Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana, ''née'' Kanziga (born 21 January 1942 in Karago,

Gisenyi Gisenyi, historically rendered as Kisenyi, is a city in Rubavu district in Rwanda's Western Province. Gisenyi is contiguous with Goma, the city across the border in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Overview The city features a resort on t ...

prefecture,

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

, Rwanda) is the widow of former

President of Rwanda This article lists the presidents of Rwanda since the creation of the office in 1961 (during the Rwandan Revolution), to the present day. The president of Rwanda is the head of state and head of executive of the Republic of Rwanda. The presid ...

Juvénal Habyarimana Juvénal Habyarimana (, ; 8 March 19376 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until 1994. He was nicknamed ''Kinani'', a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible". An ethn ...

and former First Lady of Rwanda from 1973 until 1994. Kanziga is part of a

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

lineage that long ruled an independent principality until the late nineteenth century. She was arrested by French authorities on 2 March 2010 in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

following the French President

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

's visit to Rwanda. She was frequently regarded as one of the powers behind the throne during her husband's 20-year presidency, and her family connections to powerful

politicians are often regarded as having provided necessary political capital for Habyarimana. She was the centre of a powerful clique of northern Hutus called '' akazu'' (

Kinyarwanda Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is spoken in Rwanda and adjacent parts of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda (where there ...

for "little house"), an informal organization of Hutu extremists whose members contributed strongly to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. On 9 April 1994, immediately following Habyarimana's assassination and the beginning of the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

, she was airlifted out of

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

by French troops and arrived in Paris 8 days later. In this exodus she was accompanied by thirty other members of the ''akazu'', including

Ferdinand Nahimana Ferdinand Nahimana (born 15 June 1950) is a Rwandan historian, who was convicted of incitement to genocide for his role in the Rwandan genocide. Nahimana was co-founder of the radio station Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), wh ...

, director of

Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) ( rw, Radiyo yigenga y'imisozi igihumbi) was a Rwandan radio station which broadcast from July 8, 1993 to July 31, 1994. It played a significant role in inciting the Rwandan genocide that took place from April to July 1994, and has been d ...

. Upon arrival in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, she received a gift of F 230,000 from the French government, from a budget allocated for "urgent assistance for Rwandan refugees". In September 1997, she moved to

Libreville Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904. The area has been inh ...

, Gabon, at the invitation of

Omar Bongo El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Omar Bongo was promoted to key positions as ...

, and then

Gbadolite Gbadolite or Gbado-Lite (pronounced ) is the capital of Nord-Ubangi Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town is located south of the Ubangi River at the border to the Central African Republic and northeast of the national capi ...

in Zaire. Fearing the threat of the RPF, she went back to Zaire in late 1995 and later settled in Gabon, where she was granted a diplomatic passport under a false name. In response to threats by the RPF, she left Libreville and was smuggled into France where she resides illegally. Agathe Habyarimana is the sister of Protais Zigiranyirazo. She was denied political asylum in France on 4 January 2007 where she filed in January 2004, but remained in France. She was arrested on Tuesday, 2 March 2010, following French President

's visit to Rwanda where he admitted to mistakes made by France over the genocide, further stating that France would seek out those responsible for the genocide who were living in France. In September 2011, a French court denied Rwanda extradition of Habyarimana. A civil suit, perhaps thus weakened, remains. In August 2021, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled "inadmissible" the request for dismissal of Agathe Habyarimana, suspected of being involved in the genocide committed against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994 and targeted by an investigation in France since 2008.

References

External links

Kigali accuse Agathe Habyarimana de génocide
1 April 2004 (French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Habyarimana, Agathe 1942 births Living people First Ladies of Rwanda People of the Rwandan genocide Rwandan exiles Rwandan expatriates in France People from Nyabihu District Hutu people