Rwanda's original national anthem, written when the country achieved independence
from Belgium in 1962, was called "
Rwanda Rwacu" ("Our Rwanda"). Independence was achieved at a time of high tension, following the
Rwandan Revolution: centuries of rule by the minority
Tutsi group had been overturned in just three years, the majority
Hutu taking power in a violent upheaval, and forcing more than 100,000 to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. The subsequent thirty years, under the presidencies of
Grégoire Kayibanda and
Juvénal Habyarimana, were marked by continued cycles of violence, culminating in the 1990s with the launch of the
Rwandan Civil War by exiled Tutsi led by
Paul Kagame, the
assassination of President Habyarimana, and the 1994
Rwandan genocide. The genocide was ended when Kagame's rebel army took control of the country in July 1994. A period of "reconciliation" began, as a unity government took control of the country. Kagame was the
de facto leader from this point on, and assumed the presidency in 2000. As part of this effort, and ostensibly to signal a break with the country's violent past, the government enacted an overhaul of the country's symbols, including the
flag, the
coat of arms and the national anthem. However, some Rwandans at the time expressed doubts about the stated reasoning and merely viewed all this as an attempt by the ruling
Rwandan Patriotic Front to assert its political power by changing established state symbols. == History ==