Dominique Mbonyumutwa (January 1921 – 26 July 1986) was a Rwandan

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

who served as the interim first

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 presi ...

for a period of nine months in 1961, during a transitional phase between the overthrow of 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 ...

in 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 ...

and the country's independence. Following an election in October of that year, he was succeeded by

Grégoire Kayibanda Grégoire Kayibanda (1 May 192415 December 1976) was a Rwandan politician and revolutionary who was the first elected President of Rwanda from 1962 to 1973. An ethnic Hutu, he was a pioneer of the Rwandan Revolution and led Rwanda's struggle fo ...

who became the first elected president of the country following independence.

Career

On 1 November 1959, while serving as a ''sous-chef'' (equivalent to a district mayor today) during the

period, Mbonyumutwa was assaulted by a group of Rwandan monarchists in Byimana in Southern Province. This incident triggered the " social revolution" of November 1959. On 28 January 1961, during a people's congress which abolished the

and proclaimed that Rwanda became a social republic, Mbonyumutwa was elected its first President and ran the country until the referendum of 25 September 1961 requested by the UN, after which he resigned (on 26.10 in the same year) to let

run the country cumulating the function of chief of government and President. Mbonyumutwa exercised the functions of Magistrate first, then Member of Parliament before holding an honorary position as Chancellor of National Orders in the service of the subsequent president

Juvenal Habyarimana Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the '' Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

. until his death on 26 July 1986.

References

1921 births 1986 deaths Presidents of Rwanda Hutu people Leaders who took power by coup People from Muhanga District {{Rwanda-politician-stub