Patrick Kayumbu Mazimhaka (26 April 1948 – 25 January 2018) was the former Deputy Chairperson of the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

African Commission The Commission of the African Union acts as the executive/administrative branch or secretariat of the African Union (and is somewhat analogous to the European Commission). It consists of a number of Commissioners dealing with different areas of ...

. He was elected the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission in July 2003 held in

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

, and held the office until 6 February 2008, when he was succeeded by

Erastus J. O. Mwencha Erastus J.O. Mwencha (November 15, 1947) is a Kenyan businessman who served as a Secretary-General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and former Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, to which he was elected on Feb ...

. He was, until his election, the Senior Presidential Advisor to the

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 ...

on the

Great Lakes Region The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...

Youth and education

Patrick Kayumbu Mazimhaka was born in Rwanda and was raised and educated in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, having left Rwanda in 1962 as a young boy in the aftermath of the 1959

Rwanda Revolution The Rwandan Revolution, also known as the Hutu Revolution, Social Revolution, or Wind of Destruction ( rw, muyaga), was a period of ethnic violence in Rwanda from 1959 to 1961 between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two of the three ethnic groups in R ...

, which precipitated a large exodus of Rwandan

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s to Uganda. He attended

Ntare School Ntare School is a residential all-boys' secondary school located in Mbarara, Mbarara District, south western Uganda. It was founded in 1956 by a Scottish educator named William Crichton. Location The school is approximately , by road, north o ...

for his secondary education. He pursued his undergraduate studies at

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

where he obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology. He received a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in 1975. He started working as a lecturer in the Faculty of Science at Makerere University and was soon appointed the Head of

Department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Geology in the same Faculty. In early 1981 Mazimhaka moved to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

where he briefly worked as a consultant with a mining company before he finally relocated to Canada with his family.

Early career

While in Canada, he came into contact with many Rwandans who were determined as much as he was to return to Rwanda some day. He soon became deeply involved in the

Rwandese Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi, french: Front patriotique rwandais, FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. Led by President Paul Kagame, the party has governed the country since its armed wing defeated government forces, winn ...

(RPF) activities, which had been founded to launch a struggle against the then Rwandan government that had denied its citizens the right to return to their

homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...

. When the RPF launched an armed war on 1 October 1990 against the Rwandan government, Mazimhaka was appointed RPF's Commissioner for External Relations. He was later elected the Vice-Chairman of RPF in 1993, a position he held until 1998. Mazimhaka was appointed the Minister of Youth, Sports and Cooperatives in July 1994 soon after the RPF had ousted the regime of

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 ...

in April 1994. He held this position until 1996, when he was made Minister of Rehabilitation and Social Affairs. A year later he was appointed Minister in the Office of the President until 2000 when he was made a Special Envoy of the President. It was as a Special Envoy that Mazimhaka's ability in diplomacy was tested most. While dealing with the Rwandan government's policy on the Great Lakes, he was involved in the negotiations that led to several agreements, including the 2002 Pretoria agreement. This agreement outlined the disarmament of the former

Rwandan Armed Forces french: Forces rwandaises de défense sw, Nguvu ya Ulinzi ya Watu wa Rwanda , image = Rwanda Defense Force emblem.png , alt = , caption = , image2 = , alt2 = , caption2 ...

( Ex-FAR) and the

Interahamwe The Interahamwe ( or ) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND ...

militia on the one hand, and the withdrawal of Rwandan forces from the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

(DRC) on the other. He had also previously been involved in negotiations for the formulation and implementation of The

Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement The Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement attempted to end the Second Congo War through a ceasefire, release of prisoners of war, and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force under the auspices of the United Nations. The heads of state of Angola ...

in the DRC, while Minister in 1999.

Later activity

Mazimhaka was later an independent consultant in business, international diplomacy and security studies, with a particular interest in Africa. He was also the chairman of the board of Advisors of The Brenthurst Foundation.

Death

Mazimhaka died on the morning of 25 January 2018 in India. He was survived by his wife, Jolly Rwanyonga Mazimhaka, and their three daughters.

Youth and education

Early career

Later activity

Death

References

Further reading