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Kigeli V Ndahindurwa: Last king of Rwanda dies | Kigeli V Ndahindurwa: Last king of Rwanda dies |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The last king of Rwanda has died in the US aged 80 years old. | The last king of Rwanda has died in the US aged 80 years old. |
Born Jean-Baptiste Ndahindurwa, King Kigeli V came to power in 1959 but was only king of Rwanda until 1961, when the monarchy was abolished and he was forced into exile. | Born Jean-Baptiste Ndahindurwa, King Kigeli V came to power in 1959 but was only king of Rwanda until 1961, when the monarchy was abolished and he was forced into exile. |
He eventually settled in the US where he set up a charity helping Rwandan refugees and orphans. | He eventually settled in the US where he set up a charity helping Rwandan refugees and orphans. |
A 2013 profile in Washingtonian magazine found him living off food stamps in subsidised housing. | A 2013 profile in Washingtonian magazine found him living off food stamps in subsidised housing. |
Africa Live: Updates on this and other news | |
King Kigeli was the last in a line of monarchs from the minority Tutsi ethnic group, which had dominated Rwandan for many years, but the Belgian former colonial power favoured the majority Hutus and backed a coup. | |
Rwanda was proclaimed a republic in 1961, and a Hutu, Dominique Mbonyumutwa, was made president. | |
Tens of thousands of Tutsis were forced into exile including King Kigeli, who lived the rest of his life outside Rwanda. | |
For three decades the country endured ethnic violence, culminating in the 1994 mass slaughter, in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists. | |
King Kigeli held onto the hope that he could return to the throne in Rwanda. | |
A small opposition party argued that the king might be a force of unity in a country still torn by the legacy of the genocide. | |
As recently as May, the Democratic Green Party had requested the government to allow him to return with the benefits of a head of state, reports AFP news agency. | |
But without every returning to Rwanda, King Kigeli died on Sunday morning his website announced. | |
"He was a devout and dedicated believer and the last anointed African Roman Catholic king to reign over a full country," it said. | "He was a devout and dedicated believer and the last anointed African Roman Catholic king to reign over a full country," it said. |
It added that "the heir to the Royal throne of Rwanda" will be "announced in good order". | It added that "the heir to the Royal throne of Rwanda" will be "announced in good order". |