Pierre-Célestin Rwigema (born 27 July 1953) is a

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 ...

n politician previously associated with the moderate faction of the

Republican Democratic Movement The Republican Democratic Movement (french: Mouvement démocratique républicain, MDR) was a political party in Rwanda. History The party was established in 1991,

(MDR) party. He was

Prime Minister of Rwanda This article lists the prime ministers of Rwanda since the formation of the post in 1961 (during the Rwandan Revolution), to the present day. The prime minister of Rwanda is the head of government of the Republic of Rwanda. The prime minister ...

from 1995 to 2000 and Education Minister from 1994 to 1995. When he was sworn in as Prime Minister he pledged to reunite his then ethnically torn country. In 2001, he was accused of alleged involvement in 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 ...

and had an arrest warrant issued for him by the Rwandan government. These charges were brought against him after his resignation as Prime Minister, when he fled to the United States to seek political asylum. At the time of the accusation, he was studying towards a Master's degree in Business Administration at

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The political climate in Rwanda was volatile at the time. The speaker of the house, Joseph Sabarenzi, resigned and fled. There was allegations of a royalist faction working to undermine the RPF government, and restore the Tutsi monarchy. It has been reported that these charges against him may have been politically motivated. According to

Joseph Sebarenzi Joseph Sebarenzi is the former List of Presidents of the Transitional National Assembly of Rwanda, President of the Parliament of Rwanda (1997–2000). He was born in Rwanda in 1963 during the civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. Be ...

, a Tutsi and former speaker of the national assembly from 1997 to 2000, Rwigema was innocent. Sebarenzi wrote in his memoir, ''God Sleeps in Rwanda'': "Regularly I would hear from friends or on the radio that someone else in Rwanda was being targeted. There was Pierre Celestin Rwigema, the prime minister. He was forced to resign. While I was speaker, we had investigated him for mismanagement and embezzlement. The RPF wanted him out and hoped we would censure him. But our investigation could not prove that he had done anything wrong, so we cleared him. I knew that the RPF would not let that stand. So when I heard that Rwigema had resigned, I was not surprised. He eventually fled to the United States. The government of Rwanda told the U.S. government that he was involved in the genocide and asked that he be arrested. But an immigration judge cleared him". He was eventually proven innocent and granted political asylum by the United States immigration court in Detroit. In October 2011, Rwanda's prosecutor general, Martin Ngoga reported to the media that the judicial process in Rwanda also found no evidence indicting Rwigema in involvement with genocide and therefore his case was suspended. Mr Rwigema returned to Rwanda after 11 years in exile, stating that he was returning freely, and soon held a press conference where he revealed that his primary motivation to return home was to participate in the ongoing development of the country. In early May 2012, Mr Rwigema was one of 8 candidates elected by the Rwandan parliament among 18 candidates to represent Rwanda in the

East African Legislative Assembly , native_name_lang = , transcription_name = , legislature = , coa_pic = , coa_res = , coa_alt = , foundation = 30 November 2001 , house_type = , body ...

(EALA). He vowed to advocate for effective implementation of the EAC common market and customs union protocols, and the fast-tracking of the negotiations on monetary union and the realization of a political federation.
Ex-premier Rwigema fronted for EALA seat Now he is a lecturer at Kigali Independent University (ULK) at the master's level and also lectures at Jomo Kenyata University at the Ph.D. level

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rwigema, Pierre-Celestin 1953 births Living people Bowling Green State University alumni People of the Rwandan genocide Rwandan exiles Rwandan expatriates in the United States Republican Democratic Movement politicians Education ministers of Rwanda Prime Ministers of Rwanda Members of the East African Legislative Assembly