In one of the recent articles in this series, we look at a historic meeting of representatives of parties opposed to President Juvenal Habyarimana's regime. When opposition politicians Bagaragaza and Faustin Twagiramungu signed a joint communique, fellow MDR officials Karamira and Nkezabera held a conference in Brussels to denounce them. In this piece, we shall expound more on the divisions that plagued the opposition. ALSO READ: A look back at impact of Habyarimana’s use of violence as political strategy Apart from the ethnic and regional divide, PL party had internal problems. The party lacked organisation and this led to improvisation (the executive committee joined the government and forgot about party affairs). In short, it lacked specific objectives. Secondary superficial promises caught the attention of the leaders over essential things. Financial management was not transparent. Campaign rallies were privileged instead of meaningful contacts with small groups in anticipation of elections. PL’s relations with other opposition parties and the RPF were not clear. The discord within PL was exacerbated when the party was required to nominate MPs to the Transitional National Assembly. Landouard 'Lando' Ndasingwa presented his candidature for the presidency of the Transitional National Assembly, while the PL president proposed another candidate called Adalbert Bayingamba. To resolve the crisis, the Lando group proposed an urgent meeting of the national congress of the party. This was composed of statutory members of provincial offices. This was the only competent organ that made decisions on important questions involving the party, such as choosing ministerial candidates and members of the cabinet. The PL party president did not convene the congress because he was opposed to it. Divisions within MDR started when the party was required to provide a candidate for the post of Prime Minister in the broad-based transitional government. On April 4, 1993, Dismas Nsengiyaremye was filed as a candidate by the MDR political bureau. On June 10, 1993, his candidature was made official by President Habyarimana, who forwarded it to the government. The cabinet examined Nsengiyaremye’s candidature in its June 22, 1993 session. He was rejected by the MRND, PSD and PL ministers. The president requested MDR to nominate another candidate. On June 24, 1993, MDR reaffirmed Nsengiyaremye’s candidature. The candidate blamed Twagiramungu, MDR President by saying that he was behind this refusal. The President of the Republic asked MDR for the second time to be more serious by not presenting the same candidate. The cabinet once again rejected Nsengiyaremye’s candidature. The MDR political bureau stood its ground and Twagiramungu distanced himself from the stubborn members. On July 15, 1993, Habyarimana invited the five parties to decide on the eventual prolongation of Nsengiyaremye’s government. The parties set a condition for the continuation of the government. MDR finally accepted to nominate another candidate to lead the broad-based transitional government. Twagiramungu ignored the decision of his head office and proposed the candidature of Agathe Uwilingiyimana as the Prime Minister. Uwilingiyimana was accepted and confirmed by the President. The term of this government lasted three months. Twagiramungu’s faction was victorious but MDR’s crisis was exposed in broad daylight. There was friction between Twagiramungu and the extremist faction of Mulego, who was the party Secretary General as well as Karamira and Nsengiyaremye, who was the First Vice-President. The MDR extremist faction organised an extraordinary Congress from July 23-24, 1993, at Kabusunzu in which Twagiramungu and MDR ministers in Uwilingiyimana’s government were excluded. MDR extremists joined CDR. Reconciliation attempts, notably those initiated by representatives of religious denominations, were in vain due to the intransigent nature of the two factions.
