Louis Rwagasore

Louis Rwagasore (Ludoviko Rwagasore; 10 January 1932 – 13 October 1961) was a Burundian prince and politician, who served as the second prime minister of Burundi for two weeks, from 28 September 1961 until his assassination on 13 October.

Born to the Ganwa family of Burundian Mwami (king) Mwambutsa IV in Belgian-administered Ruanda-Urundi in 1932, Rwagasore was educated in Burundian Catholic schools before attending university in Belgium.

Louis Rwagasore was born on 10 January 1932 in Gitega, Ruanda-Urundi, to Mwami (king) of Urundi Mwambutsa IV and Thérèse Kanyonga.

Ethnically, he was a member of the Bezi clan of the Ganwa, a group of people of aristocratic status often associated with the Tutsis.

The frequency of matrimonial alliances among the Ganwa gave Rwagasore familial links to numerous chiefs in Urundi.

Mwambutsa and Kanyonga afterward had two daughters, Rosa Paula Iribagiza and Régine Kanyange, before divorcing in 1940.

In 1945 Rwagasore enrolled in the Groupe Scolaire d'Astrida.

Mwambutsa remarried in 1946 and fathered a second son, Charles Ndizeye.

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

After he returned to Burundi in the mid-1950s he founded a series of cooperatives to economically empower native Burundians and build up his base of political support.

The Belgian administration took over the venture, and as a result of the affair his national profile increased and he became a leading figure of the anti-colonial movement.

He soon thereafter became involved with a nationalist political party, the Union for National Progress (UPRONA).

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

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.

He studied there for six years, and in 1951 went to Antwerp to study at the University Institute of Overseas Territories (Institut universitaire des Territoires d'Outre-Mer).

He 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.

Rwagasore returned to Urundi in December 1956.

In April 1957 he was hired by the Belgian administration to oversee studies of economic, agricultural, and administrative concerns.

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

In its first public meeting, the CCB drew a crowd of 200 merchants, and it secured several favourable contracts with exporters.

It facilitated the creation of links between rural farmers and urban traders, and, at the same time, Urundians began protesting fees and taxes levied by the Belgians.

The colonial administration was irritated by the CCB, but reasoned that it could not take direct action against Rwagasore, with Governor of Ruanda-Urundi Jean-Paul Harroy writing to the Minister of Colonies that detaining or deporting the eldest son of the Mwami would be poorly received by peasants and lead to civil disorder.

Despite its early successes, the CCB quickly ran into financial trouble, in part due to mismanagement.

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

To what extent either of these factors was true and how heavily they affected the project remains unclear.

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.

He then requested credit for the cooperatives from the Supreme Land Council (Conseil Supérieur du Pays), an advisory body presided over by the Mwami that had some competence over budgetary and administrative affairs in Urundi.

Though the Belgian administration informed the council that it disapproved of the cooperative, Rwagasore convinced the body to support him.

The Belgian administration formally vetoed the loan in June, and intervened to take over the CCB.

In the ensuing struggle Rwagasore's national profile dramatically increased and he became a leading figure of the anti-colonial activists.

On 12 September 1959 he married a Hutu woman, Marie-Rose Ntamikevyo, in Usumbura.

They had two daughters, both of whom died in infancy.

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

International pressure led the administration to back down, and the following year UPRONA won an overwhelming majority in the legislative elections.

As a result, Rwagasore became prime minister of Burundi on 28 September 1961.

Two weeks later he was assassinated by a Greek national at the direction of leaders of a rival political party with the probable support of the Belgian Resident in Burundi.

Rwagasore's death derailed his attempts to build national ethnic cohesion and facilitated the growth of Hutu–Tutsi tensions in the country.

It also fractured UPRONA, as his former lieutenants engaged in a power struggle to succeed him as the party's leader.

Within Burundi, Rwagasore enjoys nearly universal acclaim, and his assassination is commemorated annually with large ceremonies.

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