Fred Rwigyema (10 April 1957 – 2 October 1990) was the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front during the Rwandan Civil War.
Biography[]
Fred Rwigyema was born on 10 April 1957 as Emmanuel Gisa, and he was from a family of Catholic Tutsis. In 1976, he joined the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) under Yoweri Museveni during the Uganda-Tanzania War, having moved to Uganda with many Tutsi refugees. Rwigyema helped in the April 1979 capture of Kampala from the Ugandan government, ending Idi Amin's rule over the country; he later joined Museveni's National Resistance Army in the war with Milton Obote's new government. In 1990, Rwigyema led the Rwandan Patriotic Front to liberate Rwanda from Juvenal Habyarimana's oppressive government of Hutus, but he was killed by his commander Peter Bayingana after disagreeing over tactics in the Rwandan Civil War.