the age of seven, going to Catholic institutions in Bukeye, Kanyinya, and Gitega.

Louis Rwagasore studied there for six years, and in 1951, he went to Antwerp to study at the University Institute of Overseas Territories.

Louis Rwagasore was a poor student, but after one year at the institute he enrolled at the Catholic University of Leuven, where after three years of study he earned a degree in political economy.

In June 1957 Louis Rwagasore founded a series of cooperatives, known as the Traders' Cooperatives of Burundi, with the goal of empowering native Urundians to control their own commerce and thus building his personal support among Swahili traders of Usumbura.

Louis Rwagasore attributed the cooperatives' problems to Belgian sabotage, while the colonial administration accused Louis Rwagasore of embezzling its money to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Louis Rwagasore spent three months at the Expo 58 in Brussels seeking new investors and asked for help from President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, but these appeals were unsuccessful.

Louis Rwagasore then requested credit for the cooperatives from the Supreme Land Council, an advisory body presided over by the Mwami that had some competence over budgetary and administrative affairs in Urundi.

Some time thereafter, Louis Rwagasore became involved with a nascent political party, the Union for National Progress, though sources differ on the circumstances of UPRONA's founding and Louis Rwagasore's role in its early days.

Louis Rwagasore took virtual control over the movement, though his familial connection to the Mwami disqualified him from holding any party offices and he officially served UPRONA only as an advisor.

The party initially was strongly identified with the interests of the Bezi lineage of Ganwa and support for traditional institutions, but this alignment fell apart after Louis Rwagasore came into conflict with his father.

Mwambutsa had been quietly supportive of his son's attempts to build a political career in the late 1950s, but encouraged other Ganwa to compete with Louis Rwagasore to ensure his own authority remained unchallenged.

Louis Rwagasore resigned from the post to focus on his political career.

Under Louis Rwagasore, UPRONA pushed a program of modernisation, committing neither to a return to the feudal system nor a complete societal transformation.

Louis Rwagasore used symbols of the monarchy to communicate his message and often emphasised his princely status at public appearances, but he stressed that UPRONA would support the monarchy "only insofar as this regime and its dynasty favoured the genuine emancipation of the Murundi people".

Louis Rwagasore believed that only a constitutional monarchy could maintain legitimacy and that the Mwami should cede most authority to a civilian government.

Louis Rwagasore advocated a foreign policy of nonalignment in the ongoing Cold War.

Louis Rwagasore sought to transform UPRONA into a mass party with broad-base appeal across different regions, ethnicities, and castes.

UPRONA's internal rules set devolved responsibilities to the central committee, but in practice the party operated at the whim of Louis Rwagasore; it retained relatively weak organisational capability and was held together by his charismatic leadership.

Rumours that the Mwami would pass the throne on to his younger son, Charles, facilitated criticisms by UPRONA's rivals that the party was simply a mechanism for Louis Rwagasore to achieve power.

Louis Rwagasore participated in the independence celebrations of the Republic of the Congo in June 1960.

Louis Rwagasore was released after the elections on 9 December 1960.

Louis Rwagasore traveled across the country to introduce his party's candidates.

Louis Rwagasore appealed to the latter not to be provoked, and the colonial authorities quickly restored order.

Louis Rwagasore assembled a 10-member government of national unity which secured the confidence of all but one of the deputies in the Legislative Assembly and was sworn in.

Louis Rwagasore's government did not offer a programme to the Assembly.

Louis Rwagasore's government pledged to incorporate opposition party members into the administration and supported a political union with Rwanda and Tanganyika, though he later suggested that he wanted an economic union with Tanganyika but no association with the ethnically polarised Rwanda.

On 13 October 1961, Louis Rwagasore was shot in the throat, fired from approximately 60 feet away from a group of bushes while dining outdoors with friends and his cabinet members at the Hotel Tanganyika in Usumbura.

When Governor Harroy went to the hospital to pay respects to the corpse of the late prime minister, Louis Rwagasore's mother confronted him in a hallway and slapped him.

In regards to the concrete motives of Biroli and Ntidendereza, political scientist Helmut Strizek and researcher Gunther Philipp argued that Louis Rwagasore's assassination was probably inspired by the Bezi-Tare rivalry.

On 14 October 2018 the Burundian government officially accused Belgium of being the "true backer of the assassination of Louis Rwagasore" and declared that it would set up a "technical commission" to investigate the killing, though no progress on this has since been made.

Louis Rwagasore was buried on 18 October 1961 at the plot of Vugizo in Bujumbura.

Burundi was granted independence in 1962, and in his official speech marking the event, Prime Minister Muhirwa paid extensive tribute to Louis Rwagasore and credited him for pushing the country towards sovereignty.

Louis Rwagasore's image was used to adorn public buildings, while the first printings of the Burundian franc included banknotes with his visage.

Two more postage series featuring Rwagasore were later released; one in 1966 pairing his image with that of assassinated United States President John F Kennedy, and another in 1972 celebrating the 10th anniversary of Burundian independence.

Under Buyoya's tenure, more portraits of Louis Rwagasore were hung in public places, the mausoleum was renovated and a UPRONA-sponsored Louis Rwagasore Institute was created to promote national reconciliation.

Louis Rwagasore's government repaired several monuments to the late premier and erected a new one jointly honoring him and Ndadaye at a roundabout in Bujumbura.

Louis Rwagasore remains relatively unknown internationally, with his career overshadowed by those of Nyerere and Lumumba and his assassination eclipsed by the Congo Crisis and the contemporary ethnic violence in Rwanda.