How RPF-Inkotanyi held secretive inaugural congress in Kampala

On December 26th and 27th, 1987, a meeting took place in the homes of two Rwandan military officers, who were at the time in the Ugandan army. The meeting took place in Mbuya, a suburb of the Ugandan capital Kampala, and would become the very first Congress and birth of RPF-Inkotanyi, the currrent ruling party. ALSO READ: Protais Musoni on life in refuge and early steps toward liberation of homeland In a podcast interview with The New Times on Monday, April 24, Protais Musoni one of the historical members of the party, shared the journey of the Rwanda Alliance for National Unity (RANU) to the formation of Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). Listen to the podcast here. According to him, the meeting convened about 50 cadres who used mattresses for sitting during discussions and sleeping in the night. The meeting also attracted some collaborators from NRM (National Resistance Movement) of Uganda who would join at night time. The congress lasted three days and this is when they drafted and agreed on key documents including operational guidelines, as well as a code of conduct for members and an action plan. By this time, RANU had started a political school –formed in 1986 –to recruit and train members, the first branch was made of four people and later expanded to recruit some students from Uganda's Makerere University. The teachings focused on revolution theories, resolving contradictions, the history of Rwanda, and the issues of exile. On the other hand, they also developed a strategy of inclusiveness for all struggles, movements, Impuruza newspaper and some social groups as they sought to expand. “They were lured by the kind of political ideology of inclusiveness we had, and the energy and support they could see in RANU,” Musoni explained. During that meeting that charted a blueprint for a way forward in preparation of liberating Rwanda, these members from different struggle movements decided on a new name that they would relate with and provide a sense of unity of purpose, hence, the RPF. For Inkotanyi, this was derived from a newsletter that was being produced by the RPF with an aim of galvanising support from Rwandans in refugee camps and was initially called The Struggler but because most of them spoke Kinyarwandam hence renaming it Inkotanyi, coined from the term Gukotana. This is how the movement became RPF-Inkontayi. The new RPF-Inkotanyi leadership was composed of Charles Kabanda as the Chairman, Zeno Mutimura was his deputy, and Tito Rutaremara became the Secretary General and was deputised by Musoni. They also had a board of commissioners. Musoni said that they found it befitting to create a military wing because every time there was an international meeting where they would send delegates or documents to explain their issues, President Juvenal Habyarimana would say that Rwanda was full and could not accomodate the hundreds of thousands who were in exile. “Because of this intransigence, we decided to form a military force that would reduce his military might so that he (Habyarimana) can listen and negotiate,” he noted. According to Musoni, the overall challenges they faced were not ‘process-breaking’.

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How RPF-Inkotanyi held secretive inaugural congress in Kampala