15 Facts About Louise Mushikiwabo

Louise Mushikiwabo was born on May 22,1961 and is the fourth and current Secretary General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.

Louise Mushikiwabo previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Rwanda from 2009 to 2018.

Louise Mushikiwabo was born on 22 May 1961 in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.

Louise Mushikiwabo's father was Bitsindinkumi, from the Batsobe clan; Bitsindinkumi worked as a farmer, managing the family's smallholding as well as working as bookkeeper for a colonial coffee plantation.

Louise Mushikiwabo's mother was Nyiratulira, a first cousin of the Abiru philosopher and historian Alexis Kagame.

Louise Mushikiwabo graduated from university in 1984, with a bachelor's degree in English, and then worked briefly as a secondary school teacher.

Louise Mushikiwabo started her career working for lobbying organisations, before taking a position with the African Development Bank ; as part of her role with the ADB she lived in Tunisia for a short time, and eventually became the bank's Communications Director.

In 2006, Louise Mushikiwabo wrote a book, Rwanda Means the Universe, which was co-authored by Jack Kramer, an American journalist and ex-marine.

In March 2008, Louise Mushikiwabo was invited by Rwandan President Paul Kagame to return to her homeland Rwanda and take up a position in his government.

Louise Mushikiwabo was appointed to the post of Minister of Information, replacing Laurent Nkusi.

Early in her tenure, Louise Mushikiwabo was responsible for deciding whether to take action against several local media organisations that had run defamatory stories about Kagame.

Nkusi had refused this request, and while Louise Mushikiwabo did not officially suspend the paper, it nonetheless stopped printing in October 2008.

Louise Mushikiwabo generally encouraged her colleagues to support freedom of the press, but was firm in ensuring that the media complied with Rwanda's tough laws surrounding genocide denial.

Louise Mushikiwabo made use of her linguistic skills, being able to give statements in all of Rwanda's official languages, Kinyarwanda, French and English.

Louise Mushikiwabo is the niece of the distinguished Rwandan scholar and priest Alexis Kagame.