The Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda (), also known as the (''Rally for the Return
f Refugees and Democracy in Rwanda
F, or f, is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet and many modern alphabets influenced by it, including the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of all other modern western European languages. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounce ...
') is an unregistered Rwandan
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
. Its stated goal is to establish a democratic and free Rwandan Republic, and its current president is
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza (born 3 October 1968) is a Rwanda, Rwandan politician who served as chairwoman of the United Democratic Forces of Rwanda, Unified Democratic Forces from 2006 to 2019. As an advocate for democracy and critic of Presiden ...
.
History
The Rally for the Return of Refugee and Democracy in
Rwanda
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...
was formed on April 3, 1995, by a group of Rwandan refugees in Mugunga, the eastern region of the then
Zaire
Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...
, now the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
.
The RDR's creation was a response to the outcome of the
Rwandan Civil War
The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose ...
and the resulting
refugee crisis
A refugee crisis can refer to difficulties and/or dangerous situations in the reception of large groups of refugees. These could be Forced displacement, forcibly displaced persons, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers or any other huge ...
in the
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...
region. By August 1994, over two million Rwandan refugees fled to neighboring African countries and created an extreme
humanitarian crisis
A humanitarian crisis (or sometimes humanitarian disaster) is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or exter ...
. Inside Rwanda, the
internally displaced population were at risk of famine. Within refugee camps, the presence of former government military personnel and
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 (M ...
, a Hutu extremist group responsible for the Tutsi genocide, undermined the welfare of civilian refugees, making the
humanitarian relief
Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. The primary objective of humanitarian a ...
effort vastly complex.
Criticism
In ''
'', author
Philip Gourevitch
Philip Gourevitch (born 1961), an American author and journalist, is a longtime staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' and a former editor of ''The Paris Review''.
His most recent book is '' The Ballad of Abu Ghraib'' (2008), an account of Iraq's A ...
claimed that the RDR, founded in the refugee camps of exiled
Hutu
The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...
s in Zaire after the 1994
Rwandan genocide
The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...
, is a shadow organization effectively run by former
Rwandan Armed Forces
The Rwandan Defence Force (RDF, , , ) is the military of Rwanda. Prior to 1994, Rwanda's military was officially known as the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), but following the Rwandan Civil War and the Rwandan genocide, the Rwandan Patriotic Front ( ...
(FAR) commanders and genocidaires. He criticized Western aid workers, who regarded the RDR as a moderate and legitimate organization, as naive and ill-informed.
René Lemarchand
René Lemarchand (born 1932) is a French- American political scientist who is known for his research on ethnic conflict and genocide in Rwanda, Burundi and Darfur. Publishing in both English and French, he is particularly known for his work on t ...
criticized the book for its lack of scholarly credentials.
References
1995 establishments in Rwanda
Political parties established in 1995
Political parties in Rwanda
Rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Rebel groups in Rwanda
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