Queen Dowager Rosalie Gicanda (1928Queen Rosalie Gicanda Grave Editorial Photo - Image: 20274161
Dreamstime, Retrieved 21 October 2016 – 20 April 1994) was the wife of Rwandan King ( rw, mwami)

Mutara III Rudahigwa Mutara III Rudahigwa (March 1911 – 25 July 1959) was King ('' umwami'') of Rwanda between 1931 and 1959. He was the first Rwandan king to be baptised, and Roman Catholicism took hold in Rwanda during his reign. His Christian names were C ...

. After her husband died in mysterious circumstances in 1959, the

Rwandan monarchy The Kingdom of Rwanda was a kingdom in East Africa which grew to be ruled by a Tutsi monarchy. It was later annexed under German and Belgian colonial rule while retaining some of its autonomy. The Tutsi monarchy was abolished in 1961 after et ...

lasted only two more years, under the leadership of King

Kigeli V Ndahindurwa Kigeli V Ndahindurwa (born Jean-Baptiste Ndahindurwa; 29 June 1936 – 16 October 2016) was the last ruling King ('' Mwami'') of Rwanda, from 28 July 1959 until the end of the UN-mandate with Belgian administration and the declaration of an indepe ...

and then coming to an end with the

Rwandan 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 ...

in 1961. However, the Queen continued to live in

Butare Butare (), also known as Huye, is a city (population: 50,220 as of 2012) in the Southern Province of Rwanda and the capital of Huye district. It is the fourth largest town in Rwanda by population. History The Belgian colonial rulers establish ...

in Butare Province, Rwanda, along with her mother and several

ladies-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...

, where she was later murdered during 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 H ...

Life

In 1953 the American writer John Gunther visited Rwanda in preparation for his book ''Inside Africa''. After interviewing her husband Mutara III, Gunther met socially with Queen Rosalie Gicanda. He described her as being shy in manner, speaking French well but not having travelled widely.

Death

On 20 April 1994, as the

began in earnest in Butare, a detachment of soldiers commanded by Lt. Pierre Bizimana, acting under the orders of Capt. Ildéphonse Nizeyimana,

kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...

the former Queen along with others from her house. They then took the captives behind the National Museum (now the

Ethnographic Museum Ethnographic museums conserve, display and contextualize items relevant to the field of ethnography, the systematic study of people and cultures. Such museums include: List by country/region Albania * Ethnographic Museum of Kavajë, * Gjirokast� ...

) and shot them. Only a younger girl survived to tell the story of the murders. Two days later, the Queen's mother was also murdered. At the request of a priest, Butare

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Kanyabashi recovered Queen Gicanda’s body and had it buried in the yard next to her house.Rwanda genocide: Nizeyimana convicted of killing Queen Gicanda
19 June 2012, BBC, Retrieved 2 March 2016

Public reaction

The Queen was a living symbol for

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic ...

s, and her murder shocked many. It effectively signaled the beginning of the mass killing in the Butare area, which saw some of the worst atrocities committed during the fighting. After the genocide, a Rwandan

military court A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

found Bizimana and Private 1st Class Aloys Mazimpaka guilty of genocide and the murder of Queen Gicanda and her family. (''Chambre Specialisée du Conseil de Guerre de Butare, case no. LMD 187, LP 0001-PS 97'', Judgment pronounced July 27, 1998.) Bizimana was sentenced to death, Mazimpaka to life in prison. On 6 October 2009, Nizeyimana was arrested in

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 ...

, Uganda. Nizeyimana was one of the most wanted suspects in the Rwandan genocide. On 19 June 2012, he was convicted by the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nation ...

of ordering the killing of the former Tutsi queen, as well as other murders, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Notes

External links

Human Rights Watch , Butare GenocidePicture of Queen Rosalie Gicanda and King Mutara IIIRwanda Queen killing suspect held
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gicanda, Rosalie 1928 births 1994 deaths People from Butare Assassinated Rwandan people Deaths by firearm in Rwanda Executed royalty Murdered royalty People who died in the Rwandan genocide Rosalie Gicanda Rwandan monarchy Tutsi people Rwandan women Violence against women in Rwanda