Prince Louis Rwagasore

Prince Louis Rwagasore was born on January 10, 1932, in Gitega, the eldest son of Mwami Mwambutsa IV. Educated in political science and economics at the Catholic University of Leuven and University of Antwerp in Belgium, he returned to Burundi determined to end Belgian colonial rule.

Rwagasore founded the Union for National Progress (UPRONA) in 1958, forging a passionate pan-ethnic coalition of Hutu and Tutsi leaders under the banner of national unity and sovereignty. In the September 1961 UN-supervised elections, UPRONA won an overwhelming landslide, and Rwagasore was appointed Prime Minister. Just two weeks later, on October 13, 1961, he was assassinated on the shores of Lake Tanganyika by a conspiracy involving colonial elements and rival political factions. He is revered as Burundi's greatest national martyr.