Rwanda

The struggle

Belgian rule in Rwanda entrenched the Hutu–Tutsi division through identity cards and indirect rule through the Tutsi monarchy, then reversed its support in the late 1950s. The 1959 revolution overthrew the monarchy amid violence that drove hundreds of thousands into exile. Rwanda became a republic and independent state on 1 July 1962.

Key people

• Grégoire Kayibanda

  1924–1976

  Led PARMEHUTU; first president

• Kigeli V

  1936–2016

  Last king, deposed and exiled

• Aloys Munyangaju

  1927–1963

  Journalist and nationalist writer of the 1950s