The Party of Democracy in Rwanda – Ihumure (french: Parti Démocratique au Rwanda), often shortened to PDR-Ihumure, is a
Rwandan opposition political party, which chiefly operates in exile in the United States and Europe.
It is a part of the
MRCD (Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change, French: ''Mouvement Rwandais pour le Changement Démocratique'') coalition of opposition parties. Along with PDR-Ihumure, the coalition includes CNRD-Ubwiyunge, RRM, and RDI-Rwanda Riza.
In 2006, the party was founded in the diaspora by activist
, on whom the Hollywood blockbuster ''
Hotel Rwanda
''Hotel Rwanda'' is a 2004 drama film directed by Terry George. It was adapted from a screenplay co-written by George and Keir Pearson, and stars Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo as hotelier Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana. Based on the Rw ...
'' is based. Rusesabagina is currently president of the party and the MRCD coalition, though he has been held in prison in Rwanda since being arrested in August 2020.
PDR-Ihumure is seen as a primarily
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 ...
party by scholars.
It has been linked with
Hutu Power
Hutu Power is a racial and ethnosupremacist ideology that asserts the ethnic superiority of Hutu, often in the context of being superior to Tutsi and Twa, and that therefore they are entitled to dominate and murder these two groups and other mino ...
groups, ex-
FAR troops, and Rwandan Liberation Movements in Congo.
The party was formed expressly to oppose the ruling
RPF party, led by
Rwandan President
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 presi ...
Paul Kagame
Paul Kagame (; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who is the 4th and current president of Rwanda since 2000. He previously served as a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Uganda-based rebel ...
.
Military wing
The party also has a military wing, the FLN (National Liberation Front), which Rusesabagina himself has acknowledged as an "armed wing", which he claims was set up in order to assist Rwandan refugees.
Since being founded, however, the FLN has taken responsibility for terrorist attacks — including an attack on passenger buses in
Nyungwe,
Burundi
Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...
which killed two people.
Rusesabagina has accepted a role in setting up its armed offshoot, but denied sponsoring violence, stating: "we formed the FLN as an armed wing, not as a terrorist group as the prosecution keeps saying. The aim was to draw the government to the attention of the plight of refugees. I do not deny that the FLN committed crimes but my role was diplomacy."
References
{{reflist
Political parties in Rwanda